Supply chain management can be like navigating a labyrinth filled with unexpected twists and turns, and major disruptions like enemies threatening to upset the balance of operations across the ecosystem. But the good news is there’s a hero in the digital realm ready to come to the rescue – and that’s the digital supply chain twin.
Picture the digital supply chain twin as your trusty sidekick, armed with data-driven superpowers, helping you conquer the challenges of modern supply chain planning operations.
A digital supply chain twin is a virtual replica of the physical supply chain, enabling end-to-end decision making and unlocking a myriad of benefits. Digital twins are state-of-the-art models provided by supply chain planning software, and generated as high-performing organizations develop more end-to-end supply chain planning decisions using predictive and prescriptive analytics. Companies benefit from a dynamic and real-time representation of the various associations between the data objects that compose the supply chain, covering the entire network and providing end-to-end visibility for automated decision making.
Traditional practices often fall short in meeting the demands of modern supply chain operations. This is where digital transformation comes into play, to help organizations transform processes and operations to efficiently navigate today’s fast-paced and complex business environment. The digital supply chain twin plays a key role in the process to digitally transform supply chains – driving innovation and decision-making, and revolutionizing the way businesses operate.
According to IDC, analysts have predicted that by 2025, 80% of industry ecosystems participants will leverage their own product, asset, and process digital twins to share data and insight with other participants.
Let’s explore five ways the digital supply chain twin supercharges your supply chain performance and helps you save the day in the midst of uncertainty.
1 - See: Sensing Upcoming Shocks Earlier and Deeper
A digital supply chain twin acts as a real-time monitoring system, enabling companies to sense and anticipate potential disruptions across the supply chain. Just like a superhero with super senses, a digital twin has an uncanny ability to foresee potential disruptions lurking in the shadows of your supply chain. It scans mountains of data, detects patterns and anomalies, and alerts you to danger – well, supply shortages, production delays, or transportation mishaps, to be more precise.
With increased visibility across the end-to-end supply chain network, you can proactively respond to upcoming shocks, strategize with contingency plans, optimize inventory levels, and beat any villainous disruptions or unforeseen events before they can impact your operations.
2 - Understand: Leveraging Complex Signals and Relationships
Historically, different functions within the supply chain operated in silos, hindering collaboration and efficiency. A digital supply chain twin breaks down these barriers by connecting various stakeholders and functions across the extended supply chain network. It enables a comprehensive understanding of complex signals, relationships and interdependencies, allowing you to optimize your operations holistically and enhance the overall supply chain performance.
3 - Act: Improving Decision Making and Execution
One of the key advantages of a digital supply chain twin is its ability to simulate and optimize decision-making processes. By leveraging real-time data and advanced algorithms, you can run scenarios, assess the impact of different strategies, and make informed decisions.
Whether it's adjusting production schedules, optimizing inventory allocation, or reallocating resources, the digital twin provides an innovative environment to experiment and ensure that actions are executed in the right place at the right time. This allows you to enhance operational efficiency, reduce costs, and minimize risks.
4 - Learn: Applying AI and Advanced Analytics
Imagine having a sidekick that not only anticipates your every move but also learns from every adventure. The digital supply chain twin is equipped with the latest AI/ML capabilities and advanced analytics. It analyzes historical data, interprets market trends, automates decisions, takes actions and unlocks insights into the future.
You can use the model’s real-time insights to automate routine tasks, optimize inventory, dynamically adjust production schedules, and quickly adapt to evolving market conditions. By continuously learning from data, the digital twin becomes smarter over time, enhancing decision-making and driving operational excellence.
5 - Analyze: Intelligence to Drive Continuous Improvement
As a true supply chain superhero, you strive for constant growth and improvement – and the digital supply chain twin delivers the intelligence you need to fully understand the behavior of your supply chain, and reach your full potential.
The digital supply chain twin facilitates a deep understanding of the supply chain network because it is modeling the structure and behavior including attributes, policies, dynamics, and physical elements. By doing so, it captures the realities and complexities of the real-world, such as seasonal customer preferences and uncertainty, with the ability to self-optimize and self-correct the supply chain. It also leverages probabilistic planning to account for a wide range of uncertainties in the plan. With a digital supply chain twin, combined with real/near-time operational data and advanced intelligence capabilities, the system can sense, understand, predict, and learn from the current status of operations. This intelligence is reflected in KPIs that offer a more accurate depiction of future states, enabling users to make better decisions regarding safety stock levels, probability of lead times, and more.
This data-driven approach fosters a culture of continuous improvement and enables companies like yours to stay agile in a rapidly evolving business landscape.
6 - Become An Unstoppable Force Within the Supply Chain Universe
The future of supply chain planning is here, and it’s supercharged with the digital supply chain twin. With a dynamic virtual representation of your end-to-end supply chain network, you can unleash the full potential of your operations and embark on a heroic journey of efficiency, augmented decision-making, supply chain resiliency and success.
Let us show you how you can leverage the superpowers of a digital supply chain twin and transform your supply chain.
