PR91719

SINGAPORE, Sept. 16, 2021 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

Chandramouli K.L., Senior Industry Consultant, Rockwell Automation, shares his

thoughts on how supply-chain players can build resilience amid VUCA

(volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity). Rockwell Automation

Inc.(https://www.rockwellautomation.com/en-id.html) (NYSE: ROK) is a global

leader in industrial automation and digital transformation. The following

opinions are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Rockwell

Automation as a whole.

As a third wave of the pandemic looms, manufacturers regardless of geography or

sector continue to suffer from shortages of raw materials, intermediate parts,

and other components, hindering the recovery of their downstream customers.

Whether its shipping and transportation bottlenecks or crippling ransomware

attacks and labor shortages, shocks to supply-chains now reverberate on a

global level.

To cope with VUCA, supply-chain players can adopt three key actions:

1.  Flexible production speeds responses

Three challenges most commonly facing manufacturers amid the pandemic are:

customer demand, availability of materials, coupled with staffing and labor

shortages, driven by changing consumer behaviour. But these challenges are also

encountered in the industrial sector, where demand for petroleum, lumber,

steel, and semiconductors fluctuates because of global lockdowns.

Flexible manufacturing and improved supplier integration are crucial to

navigating this landscape. Suppliers should implement a single global

manufacturing operations management (MOM) system to alleviate supply-chain

snags. Rigid operating models should be redesigned with revised levels of

controls and responses that allow for manufacturers to rapidly switch models

and products. By harmonising operations, MOM helps industrial players

effectively manage disruptions by alerting them to assembly line changes, local

training needs, and other issues.

Greater integration with suppliers is also essential, collaborating with

engineering experts and contractors to develop preassembled modules, instead of

a box of loose parts. For example, one of our clients, a toy manufacturer with

factories across Asia, worked on new designs by sharing computer aided design

(CAD) models and geometries in near real time among their designers, engineers,

suppliers, and marketers, partnering with their management teams to set up a

collaborative internal digital platform. This resulted in a 30% reduction in

data management and transaction times, speeding up turnaround and reducing

costs.

2.  Smarter staffing

Another major impact of the pandemic has been persistent staffing shortages.

Many employers also face higher ratios of fewer industry-skilled employees,

more staff in new and unfamiliar roles, and costly shift-scheduling

difficulties.

Workforce enablement and labor-supporting technology is more important than

ever. Data analytics can be deployed to better understand employee availability

and skillsets, generating models to determine optimal resourcing for running

complex equipment and processes at any given point in time. This streamlines

tasks, improves productivity, and worker satisfaction. Autonomous robots can

also free up simple, manual tasks and help workers tap into colleagues from

different markets for enhanced knowledge sharing and training, while adhering

to social-distancing measures.

3.  Analytics assist materials shortages

VUCA issues related to deviations in raw materials – such as the shortfall in

semiconductor chips impacting automotive manufacturers – can be managed through

data analytics applied in the form of product lifecycle management (PLM)

software. Model predictive controls (MPC), artificial intelligence (AI), and

even "chaos engineering" functions that simulate problems in production systems

can all help manufacturers become more adaptative.

PLM is a sophisticated software platform that serves as an orchestration

backbone of sorts. By using digital production definitions, worker management

functions and advanced visualizations, users can connect their production and

equipment lifecycles with a digital thread that enables control changes.

Future-proofing supply networks to bolster long-term resilience

With change being the only constant, the onus is on supply-chain players to

digitalize in order to counter VUCA and other impactful events. Building

greater agility, resilience, and sustainability into supply-chain processes

accelerates access to actionable information, allowing businesses to respond

more effectively when challenges arise.

SOURCE:  Rockwell Automation