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How Embracing IoT Enables Business Growth
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How Embracing IoT Enables Business Growth
How Embracing IoT Enables Business Growth 700 500 Xcelpros Team

At a Glance

  • $5.5 – $12.6 trillion: The estimated dollar impact on the world economy from the Industrial Internet of Things by 2030
  • 26%: The impact of IoT in manufacturing, hospitals, and other areas
  • 10 – 14%: The impact of IoT in human health-related companies
  • 55%, down from 61% in 2020: The economic value potential of the developed world

Source: McKinsey Digital

IoT in Production

The Internet of Things is continuing to have a growing impact on all industries, including the production of medicines and other pharmaceuticals.

“The IoT enables devices to connect and exchange data. The IoT connects assets to processes, systems, and people in manufacturing. This enables better integration of plant processes, achieving higher productivity levels and taking manufacturing to the next level of transformation, Industry 4.0,” a blog post from IBM states.

“IoT for manufacturing can harness the data from machines and equipment to transform the processes and systems of the modern factory environment. By denying or ignoring the transformation that the IoT (internet of things) will inevitably bring, manufacturers risk falling behind competitors and losing clients that value speed and innovation,”

Today, the world is in the midst of the fourth Industrial Revolution following 1783’s use of water power and steam, 1870’s introduction of electricity and the 1960’s switch from analog to digital technology.

Industry 4.0 embraces cognitive manufacturing using a combination of connected sensors, big data, predictive analysis and robotics. With the industrial internet of things (IIoT) on the rise, human workers are moving away from repetitive, mundane tasks. Instead of people dipping thermometers into vats or manually counting products, sensors can monitor temperatures in real time. Barcode labels attached to everything from individual packages to pallets let handheld devices identify the contents and where they belong.

This information flows from sensors to device controllers for each machine. Each controller sends information into a plant’s internal computer network. From there, it’s passed into individual workstations that can be anywhere in the world.

Digital Controllers for IoT

Walk into any production plant anywhere in the world and regardless of what the plant produces, changes are high you’ll see controllers made by Siemens.

“Siemens is a pioneer in framework and energy arrangements, just as computerization and programming for the Industrial Control And Factory Automation Market. Being one of the world’s greatest makers of energy-effective, asset sparing advancements, this organization gives research center diagnostics, clinical imaging hardware, and clinical IT solutions,” Verified Market Research states.

VMR lists Siemens of Germany at the top of its seven industrial control and factory automation companies. The others are ABB of Sweden, Emerson Process Management of the U.S., Rockwell Automation of the U.S., Schneider Electric headquartered in France, Honeywell of the U.S. and Mitsubishi Electric of Japan.

Siemens markets the SIMATIC IOT ® gateways, which make it easy to, “implement forward-looking production concepts in your existing plant with SIMATIC IOT gateways – they’re open, versatile, and retrofittable,” the company states.

One of Siemen’s products is a controller aimed at cloud computing: the SIMATIC Cloud Connect 7. These types of controllers help companies with far-flung operations in multiple countries share information in real-time, letting workers know what’s going on in a machine a continent away. Industrial manufacturers sending this information through the Microsoft Azure cloud computing platform can easily access data from—or send commands to—devices using these controllers.

Siemens’ industrial robots “help manufacturers grow and develop new applications that were once unfeasible with previous robotics technology.” Combining different Siemens controllers and robots is one way small and medium businesses can boost their production and efficiency. By automating formerly repetitive steps, companies can run production lines longer with reduced errors. Fewer human interaction is required, allowing production runs without anyone in the building.

Information from these controllers produces what’s commonly referred to as “big data.” Terabytes of data can be routed through machine controllers into your network from individual sensors. Unfortunately, this information is almost worthless if you can’t make it work for you.

Figure: 1IoT Enterprise Spending Forecast

IoT Enterprise Spending Forecast

IoT Data

When it comes to IoT data, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software is the next logical step in the flow of information. ERPs are designed to organize the data sent through your controllers and present it in useable forms such as graphical dashboards and reports.

“ERP systems bridge information gaps across different departments within a business allowing managers to see a more holistic view of a company’s finances and critical issues. With easy access to all company processes and data, managers can make quick and informed decisions to improve the productivity of the business,” according to Omniaccounts.

One important ERP feature is resource allocation. Modern sensors and controllers might be able to tell you what each machine is doing, but not which sequence of machines is most efficient. That’s where your ERP comes in.

