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In a rapidly changing political and technological world, mutual trust between business partners plays an increasingly important role. Collaboration within trusted supply networks is becoming a critical competitive factor. It is the basis for successful cooperation within the industry. Trust is also built through the timely and comprehensive provision of data that is shared by all parties. The resulting ecosystem brings immediate economic benefits and is the building block for end-to-end industrial digitalization.So far, 2024 has been a year of constant challenges: Geopolitical conflicts, economic crises, and rapid technological leaps are all putting politics, business, and society to the test. Despite all the uncertainties, many events have made one thing clear time and again: We can only move forward together. That is why we need partners from other countries, other industries and other parts of our supply chain - partners we can trust.Politicians in Germany and industry have recognized this. Various initiatives such as GAIA-X, Manufacturing-X or Catena-X have been launched to bring together the various players in an integrated value chain. SupplyOn was also addressed, as SupplyOn has been operating an ecosystem for more than 20 years, has continuously expanded it and is now also interoperable with other ecosystems such as Catena-X.In a business context, such a network requires one thing above all else: mutual trust. Those who collaborate beyond their own company boundaries and strategically share information with partners, suppliers, customers or government agencies need a secure, reliable digital environment!IDC's "Future of Industry Ecosystems 2023" study shows once again that ecosystems and business success are closely linked: 90% of respondents said they will increasingly rely on connected data ecosystems in the future and plan to maintain or accelerate their investments in them. The drivers are:Increased business agility,greater process automationimproved system integration, andincreased data sharing with partners, also for ESG reasons.It is no secret that data and distributed data is what gives networked ecosystems their unique value. Teams and systems in different companies, locations or government agencies can access the same data in real time. Access rights control the shared view of the data, giving stakeholders an unprecedented view of their own information and a clear understanding of the big picture. Based on this broader insight from multiple systems, stakeholders can now make more informed, faster decisions.In practice, we have already seen that this approach to digital collaboration is successful. Companies such as Pfizer and Biontech were able to research a vaccine against Covid-19 in a very short time, and leading companies such as Henkel and Covestro are already using the digital twin to make their contribution to decarbonization across teams. At a large company like Henkel, each business unit functions as a separate company. In one project, more than 4,000 physical and virtual sensors were installed in different areas and integrated into a single system. These sensors measure electricity, fossil fuels, compressed air, steam, water, and waste water, showing energy consumption on a plant-wide level, as well as in individual production areas and technologies. This enables Henkel to clearly identify where and how energy is consumed in different teams and parts of the company, and to initiate measures to reduce energy consumption. As a result, they have improved energy consumption and emissions data across the supply chain by 5 to 6 percent per year.The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) throughout the system provides even greater competitive advantages. Predictive and prescriptive analyses, for example, make it possible to predict bottleneck situations in the supply chain in good time, identify risks and thus proactively avoid supply bottlenecks. Here, too, SupplyOn is already using AI solutions in its ecosystem to strengthen the resilience of the supply chain, make inventories and bottleneck situations visible, minimize risks and thus enable faster and better-informed decisions. This enables them to ensure that products and services meet customer expectations and that ESG regulations, among others, are implemented efficiently (see SupplyOn's ESG Suite).Buyers, planners, schedulers, suppliers and customers: Each stakeholder benefits from a holistic view of the value chain with improved transparency and real-time data. An analysis by Aveva shows that integrated ecosystem thinking enables industry leaders to increase profitability by 10 percent, triple return on investment and achieve up to 20 percent higher sustainability performance. The SupplyOn experts will be happy to advise you on how to successfully implement an ecosystem.
On January 1, 2023, the so-called Act on Corporate Due Diligence Obligations in Supply Chains — known in common language as the Supply Chain Act — will come into force in Germany. Oliver, you have been dealing with this topic for quite some time. What is your impression? Are the companies that are affected by it well prepared for it?Initially, the law only affects large companies with more than 3,000 employees in Germany. My impression is that many of these companies are dealing with the issue but have not yet taken all the precautions to be able to fulfill the required due diligence.Just one year later, on January 1, 2024, even smaller companies with 1,000 or more employees will be affected. Even if this deadline still seems a long way off, there will be an urgent need for action from mid-2023 at the latest.What needs to be done in concrete terms?The law obliges companies to exercise due diligence with regard to the protection of human rights and the environment — and in particular with regard to their supply chains. This includes, for example, the protection of children, fair working conditions, environmental protection measures to ensure the health of workers — to name the most important aspects.To begin with, this means that companies must take a very close look at their supply chain and ensure maximum transparency: How, where and under what conditions do my suppliers produce? At which of my suppliers' production sites is there a risk of human rights being disregarded? And so on. Then they must work with critical suppliers to minimize their risk potential.Creating transparency in the supply chainThat sounds like a lot of work, which certainly creates major challenges for companies.That's true — but the good news is: there are established tools that can be used to digitize and automate these processes. If we take SupplyOn's solutions, they all essentially aim to create maximum transparency in the supply chain. This starts with master data, which can be easily maintained and updated via SupplyOn and is centrally available to the entire organization. It continues with action plans, which can be created and processed online, and extends to comprehensive risk management, which can be implemented via SupplyOn by incorporating external and internal data sources.Tools are one aspect — but how does a company integrate its suppliers into this process without having to invest an extremely large amount of time and effort?SupplyOn offers the advantage of an enormously large active supplier network, consisting of over 140,000 companies worldwide. Numerous data are already available here in the highest quality. Suppliers only need to update their data in one place. In the end, everyone involved benefits from this.The four-step approachWhat would be a pragmatic approach, in other words, what would you specifically recommend to a company — and how can SupplyOn support it?I recommend approaching the subject in digestible "bites" step by step, as follows:Step 1Create transparency in the existing supplier base: The SupplyOn Business Directory in combination with the Flexible Survey offers the possibility to make an inquiry among the suppliers. Corresponding questionnaires are already available in the system and can be used easily. The results flow automatically into the Business Directory. This sets the foundation on which to begin.Step 2Adding other aspects related to the Supply Chain Act to contracts: SupplyOn Contract Management offers contract templates that include these aspects and supports the update process for new and existing contracts.Step 3Creation of a catalog of measures to optimally support suppliers on their way to compliance regarding the Supply Chain Act: Using SupplyOn Action Management, remedial and preventive measures can be defined in coordination with the supplier and then processed in a structured and transparent manner for both parties. This ensures that agreed measures are actually anchored in the organization and that new processes are put into practice.Step 4Expand risk management and existing reporting processes to include Supply Chain Act aspects: SupplyOn offers the option of enriching an already established internal risk management system with external data in such a way that this creates an even more precise picture of the actual risk. In times of great uncertainty, this step is essential and should be the desired goal for all companies.And one final advice?Don't hesitate any longer, just start and work your way forward step by step.
