Supply chain monitoring

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The supply chain monitoring means all operational activities to manage and control the supply chain and is part of the operational supply chain management .

Definition of terms

A distinction between the terms supply chain monitoring and supply chain controlling results from the purpose of the data collection and the relevant observation period of the determined data. While the results of controlling are used for the medium and long-term control of the supply chain, the aim of monitoring is to monitor the observed processes in real time, with the aim of detecting deviations or undesirable developments immediately.

In order to do justice to the complexity of today's forms of production, supply chain monitoring must extend over the entire value chain . In addition to production, this also includes procurement, distribution and sales. Adherence to deadlines is of the utmost importance for a functioning supply chain. Monitoring is therefore primarily about the timely execution of the mostly sequential activities within the supply chain.

Supply chain monitoring

The monitoring method is based on the assumption that all monitored processes run according to plan and do not require any intervening activities. There is always an exception when the monitoring system of a process detects a deviation by more than the specified tolerance value. In such cases, automated systems could e.g. B. trigger a notification of the affected stakeholders or set in motion predefined escalation chains. This presupposes that tolerance criteria have been developed in advance and activities have been defined that are to be carried out in the event of a certain exceptional case.

Supply chain monitor

The term supply chain monitor includes all software-supported monitoring systems within supply chain management. Software-based supply chain monitoring systems are indispensable with the complexity of today's supply chains and logistical processes. Without systems that receive and process feedback from the supply chain (measuring points), impending delays within the supply chain remain undetected. And without the software-supported processing of this information, an impact analysis is hardly possible.

An ideal supply chain monitor

  • obtains data from the company's own ERP system ,
  • makes them available to active stakeholders (e.g. suppliers) on a platform
  • allows or requires processing and enrichment with feedback (measuring points)
  • calculates deviations from defined tolerance criteria and
  • automatically warns affected stakeholders in the event of deviations

Such supply chain monitoring systems are used by many companies - either as integrated components of the ERP system or as external, intermediate systems that consume data from ERP and other systems and process it for analysis.

Integrated versus external monitoring systems

The strength of external monitoring systems is that they can be flexibly and cost-effectively adapted to specific supplier structures and operational processes. In addition, they are often located beyond the firewall and also offer write access to external stakeholders. This is very helpful, especially for collaborative systems, in order to be able to exchange "soft facts" and non-standardized information texts on an order-related basis.

Integrated systems have the advantage of being able to access all existing data in the ERP system. Complex reports and impact analyzes can be created at any time. In addition, integrated systems support system homogeneity and thus cause lower maintenance costs. A disadvantage of integrated systems is their lack of "openness" for stakeholders outside the company (e.g. suppliers). With regard to IT security, a collaborative approach cannot be implemented or can only be implemented with great effort. Another disadvantage is the inflexibility of integrated systems. In the case of integrated systems, necessary process changes naturally result in a high level of adaptation effort.

The prerequisite for both system variants is the definition of appropriate exception conditions, which contain the processes to be monitored and the respective tolerance ranges.

literature

  • Dieter Arnold u. a .: Logistics manual (VDI book) . Springer Verlag (2008). ISBN 3540729283 . P. 463 ff.
  • David Betge: Coordination in Advanced Planning and Scheduling Systems . German University Press (2006). ISBN 383500199X . P. 63 ff.
  • G. Gäpfel: Supply Chain Management . In: H. Baumgarten, H.-P. Wiendahl, J. Zentes (Ed.): Logistik-Management . Springer, Berlin, 2000, section 7-02-03, pp. 1-32
  • H. Werner: Supply Chain Management . Gabler, Wiesbaden, 2000
  • P. Buxmann, W. König: Inter-company cooperation based on SAP systems . Springer, Berlin, 2000