Omniaccounts states “When ERP systems are implemented correctly across a business, they transform the financial, operational, and human resource aspects of an organization. Companies at the forefront of innovation are implementing ERP software to improve the way data is shared across an organization, reduce internal costs, increase efficiency, and improve processes across their organizations. An ERP system fits in with any industry, be it retail, corporate, industrial, and even small businesses, assisting with the day-to-day operations of the company and the ever-changing industry needs.”

Effective ERP

Picking the right ERP for your business can make a big difference in functionality. Among the many benefits of modern ERP for manufacturing is improving supply chain efficiency by helping track raw materials from the supplier to your warehouse. Once the essential items arrive, an ERP designed with labeling makes it easy to efficiently store, trace and track products throughout production and on to customers.

The right ERP also boosts production by enabling more efficient resource allocation.

Imagine your factory is running a dozen different jobs and one of the orders is smaller than normal. When that job completes, the ERP can indicate that a machine is available. The remaining time can then be used for preventive maintenance, to run a low-volume order for one customer, or increase production for another.

On top of resource allocation, especially with IoT data, an ERP with predictive analysis helps companies.

  • It lets you know when a part is showing wear so you can replace it before having to shut down a production line
  • It helps predict where new markets will emerge through evaluating business intelligence
  • Supply chain information, coupled with business intelligence, can predict where the next Suez Canal-type fiasco might occur, giving you the option to route your shipments through other ports

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ERPs and Pharmaceutical

Today’s modern ERPs are a great way to boost the business of any small, medium or large business. ERP Research lists six ERP software makers whose products are especially good for pharmaceutical companies.

“Many pharmaceutical companies are exploring Microsoft Dynamics as their pharmaceutical ERP. The solution provides great flexibility plus a large partner ecosystem that has developed many pharmaceutical industry add-ons,” ERP Research states.

An important advantage of using Microsoft Dynamics 365 products is the company’s focus on security. Using Azure, Microsoft’s cloud computing platform provides an additional layer of data security as propriety information travels from one company site to another.

Labeling solutions that can print either barcodes or QR codes lets pharmaceutical companies embed any and every piece of required information in each label. A scan of an individual product’s label can then provide all data required in order to meet the regulations of each country or state that item moves through after leaving the factory. Even safety data sheet (SDS) information and instructions can be embedded in a label, quickly and easily.

Final Thoughts

IoT in the pharmaceutical industry is sure to be a defining factor as more use cases develop. Any company wanting to take advantage of modern technology and move to Industry 4.0 need to look at investing in at least three types of products:

  1. 1.IoT sensors to gather information at the machine level
  2. 2.Controllers to guide that data into your network
  3. 3.A modern, efficient and scalable Enterprise Resource Planning tool like Microsoft Dynamics 365 to turn that data into information for helping your company run more efficiently and profitably.

This combination gives your company an edge over competitors locked into older products and programs. Is your business IoT ready?

Best Practices for Managing your ERP Data
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ERP Data Management Best Practices
ERP Data Management Best Practices 700 500 Xcelpros Team

At a Glance

  • 53%: The percentage of IT decision makers saying ERP is an investment priority in addition to customer relationship management (CRM) products
  • 50%: The number of companies that are acquiring, upgrading or planning to update ERP systems soon
  • 9%: The amount the enterprise resource planning (ERP) software market grew in 2019
  • 8%: The combined annual growth rate (CAGR) for ERP software worldwide in the next five years
  • $49.5 billion: The total ERP market size is expected to exceed this figure by 2025
  • $10 billion: The size of the North American ERP market alone

Introduction

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software is one of the top priorities—if not the top priority for many manufacturing companies. Depending on the specific product or package, ERPs can do everything from helping track inventory to providing insights into new markets.

One area where ERPs excel is in handling large volumes of data. Before adding Internet of Things (IoT) sensors and devices, some chief executive officers may have thought they were dealing with many bytes and bits. Until IOT was introduced, this group had only seen the tip of the iceberg.

  • 79.4 Zettabytes (one zettabyte equals 1 trillion gigabytes or approximately 30 billion 4K resolution movies): the amount of data that will be created in part by the IoT by 2025
  • 75 billion: The number of IoT devices reaching consumers by 2025
  • $11 trillion ($11,000,000,000,000): The economic impact of the Internet of Things by 2025 as predicted in 2016
  • $1.1 trillion ($1,000,000,000,000): The global spending on (IoT) by 2023

How big is all this data, though? Picture a child at the beach with a small shovel and pail compared to a convoy of large dump trucks: the sheer volume of data created by a production plant is enough to bury many people.

