Over the past two years, COVID-19 has made a significant impact on supply chains all over the world. Industries have had to mitigate supply chains and get them back on track and stronger than ever before. COVID expedited the need for advanced technologies as OEMs rushed to find solutions to keep their supply chain up and running. While technology has always been utilized in supply chain management, some businesses did not have higher powered technologies to keep their supply chain efficient. As a result OEMs began to implement advanced technology that would help them achieve this goal.
Enhanced Manufacturing Agility
Technologies can help improve manufacturing agility by connecting machines, factory sensors, and applying analytics so that OEMs have insight into labor shortages, how to properly restart production after a shut down, and ways to monitor company morale. OEMs that adopt an agile manufacturing methodology gain a competitive advantage as they provide immediate responses to their customers and produce outstanding product quality. New technologies can enhance manufacturing agility by improving information technology for supply chain, creating partnerships with companies to improve your market, and boost knowledge by allowing OEMs and their employees to get training to support business culture and learn about the rapid changes of supply chain.
Insight Into Customer Demand
Implementing advanced technologies that give you better insight into customer demand allows you minimize inventory and production expenses, shift your production based on geographical needs, and update product development strategies. Additionally, these technologies allow you to better serve your customers by having the ability to analyze external data such as weather patterns, economic data, and industry trends so that you as an OEM can respond properly to these ever-changing forecasts by adjusting production, pricing, and allocating different resources if necessary.
Better Supply Chain Transparency
Data silos were once the only technology utilized by OEMs to track inventory and store their information. The advancement of technology found this approach to be dated and inefficient as storing data via data silo has become slow and prone to error. Due to recent disruptions in the supply chain, OEMs found themselves needing to quickly identify things like capacity issues or distressed suppliers to efficiently preserve their supply chain. With technology increasing OEMs transparency into their supply chain, they are now able to quickly identify missing or at-risk parts, fine tune their responses, and track the exact location of parts and components.
As an OEM, making technological decisions and implementing them into your supply chain is daunting, we understand. As a 3PL that provides comprehensive supply chain management, NewStream understands the importance of implementing new technologies into your daily routine. Our experts are ready to take on your tasks and help you love your supply chain!
Ready to get your supply chain back on track? Lets chat, our experts are here to help!