Smart Manufacturing: Prepare for Disruptions with a Resilient Supply Chain

Supply chains play an increasingly critical role in today’s world. However, disruptions can jeopardize the ability of manufacturers to deliver enriching product experiences to their customers.

Companies have gotten used to dealing with these disruptions with varying degrees of success. However, the emergence of a global health crisis in the first half of 2020 caught everyone unprepared as an international lockdown affected all industries. Even as the world’s supply chains began to show signs of recovery, the crisis has irrevocably changed long-established business paradigms.

There is no question that manufacturers have to be prepared for disruptions big and small. One increasingly viable approach is to develop resilient supply chains. Supply chain resilience is the ability of a supply chain to not only resist disruptions but also recover operational capability after they occur.

Manufacturing resiliency requires adaptability across every step of the supply chain, from the products at the engineering and assembly stages to the final delivery of the product. Building a more resilient supply chain requires elasticity, agility and adaptability — not just in what a company makes but also in how its products are designed, engineered, produced and delivered.

Traditional supply chain structures only offer a limited degree of visibility. A resilient supply chain can significantly expand that visibility through the adoption of alternative methodologies to improve the product development process.

Better visibility of the supply chain can lead to a more flexible manufacturing value network. For example, production can either be moved in-house or outsourced to an alternate location when a disruption occurs without adversely affecting operations.

As a result, product development is now no longer restricted within a linear supply chain system. Manufacturers can now dynamically manage and alter the whole production chain to accommodate changes regardless of disruption, with minimal impact to operations.

Expanding use of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) in production and operations is encouraging a growing utilization of the virtual twin experience among manufacturers.

The virtual twin experience, a precise replica of real-world manufacturing operations in the virtual world, allows manufacturers to assess changes virtually before implementing them in the real world.

By creating a digital version of their supply chain, products and distribution network, they can evaluate different scenarios and be confident they are taking the best decision. With it, manufacturers can easily replicate and modify changes or the change in demand with the consumers.

The IIoT has given manufacturers a new look into their processes and products down to a granular level of detail. However, this also creates an unintended side effect — massive amounts of data, extracted and siloed off without being incorporated into the day-to-day manufacturing processes. Interpretation, accessibility and use of these data sets becomes difficult, making it challenging for manufacturers to gain a comprehensive view of their business operations.

Big data only creates value if it solves business challenges. This is where robust analytics capabilities — in the form of artificial intelligence and machine learning — play a part. By making sense of the data, discovering patterns and generating insights, manufacturers can greatly increase their responsiveness and quickly identify new business opportunities.

Technologies like the IIoT provide the tactical help of understanding the current positioning of the company and its operations, while big data and analytics focus on future strategies. These technologies complement each other, linking together applications, data and processes to form a connected ecosystem.

The 3DEXPERIENCE® platform is the integrated platform that brings it all together, allowing manufacturers to leverage capabilities from the high-level strategic planning, down to tactical planning, scheduling and execution.

Instead of a ”one-size-fits-all” approach to achieving supply chain resiliency, the 3DEXPERIENCE platform clearly outlines the steps involved in reaching that transformational endpoint, the challenges and solutions along the way, and the value that can be gained in terms of ROI and other operational benefits. Manufacturers gain a holistic understanding of what true supply chain resiliency for their organization looks like.

The 3DEXPERIENCE platform also empowers manufacturers to establish a digital data flow that synchronizes and orchestrates machines, production lines, warehouses, plants, logistics and supply chains for business improvement and transformation. These elements are integrated and accessible on a single source of truth — our platform.