That’s where a good ERP data management plan becomes a necessity so your company can turn the numbers into an action.

ERP Data Management Best Practices

According to Predictive Analytics Today, the best practices for managing today’s huge volume of data include:

Figure: 1ERP Data Management Best Practices

  • Consolidating master data objects from different systems
  • Harmonizing master data records focusing on global attributes
  • Using business context groupings to determine which objects belong together
  • Having a complete object definition, including dependencies on other objects, on the master data server
  • Using client-specific data control at the local (machine) level so individual systems only deal with the data they need when they need it
  • Using content consolidation to locate master data objects across linked systems, identify similar or identical objects and cleanse objects as needed
  • Constantly checking for duplicate information during master data maintenance while safeguarding data quality and not interrupting time-sensitive work
  • Using workflows to check master data for accuracy and duplication while enriching objects based on individual requirements before releasing it

What these practices do is ensure your data accurately represents your production facility. If three separate systems each count the same product and say you have three of them when you really have one, your numbers will be wildly off.

Using an ERP For Data Management

“Because an ERP solution puts all of your data in one location, and there’s no longer the administrative burden of manual data entry, workers can finally focus on the responsibilities they were hired to complete,” according to Aptean.

ERP data integration is critical, especially with companies modernizing their systems. Older products create data unique to their specific task. Sharing data with systems from other companies is not easy. For example, having an inventory package producing barcodes for easy product identification from individual items to bulk lots is great. So is an integrated quality management platform. What’s not good is when the two don’t communicate, you won’t know how much product you have.

A modular ERP that can integrate each of these programs, share data from a user perspective, and have a similar look and feel, makes managing your data much easier. Using an integrated data model becomes essential when working with massive data.

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The Integrated Data Model

The integrated data model uses concepts from three information disciplines: database systems, artificial intelligence, and programming languages.

The Integrated Data Model (IDM) provides a more general and flexible foundation for manipulating information than models underlying traditional database management systems. “The facilities provided by the model can be employed not only for database queries, updates, and report generation but also for managing the arbitrary data structures used by systems programs and application programs,” according to a research paper by David Beech and J. Samuel Feldman.

“One issue is that most systems support their datatypes,” the authors state. New datatypes can be defined as needed using the integrated model and programming language ideas. The data types are stored as abstract objects, letting permanent and temporary data share the same kinds of data structures.

From a business perspective, having the ability to support and extend datatypes beyond one program’s limited range lets analysts examine information from more sources.

Effective ERP solutions not only process this information using AI, they also focus on keeping the data secure.

An Integrated ERP Solution

Running on top of software designed to protect your data as it moves from one location to another through the cloud—Microsoft Azure—an integrated data solution such as Microsoft Dynamics 365 is ideal for companies of any size.

It has the power to harness information from IoT sources such as Siemens controllers, organize it and then use artificial intelligence (AI) to make sense of the numbers, giving users access to contextual cues and actionable insights.

For example, “Dynamics 365 AI for Market Insights can interpret web and social media based data streams to deliver insights regarding an organization’s customers as well as its competitors and industry at large,” according to Into Cloud News.

“AI can tirelessly process intricate data streams and convey the information to human beings in ways that they can intuitively interact with, through the use of dashboards, user interfaces, templates and visualizations. AI can present highly complex and inter-dependent data sets to human decision-makers, either as simplified depictions they can easily grasp or actionable insights driven by pre-engineered responses to parameters,” Into Cloud explains.

Included in the benefits of using AI with Microsoft Dynamics 365 modules are:

  • Real-time insights for sales professionals
  • Enhanced internal communications
  • Better customer engagement
  • Taking actions that are more likely to produce optimal outcomes

The Bottom Line

Having accurate information about when your raw materials are going to be delivered is worthless if that information doesn’t match what your production department needs. A lack of accurate communication occurs when different software packages don’t interact effectively, leading to a siloing of information.

Taking advantage of an integrated approach, especially one that takes advantage of artificial intelligence, provides your company with accurate, real-time data you can use to generate real-time forecasts and adjust schedules, boosting your companies overall efficiency.

