Supply Chain Brochure
Supply Chain Brochure
Supply Chain Brochure
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Is your supply chain responsive, adaptive, agile, and efficient? Given these challenges, manufacturing executives are asking these
How well does your supply chain enable your people to profitably critical questions about their supply chain processes:
meet the demands of your customers?
» Is our operation “demand-driven”?
Manufacturers are constantly driven to manage their supply chains
better, improve operations, and differentiate themselves from » How much visibility do I have into
my extended supply chain?
competitors. Today, manufacturing supply chains reach beyond the
boundaries of a single company’s plant floor operation, organization, » How agile and flexible are our supply chain processes?
and geography. They operate globally, beginning with suppliers,
and extend to other business partners, including transportation » Can we respond quickly to supply chain disruptions?
firms, outsource manufacturers, sales channels, and customers. » Are our operations in regulatory compliance?
To manage their supply chains effectively, manufacturers must
do more than track the progression of raw materials and finished » How connected are we to our suppliers and customers?
products as they travel globally from supplier to consumer. They » How are we performing against our KPIs and metrics?
must also monitor, measure, and adjust the performance of the
supply chain until they find the right balance between supply » Do we have access to the right data in real time
and demand that produces the highest possible profit for the so that we can make informed decisions?
company. Furthermore, manufacturers must be agile enough » What are my operational risks?
to react quickly to changes. Ultimately, managing an extended
Built on a foundation of collaboration, business intelligence, and
supply chain presents some common challenges for all companies,
integration technology, Microsoft® supply chain management
regardless of industry:
solutions enable your people to transform supply chains to be
» Pace of business. In a global, networked economy, more demand-driven, adaptive, responsive, and efficient. Global
the pace of business continues to increase. leaders in supply chain management rely on solutions from
» Global, networked supply chain. Today’s Microsoft and its partners to address the following areas:
manufacturers outsource much of their production » Supply Chain Visibility. Monitoring, performance
and participate in a networked supply chain management, analytics, regulatory compliance,
that requires constant communication and and scorecarding across the extended supply chain
collaboration with their supply chain partners. and heterogeneous underlying IT systems.
» Shorter product lifecycles. Global competition and » Supply Chain Collaboration. Flexible business-
increased customer demands are forcing manufacturers to-business and application integration,
to bring products to market faster and cheaper. communication, and collaborative process
» Focus on cost reduction and increased efficiency. workflows with all supply chain partners.
Continued cost reduction and constant improvements in » Supply Chain Planning. Demand management
operational efficiency are certain for today’s manufacturers. and sales and operations planning business
processes delivered with an integrated business
intelligence and collaboration framework.
productivity overall. Transportation providers need solutions that products, systems, and services, employs about 120,000 people and
help them consolidate orders and optimize loads; handle tracking, operates in approximately 100 countries. The company needed to
improve integration processes and automate order fulfillment processes.
rating, tendering, and proof of delivery; and route managed fleets With an integrated system, ABB hoped to be able to better manage its
between distribution centers and delivery points. systems, improve supply chain efficiency, and reduce the total cost of
ownership of its infrastructure. Based on a Microsoft® infrastructure,
The Right Solution ABB has cut its average order-processing costs and reduced the time it
takes to complete business-critical transactions, allowing it to respond
Microsoft and its industry partners help manufacturers improve more quickly to its customers’ time-pressured requirements.
their supply chain execution processes by providing solutions that Solutions
tightly couple planning and execution capabilities. This strengthens • Microsoft® BizTalk® Server • Microsoft .NET Framework
collaboration among customers, third-party logistics providers, and • Microsoft Dynamics™ • Microsoft SQL Server™
distribution partners, and provides better visibility into demand,
Benefits
inventory, and logistics throughout the extended enterprise.
• Improved integration • Dramatically reduced
average process costs
By building on industry-standard Microsoft technologies and • Delivers greater transparency
across the supply chain • Provides a scalable, easy-to-
using emerging technologies like radio frequency identification manage infrastructure
(RFID), manufacturers can improve both execution capabilities
and performance. These technologies help them improve asset
utilization and labor productivity, and comply with customer
mandates. Effective supply chain execution systems provide the
inventory visibility and information flow that companies need
in order to manage enterprise transportation, warehousing, and
order fulfillment requirements globally. For manufacturers that
have adopted warehouse and transportation execution solutions
based on a Microsoft infrastructure, benefits include:
Built on a foundation of Microsoft collaboration, business leaders in supply chain management have adopted a Microsoft
intelligence, and integration technologies, the Microsoft supply infrastructure, along with solutions delivered by Microsoft and
chain management infrastructure is a key enabler for manufacturers its supply chain partners, to solve specific business problems
to transform and improve their supply chains and become more and improve performance in the areas of supply chain visibility,
demand-driven, adaptive, responsive, and efficient. Global collaboration, planning, and execution.
Why Microsoft? Microsoft is dedicated to delivering best-in- Integration That Works. Manufacturers often work in a heterogeneous
class solutions for the manufacturing industry that amplify the IT environment that requires integration, interoperability,
impact of people to drive business success. Our promise is to and information sharing across applications to meet business
provide effective, manageable, cost-effective software with the requirements. Based on industry standards, Microsoft products work
following attributes: with what you have and across boundaries to provide seamless,
integrated solutions.
Familiar and Easy to Use. With over 500 million users of our
software, Microsoft is the most used and respected software in the Software That’s Innovative. At Microsoft, we develop software
world. Microsoft software is familiar and accessible to people at products that help your people reach their full potential
all levels of your organization, as well as to your trading partners and take advantage of new developments and innovation
and customers. Microsoft software helps you reduce training time in the industry.
and make your people more productive quickly.
Microsoft partners offering supply chain management solutions
Widely Used and Supported. Microsoft Software is widely used and services include:
and supported by millions of partners and developers worldwide.
Our vast ecosystem of solution providers, software vendors, and
support organizations ensure that you will be able match the right
solution with your business needs.
www.microsoft.com/manufacturing
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of publication. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the
part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information presented after the date of publication.
This document is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS DOCUMENT.
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