Once the first blow of the pandemic in 2020 had passed, and as industry and transport were reactivating again, we saw how the world had changed.
Manufacturing has suffered a disruptive situation in terms of business continuity, supply chain, remote work and employee safety. And, without a doubt, those businesses that had started their digital transformation journey were less exposed to the impact.
Transport costs multiplied sixfold between 2019 and 2021, especially those coming from Southeast Asia. The hoarding of products ahead of possible lockdowns of factories located in China due to the pandemic generated an unexpected demand for containers with a corresponding increase in prices. The demand driven by the return to normality (summer of 2020) caused prices to rise again rapidly.
The shortage of containers being used as port warehouses, the blockage of the Suez Canal and the saturation of destination ports led to further price increases that did not stop until the end of 2021, when the restoration of normality began.
[su_note note_color=”#F0EFEF” text_color=”#333333″ radius=”5″ class=””]
window.hsFormsOnReady = window.hsFormsOnReady || [];
window.hsFormsOnReady.push(()=>{
hbspt.forms.create({
portalId: 7555051,
formId: “69ee043b-74a0-4723-8133-9ea7d8275ca1”,
target: “#hbspt-form-1791755799000-6753317727”,
region: “na1”,
})});
[/su_note]
Dynamics 365, a key element for controlling the situation
What can a manufacturer that needs raw materials or semi-finished products do in this situation, or a wholesaler waiting for finished goods to serve its retail network?
Dynamics 365 Supply Chain provides solutions in
- Improved demand planning
- Dynamics 365 supply chain management
- Manufacturing planning
Improved demand planning
Forecasting demand is a real challenge. Leading-edge organisations need a demand forecasting solution that provides data on optimal forecasting techniques, integration of a dispersed supply chain and dynamic market data. This, combined with the experience of managers, will deliver a correct demand forecasting solution.
Dynamics 365 supply chain planning and management
Dynamics 365 includes machine learning, an advanced Artificial Intelligence feature that improves demand forecasting. The forecasting solution leverages machine learning and AI-based insights to enhance companies’ ability to generate accurate forecasts.
By integrating demand forecasting into supply chain management, sales and operations planning, organisations can avoid excess stock, increase inventory turnover and improve cash-to-cash cycle times while ensuring high levels of on-time delivery to customers.
Manufacturing planning and management
The manufacturing module of Dynamics 365 allows businesses to quickly adapt to trend changes, plan the precise materials and assets needed to complete production, balancing demand and supply in real time.
Dynamics enables a dramatic reduction in production planning lead times, allowing this process to be executed at exactly the right moment, several times a day if necessary, to respond quickly to changes and improve production performance and customer satisfaction.
As we are accustomed to in Dynamics 365, the production module connects with the rest of the solution, enabling the creation of manufacturing orders from sales orders, from projects, or tracking between demand and manufacturing.
Microsoft Cloud for Manufacturing
Microsoft Cloud for Manufacturing is a service designed to deliver capabilities for industry processes. Microsoft Cloud is a comprehensive cloud manufacturing solution that includes new capabilities that help securely connect people, assets, workflow and business processes, providing greater resilience to organisations.
Microsoft Cloud includes Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Viva Learning, Azure Defender for IoT, Dynamics 365 Supply Chain, Azure Digital Twins, Dynamics 365 Sales and Dynamics 365 Field Service.
Microsoft named a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Cloud ERP for Product-Centric Enterprises (August 2021)
Microsoft is a Leader in this Magic Quadrant. It offers Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, two individual solutions that are closely connected.
They are primarily aimed at medium and large enterprises, but are also suitable for global companies that need very specific regional and industry capabilities.
Medium and large manufacturing, packaged consumer goods and retail organisations that require industry specialisation should consider Microsoft, along with its large ecosystem of partners and independent software vendor solutions.
Read the full report here.