An integrated ERP, like the Microsoft Dynamics line of products, lets you share information across departments and continents. The result is far-flung enterprises being able to work as a unified whole.

The importance of pharmacovigilance during a pandemic banner
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The Importance of Pharmacovigilance During a Pandemic
The Importance of Pharmacovigilance During a Pandemic 700 500 Xcelpros Team

At a Glance

  • The World Health Organization (WHO) emphasizes providing the most effective drugs that do not cause severe adverse effects.
  • Understand adverse effects and how to prevent them by assessing the right chemicals, quantities and processes in medical vaccine manufacturing.
  • Digital solutions and services are designed to help scientists and pharmaceutical company decision-makers detect, assess, understand and prevent adverse effects from their medicines.
  • Starting now, pharmaceutical companies are placing a greater emphasis on drug quality checks to avoid mistakes caused by rushing the production process.

Introduction

Today, most people are familiar with terms like “clinical trials,” “safety assessment tests for vaccines” and “FDA approvals” because of COVID-19 media coverage over the last few years. While these terms have always been a part of any pharma and biotech manufacturing companies’ quality assurance program, the ongoing pandemic has made them part of everyday conversation.

People often wonder why it takes so long for a drug or vaccine to get approved for mass use, and rightfully so. The answer however, lies in the principles of pharmacovigilance, also known as drug quality control.

Pharmacovigilance is the science and activities relating to the detection, assessment, understanding, and prevention of adverse effects or any other drug-related problem. Source: The World Health Organization

The Primary Goals of Pharmacovigilance Guidelines

The goals of a typical pharmaceutical quality control program include:

  • Assessing a drug’s short-term and long-term adverse effects and any harm the drug might cause a patient.
  • Continuously collating and monitoring a particular drug’s safety data.
  • Assessing the risks and rewards of the drug to make a guided decision on the administration of the drug.
  • Communicating adverse drug reactions (ADRs) data between health professionals and clinical researchers while maintaining transparency at all levels.
  • Preventing the distribution and administration of unsafe drugs by medical bodies and drug companies.

All pharmaceutical companies require a team of professionals to carry on this constant quality check of their drugs. This team can include scientists, clinicians, biochemists, physicians and medical writers. The team’s job is to collect, collate, analyze and assess the safety profile of every drug.

This task requires constant alertness and unprecedented agility for an accurate and quick response. In today’s market, manual data reviews are no longer adequate. Combining finely tuned digital tools and well-trained employees is the best way to protect patients from severe injury or death.

A drug maker’s automated quality control program should be smart enough to help collect, analyze and check data. The software equipped with artificial intelligence can check a drug’s composition, verify safety profile mapping and perform other crucial steps required for necessary quality checks.

Pharmaceutical companies need to follow a wide range of procedures to ensure their pharmacovigilance is up to government and industry standards in order to remain compliant.

“The scope of the problem of poor-quality drugs transcends national borders because the manufacturing and supply chain of medical products thrives in an international market.” Elizabeth Ndichu, MD, and Kevin Schulman, MD

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To comply with new quality standards and still meet today’s demands for fast-track drug development and clinical trials, pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms need to strictly adhere to the process of end-to-end pharmacovigilance.

  • Carrying out detailed patient surveys for different age groups, countries and health conditions
  • Using consultants and experts to manage its quality control program
  • Using software such as Microsoft Dynamics 365 for the pharmaceutical industry to help ensure error-free data maintenance, analysis and report generation
  • Keeping all stakeholders in loop at all times to avoid any errors
  • Maintaining records of their quality control policies and procedures. These records are required for medicines plus other products such as cosmetics, nutritional supplements and dietary products
  • Formulating a plan for intervention, mitigation, assessment and resolution in the event of drug quality issues

Figure 1:Digital Ecosystem: Pharmacovigilance

Digital Ecosystem: Pharmacovigilance

Pharmaceutical companies need to take an agile approach toward pharmacovigilance. Leveraging technology for streamlining safety procedures and quality checks is no longer a matter of convenience but a necessity.

Solutions like Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management provide Quality Control functionality. Each of these computer programs has methods to collect, track and report quality test results. This software is a comprehensive solution that makes it easy to leverage technology to streamline quality check operations.

These solutions can pave the way towards regulatory compliance, stringent component mapping and monitoring of a drug’s safety profile. It reduces manual intervention by employees, allowing individual case safety reports (ICSRs) to be performed easily.

