Management + Systems

Ivanti provides supply chain management solutions to the European market, as well as into the fastener and fixing industry. Here, Marcus Jeffrey, territory manager UK&I at Ivanti Wavelink, explains what supply chain management is and why it is vital to businesses in the current climate.

Fastening and fixing items are a crucial part of any supply chain. Without them, companies can’t build the objects fundamental to keeping their businesses afloat. However, supply chains have found themselves struggling to operate comfortably throughout the pandemic. Organisations have been forced to rethink their entire supply chain models to keep up with demands and disruptions – whilst having a weakened workforce due to labour shortages.

To cope with growing demand, businesses are turning to technology. Research suggests that 84% of organisations have or intend to hasten their adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT) in response to complications caused by Covid-19. With new variants continuously being discovered, uncertainty is constantly on the horizon – as well as prolonged supply chain disruption. Supply chain management solutions have never been so vital to keep enterprises above water.

What is supply chain management?

Supply chain management (SCM) refers to how the flow of products/services, including production processes, are carried out and organised. Good management of the supply chain – keeping a close eye on inventory production, and sales – can save companies both time and money, helping them deliver goods to customers at a faster pace.

Technology has continuously been innovated to help improve SCM since the latter half of the 20th Century. The development of the personal computer in the 1980s assisted SCM through spreadsheets and map-based interfaces. As time has progressed, technology has further become a key part of increasing the agility and efficiency of supply chains. We can expect human roles to be enhanced with automated systems, allowing more responsibilities to be taken on quicker.

Supply chain management can essentially be broken up into five elements – planning, sourcing raw materials, manufacturing, delivery and returns. Having tight control and understanding of each of these stages ensures SCM runs without complication.

Narrowing the labour shortage gap with familiar technology

We are currently witnessing an abundance of job vacancies and a shortage of talent, also triggered by the pandemic. According to the Office for National Statistics in the UK, in August to October 2021 the number of vacancies hit a new record of over 1 million. This is affecting how smoothly supply chains can function. Ensuring productivity, especially when understaffed, is essential in SCM to keep up with market demands.

Today, consumers’ opinions of brands depend on how swiftly goods are delivered, making it hugely important to give warehouse workers the right tools to effectively carry out their responsibilities. The mobile operating systems (OS) used must be suitable for both the supply chain and user experience. Take advantage of the devices that are already familiar to your workers, the digital devices, such as mobiles and tablets, they already use in their everyday lives.

Their familiarity helps to accelerate task-screen navigation and ultimately enables employees to enter data not only faster but also more accurately. It also makes the task a lot less stressful, refraining from forcing workers from having to get to used to how the devices operate. Time training staff how to use the devices decreases, again helping to speed up processes and ultimately helping to get the product to the customer as fast as possible.

However, one of the problems with mobile OS lies with the management side of things. It is often found that there are too many devices to keep track of, so using a system that helps manage them in one place is hugely beneficial. With mobile device management (MDM), specific devices can be targeted for check-ins or scheduled updates. This can help to decrease the amount of time spent waiting for devices to become available or working out which need to upgrade their systems.

Save time whilst packing and picking

Picking and packing is an essential part of order fulfilment with dispatch times and customer satisfaction relying heavily on the accuracy of these tasks. Traditionally, workers have to continuously stop to check paper documents to ensure they are gathering and packing the correct items. Stopping and starting is extremely time costly and equally as frustrating for employees who can’t complete the tasks smoothly. 

Productivity can be ensured by utilising voice enabled technology as its hands free nature enables workers to keep moving. Employees can remind themselves of which screws, nails or bolts need to be collected all whilst walking straight ahead to their next destination in the warehouse.

Voice technology can also be used in other areas to assist workers such as barcode scanning, key entry and more. Mobile devices already have voice processing abilities, from Siri to Cortana, therefore additional dedicated voice recognising hardware isn’t needed. The technology to aid workers in warehouses already exists in day-to-day life, it just needs to be taken advantage of.

IIoT and automated systems to collaborate with human workers

IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) and automated systems are enriching work carried out by humans. Covid-19 has sped up the development and adoption of these technologies as businesses have been forced to address any kinks in their supply chain management. With IIoT communicating and transferring data between devices without the need for an employee to trigger the process, humans can pay more attention to other tasks that require input to improve operations.

For instance, IIoT can manage logistics, remote production control and more, freeing time for companies to focus employee physical labour on order fulfilment and customer satisfaction.

The pandemic has taught all industries that obstacles cannot be seen from a mile away, with circumstances and government guidelines being able to change in just a few days. It’s important to expect the unexpected to ensure supply chains run as smoothly and effectively as possible.

Supply chain management solutions can help to reduce the strain on workers, whether that be by using technology to help them finish the task sooner or removing the need for them to do a task completely. There’s no more of a perfect time than now to integrate mobile device management, voice solutions and IIoT into the supply chain.