Why digital supply chain is the answer for the FMCG industry

By: Cesilia Faustina

The supply chain industry is changing. With the dependency on the global market, customer demands are now increasing and thus the need for the supply chain is essential. Large quantities of demands have made it difficult though to create an organized supply chain system. All these changes and demands are leading more businesses to utilize different methods of productivity, that being the utilization of technology.

Supply Chain Management (SCM) system is becoming an important part of many companies, seeing it is nearly impossible nowadays to handle all logistics activities without some form of technical assistance.

The SCM system is now the standard, and without it, businesses are risking falling behind in the market. This is the reason businesses are now shifting towards an innovative move – by fully automating the SCM process. So how exactly will having an automated process help FMCG producers increase productivity?

More efficient planning and structures 

As mentioned above, the FMCG sector is no easy business. Organization and the right planning is crucial for the accomplishments of such sectors; a digital platform is made for exactly this problem. A software system will help to directly organize and structure any planning that a business might have. This is done by creating a flexible system that can be shaped to meet specific expectations and needs.

Planning can be done accordingly before any process takes place, once the workflow begins, an SCM system will ensure all results will stay accurate, updated and according to any designed structure. This means greater efficiency and accuracy right from the start all the way to the implementation.

Customizable criteria and factors

Logistics is not an industry that should be taken lightly. Ensuring all supplies reach their destination on time at an appropriate order is key, which is why wasting time and energy is the last thing an FMCG company would like to do. By having an SCM system, users can easily customize and set their own criteria and setups based on their specific needs. This means opportunities to save time and rid of any hassles of having to deal with a system that is incompatible.

Flexibility is a core component in creating a successful SCM process. Seeing the complexity of logistics and the range of different FMCG products, it is important to have an operation that can adapt to various businesses while keeping everything under control.

Lack of integration and communication

I’m sure we’ve all noticed how difficult logistics can be; getting one thing from point A to Z could get complicated with various routes and transportation difficulties. There needs to be some form of organization in order for this to succeed, and that’s not always the case when you have to deal with so many items and supplies. The concept of the digital supply chain indicates that all supply chain activities can be sorted through one digital platform, thus saving time and energy. This is only possible though through proper integration.

Having a digital process means ease in creating integration between various sectors of the supply chain workflow. That means businesses no longer need to worry about the issues of processing and communicating from one stage to the next. If an SCM system can help integrate between operations, that means updates can be done automatically and accurately, limiting the error rate and challenges of keeping all parties up-to-date.

Secure analytics and reporting

An SCM system can also ensure a secure and accurate documentation process. Through the use of an electronic platform, all activities may be easily documented and recorded. This by itself can then be formed into a report for any analytics purposes in the future. Reporting and analysis are two of the most important parts of maintaining a successful business; this is also the case for many FMCG companies.

Being able to always go back to documentation is always a benefit. At the end of each task, surely employees would want to be able to track and see its progress, this is where an automated SCM comes in. Thanks to the help of a software system, results may be produced automatically and directly. Who wouldn’t want that?!

Find out more about how digitalization can help the SCM industry through ESKADENIA’s supply chain management software, ESKA SCM.