Gerhard Hartman
Globalisation, developments in international trade, changing customer expectations, digital transformation and, of course, the novel coronavirus, are forcing the African manufacturing sector to reinvent itself.
In a world where COVID-19 imposes physical distancing requirements on us and reveals just how fragile global trade links can be, it’s more important than ever for companies to be able to react rapidly when something unexpected happens in their supply chain.
In such a situation, could you react quickly to prevent damage, and could you trace the cause of the problem to take corrective action? With end-users demanding more accountability from suppliers, this is one of the key challenges for process manufacturers.
Conscious consumers
Your customers are becoming hyper-aware of what they consume; they want to know exactly where their food and products come from. Especially in today’s environment, where COVID-19 has hit the economy hard, they also want to support their local economy.
In most parts of the world, consumers want to reduce their environmental footprint by buying from sustainable suppliers. If you’re an exporter, you’ll also face tough compliance requirements, especially when it comes to trade agreements and legislation.
All this impacts the entire supply chain and requires the ability to access the complete product history – including handling and production steps – in case any quality, safety, or sustainability questions are raised throughout the manufacturing supply chain.
Traceability is vital to ensuring compliance, managing quality, reducing inefficiency, and protecting companies’ reputations. It increases visibility into the supply chain and manufacturing processes, improves quality control systems, and reduces risk.
It also:
- Makes it easier to trade with other countries,
- Helps manufacturers to quickly locate and recall defective or unsafe products,
- Helps manufacturers to identify the source of all inputs, such as raw materials, chemicals, additives, ingredients, and packaging,
- Prevents product counterfeiting,
- Builds agility and flexibility into the supply chain,
- Reduces costs,
- Keeps customers informed, happy, and loyal,
- Helps meet regulatory requirements, and
- Mitigates risk associated with non-compliance.
Efficient and accurate tracing depends on all businesses in your supply chain complying with international standards.
Sage’s Riding the Wave of Uncertainty report found that 90% of process manufacturers without supply chain traceability reported risks associated with reputation and compliance. Pharmaceutical process manufacturers even reported risk to human life. Other risks included loss of brand value (reported by 54% of respondents) and legal proceedings (45%).
Emerging technology can help process manufacturers to advance their traceability efforts by using their data to manage product quality, protect their customers, and avoid reputational damage and hefty fines.
These technologies include:
- The Internet of Things (IoT): The IoT allows process manufacturers to track a product’s movement through the supply chain, using sensors, radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, and quick response (QR) codes. With the IoT, manufacturers can track everything from a product’s source, to transportation, to storage conditions, and destination.
- Big data analytics: By analysing data in real-time, process manufacturers can either predict a problem before it happens or stop it from spreading throughout the supply chain once identified. With everything tracked, traced, and recorded, they can respond immediately to unexpected events and problems.
- Cloud computing: Cloud computing is the engine that powers the IoT and big data analytics. Cloud-based software can automate entire processes associated with infrastructure, operating systems, databases, and applications.
- Blockchain: Distributed ledgers like blockchain provide a framework for end-to-end digital trade executions, digitalising documents and trade execution processes, and facilitating trust between parties across the supply chain.
Process manufacturers say the main benefits of investing in emerging technology include reduced operational costs (35%), increased visibility across the supply chain (20%) and automation of repetitive tasks (27%).
If you haven’t yet, it’s worth evaluating your supply chain for compliance because traceability helps you to consistently drive success while protecting your reputation and minimising risk.