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“Supply Chain” refers to the entire process of delivering products – starting with raw materials, through manufacturing and distribution, into retail and finally purchasing by the end consumer. Nowadays most businesses take responsibility for a specific part of the overall supply chain, working with numerous partners to ultimately fulfil end consumers’ requirements.
Traditional supply chain management approaches are no longer able meet the demands of the modern, consumer-driven World, prompting businesses to seek more advanced, digital supply chain solutions. SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud is a next-generation ERP system that is redefining how enterprises run their supply chain operations.
The need for modern Supply Chain solutions
Supply chains today are more complex than ever, often involving multiple parties – suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, retailers and customers – with distribution networks spread across the globe. Over the years, consumers have grown to expect more for less with almost immediate delivery, whilst businesses also face increasing costs, supply disruptions, political or economic uncertainties and pressure to be sustainable. All this requires a more agile and responsive approach to supply chain management – flexibility, automation, optimisation and real-time analytics are often lacking in older legacy systems, but can allow supply chain managers to navigate these challenges more effectively.
SAP’s S/4HANA Public Cloud is a complete, cloud-based, intelligent ERP solution that supports end-to-end operations across the business. Real-time insights coupled with innovations in technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and predictive analytics allow businesses to make quick decisions based on real data.
Key benefits of S/4HANA Public Cloud for Supply Chain Management
- Real-Time Visibility and Insights
S/4HANA Public Cloud is built on SAP’s HANA database – an in-memory database that facilitates faster transactions and more highly-efficient processing of large amounts of data than traditional disk-based databases. This means that it can support real-time reporting and more visually engaging embedded analytics and dashboards, giving supply chain managers immediate visibility of potential issues and allowing them to respond proactively.
- Enhanced Supply Chain Agility
S/4HANA Public Cloud is a complete ERP which supports the whole supply chain – procurement, inventory management, manufacturing, sales and finance – in a single, integrated system. This allows for immediate collaboration and handoff of processes across different departments within the business: manufacturing planners can immediately see new demand secured by the sales team, schedule the production, check existing stock levels of parts and pass any requirements for missing parts to the buying team to source with just a few clicks.
- Intelligent Automation
S/4HANA Public Cloud combines intelligent technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to automate and streamline routine supply chain processes. By reducing the need for repetitive tasks to be completed manually, employees have more time to spend on value-add tasks and other more strategic activities. Intelligent monitoring tools such as Situation Handling can detect anomalies where manual intervention might be required and alert the relevant employees to the problem as it occurs so they can act promptly.
- Seamless Integration
S/4HANA Public Cloud facilitates seamless integration with 3rd parties via whitelisted APIs, Data Replication Framework (DRF) and standard, prebuilt integration scenarios, all orchestrated in SAP’s Integration Suite on Business Technology Platform (BTP). This allows for secure, reliable communication between stakeholders for improved collaboration and efficiency across the whole supply chain.
- Scalability and Flexibility
S/4HANA Public Cloud is a modular, cloud-based ERP which means that it can grow as the business grows – both in terms of functionality and database resources – without the need for big, costly infrastructure changes. Businesses are also able to leverage the most up-to-date advancements with biannual upgrades managed mainly by SAP and new technologies such as Joule, SAP’s AI-assistant, being made available to cloud users first.
Industry use cases: How businesses are leveraging S/4HANA Public Cloud
Retail and Consumer Goods
Modern consumers have more ways to shop than ever including physical stores, e-commerce platforms and mobile apps. S/4HANA Public Cloud brings together all sales channels to ensure consistent pricing, complete availability information and efficient order fulfilment.
The consumer goods market can be volatile with demand levels heavily influenced by seasonality, fashion and local or global events and businesses must try to balance stock levels to avoid over- or under-stocking. AI-driven demand forecasting analyses all available data to help ensure the right products are in the right place at the right time.
S/4HANA Public Cloud, Retail edition provides additional functionality to meet the specific needs of retail businesses providing a unified solution for both retail outlets and distribution centres.
Manufacturing
Manufacturing processes can be complex with a great deal of coordination required to ensure that raw materials are available, semi-finished products are ready and production lines have sufficient capacity when it’s needed. S/4HANA Public Clouds supports discreet, process and repetitive manufacturing on either make-to-stock (MTS) or make-to-order (MTO) bases with automatic backflushing of raw materials, goods receipt of finished products and the possibility to handle co- and by-products.
Quality Management is an integral part of the manufacturing process in S/4HANA Public Cloud and ensures that any wastage or scrap can be correctly captured.
Automotive
Automotive manufacturing is typically complex with many multi-level assemblies, just-in-time (JIT) requirements and a continuous production line where a delay in just one operation can cause a lot of disruption. S/4HANA Public Cloud provides real-time production scheduling with automatic planning of dependant requirements – for both made-in-house subassemblies and externally procured parts. Intelligent technologies can detect potential supply issues and bottlenecks so they can be addressed proactively.
S/4HANA Public Cloud can also support aftermarket operations including spare parts and warranty services. Automated intercompany processes allow businesses to purchase locally and distribute across their aftermarket warehouses efficiently. It can also integrate directly with dealer networks ensuring quick supply of parts in vehicle off road (VOR) situations.
The future of Supply Chain Management with S/4HANA Public Cloud
S/4HANA Public Cloud presents businesses with the opportunity to transform their supply chain with a modern, cloud-based ERP that will grow with them. By leveraging the continuous innovations and advancements delivered by SAP, companies can stay ahead of industry demands and utilise the latest technologies to build supply chains that are smarter, more efficient and agile.
