Business leaders often use the analogy of team sports as a way of emphasizing that no one person can make the business succeed alone. This tenet is especially true for those who work in supply chain, and doubly so for fast-moving consumer goods and pharmaceutical enterprises, which often manage vast, multi-tiered networks of external suppliers, vendors, and partners. Each partner is vital to delivering products into the hands of everyday consumers.
For those managing FMCG and pharmaceutical external supply chains, however, succeeding together is easier said than done. An FMCG or pharma enterprise may be managing a network of dozens or even hundreds of external partners—each with their own technology stack and preferred data exchange formats. The more extensive the external supply chain, the greater the number of unique systems that company’s technology inevitably will have to interact with.
The time and effort needed to manually manage data flow between all partners in the external network can be excruciating. And, as if that weren’t enough—a recent survey reported that 81% of brand owners and contract manufacturers depend on communication through email and spreadsheets. Further, lack of automation in these communications can result in a 1.5-day turnaround time on shipment and quality information. Given the breakneck pace of today’s market, coping with that high of a data latency is almost unfathomable.
Therein lies the major challenge of managing external supply chains: the lack of data synchronization. The incongruence of data exchange, combined with limited data visibility and low-fidelity data throughout the network, means that external supply chains are slow to respond to disruptions, delays, shortages, and more. The Bullwhip Effect—wherein demand variability is severely amplified the further it ripples through the manufacturing process—further exacerbates this network-wide problem of high response times.
Imagine your favorite basketball team on the court, missing shots, misreading passes and messing up defensive coverage. Why? Because they’re behind in the play and aren’t communicating with each other, leading to a vicious cycle that adds up to lost games.
Similarly in the external supply chain, miscommunications and delays on critical data points such as order statuses and inventory movement can result in lower fulfillment rates, which carry significant financial penalties and—perhaps more importantly—risk of damaging or even losing customer relationships.
So, what’s the solution?
How to Enable True Data Synchronization
Just as with any great sports team, success is achieved when all players are empowered to perform at their best. Translating that theme to supply chain, greater data visibility and responsiveness is needed to ensure that all parties in the external supply chain are operating and collaborating to their utmost potential. Each player on the team can be the best in their chosen specialty, but without the data needed to synchronize their activity with the other players in the network, that potential and expertise is wasted.
Many brand manufacturers have attempted to solve this data visibility challenge within their external networks through monolithic ERP and EDI implementations, which have proven to be both costly and inadequate for the needs of the external supply chain. And while EDI has been used for decades for exchanging data, the nature of their point-to-point connections makes them unsuitable as a scalable solution for today’s multi-tiered supply chain networks, nor is it a facilitator of true collaboration between parties. The simple truth is that these systems were never built to support real-time collaboration across multiple enterprises.
Shared success hinges on seamless synchronization between a brand manufacturer’s internal operations and its external manufacturing partners. Enabling this level of synchronization requires a purpose-built platform that effectively supports the level of real-time data visibility needed to truly connect the parties in an external supply chain. External suppliers need to operate as if they are a part of the brand because they are strategically vital to fulfilling orders and meeting the product needs of consumers. The outsourced partners in a brand manufacturer’s external supply chain help keep promises, maintain integrity, and uphold service and product standards.
Enter: The Multi-Enterprise Collaboration Platform
Unlike other enterprise software systems, multi-enterprise collaboration platforms are purpose-built to provide real-time data flow between a brand manufacturer and its external partners, helping facilitate effective collaboration on order planning, materials management, capacity allocation and more.
Today’s supply chains are multi-tiered ecosystems that thrive on shared data flow to maximize collaboration and ensure all parties are pulling in the same direction. When all partners in an external supply chain are working from the same page, there is no confusion, goals are aligned, and success is shared.
Synchronizing the data flow across the entire external supply chain network is like handing your basketball team a shared playbook for mutual success, where an ensemble of unique players with unique specialties and skill sets can speak the same language and execute a single, cohesive strategy.
A multi-enterprise collaboration platform can be leveraged for multiple areas of the supply chain planning and procurement process, including:
Materials Visibility: Track inventory as it moves through the supply ecosystem to quickly adjust production schedules and inventory levels against volatile demand and supply signals.
Order Collaboration: Collaborate with supply chain partners in a centralized platform to provide a single source of truth on all production order information.
Network Capacity: Align with supply chain partners on orders and forecasts to manage capacity allocation and achieve optimal outcomes.
Collaborative Analytics: Leverage insights shared between trading partners for key KPIs to improve performance and drive continuous improvement.
The result? A more agile, responsive, and ultimately profitable external supply chain. To that end, it is absolutely critical to leverage a purpose-built multi-enterprise collaboration platform to digitally synchronize with external supply chain partners.
Enable True Data Synchronization Today
The more complex supply chains become, the more critical it is that all partners in the network can speak the same language and operate from the same playbook for greater multi-enterprise collaboration and shared success. Data synchronization is the single greatest challenge facing FMCG and pharma external supply chains but is also the most valuable key to unlocking opportunities for growth in the industry.
Just as the right playbook is required for a championship-caliber team to win together, it is equally important for FMCG enterprises to leverage the right platform to enable true data synchronization.
After all, in supply chain—just like in business—no one succeeds alone.