Microsoft Dynamics modules can be used by different departments by the likes of clinical researchers, scientists, medical writers, physicians, medical representatives and government drug governing bodies. These solutions for monitoring drug safety are considered one of the best investments a company can make today.

Key Takeaways

  • Technologically-enhanced pharmacovigilance is the need of the hour for today’s pharmaceutical companies.
  • The pharmaceutical sector continues to evolve on a large scale. This change requires gathering medicinal data at a global level to map drug safety.
  • Forming a blueprint to follow the pharmacological journey is a critical step for any pharma and biotech company.

References: Pharmacovigilance: Regulation and Prequalification

Grow Your Manufacturing Company With Microsoft Dynamics 365
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Grow Your Manufacturing Company With the Microsoft Dynamics 365
Grow Your Manufacturing Company With the Microsoft Dynamics 365 700 500 Xcelpros Team

At a Glance

The top enterprise application companies in terms of market share are:

  • SAP: 8.05%
  • Microsoft 7.18%
  • Oracle: 5.6%
  • Salesforce: 3.48%
  • IBM: 2.51%

Towards the end of 2020, Microsoft reported 258 million monthly active business users. Today, 1.2 billion people in 140 countries speaking 107 languages use a Microsoft product.

Introduction

Very few businesses decide, “today is the day we shrink.” Instead, most small and medium businesses focus their attention and resources on growing their market share or expanding into new markets.

Successful companies use every available tool to get an edge on their competition. This is especially true in a world where the success of a supply chain can rest on a single freighter or a lack of manpower at a key port. All leaders need to do is look at what happened in the Suez Canal and the One part of the problem impacted goods going to Europe, while the other continued to affect products going in and out of the US.

One tool many companies use is enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. The top-tier versions of these products go beyond looking at spreadsheets and mountains of data. One of the world’s most used ERP platforms is Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 line of products, which is used on 73 percent of all computer systems.

Modular Design of Dynamics 365

Figure: 1Microsoft Dynamics 365 modules

Dynamics 365 module designs

Dynamics 365 has been designed as a modular solution with five main sections. Each module has its own unique functions and depending on your company’s needs, one module may be enough.

Dynamics 365 Finance

Dynamics 365 Finance is Microsoft’s flagship ERP that includes artificial intelligence designed to help assess the health of your business, improve financial controls, optimize cash flow, and make strategic decisions faster. The result is driving growth by using real-time, unified global financial reporting, embedded analytics, and predictive insights.

Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management

Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management is designed to accelerate inbound and outbound processes such as put-away and pick-pack-ship, and identify potential machine issues before they occur.

Dynamics 365 Business Central

Dynamics 365 Business Central can manage all core business functions and help deliver projects on time and under budget.

Dynamics 365 Sales

Dynamics 365 Sales is designed to improve responses, conversions and win rates, helping you provide more personalized, meaningful engagement. It also helps examine your sales data, delivering insights with the power of AI.

Dynamics 365 Marketing

Dynamics 365 Marketing creates seamless customer experiences through marketing automation, shared data and business processes connected to Dynamics 365 Sales. It increases lead generation.

Preferred solutions like Integrated Chemical Management (iCM) and Integrated Quality Management (iQM)—add insights to pharmaceutical and chemical manufacturing companies.

These programs work seamlessly with Azure, Microsoft’s cloud computing platform. Azure provides a key link when manufacturing companies want to use the Internet of Things (IoT) and share information across far-flung enterprises.F

D365 Finance: The Heart of Microsoft’s Modern Solutions

Sitting at the core of Microsoft Dynamics 365 builds on the company’s history of creating multi-user accounting software, which began nearly 30 years ago. Dynamics Release 1.0 made its debut in February 1993.

Since its debut as 32-bit software, Dynamics 365 Finance—previously known as Finance and Operations—has grown significantly with the times. Artificial intelligence is now part of its ability to examine financial reporting, analyze data and provide meaningful insights.

For midsize to large companies, the finance module is designed to be used, especially by people who are already familiar with Office products like Outlook and Excel.

Accounting elements of D365 Finance are:

  • General ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable, and bank reconciliation
  • Asset management
  • Month and year-end closing
  • Budgeting and planning

The Finance module also includes management functions covering operations, sales and service, projects, and reporting and analytics.

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Automating Payment Processing is Part of D365 Finance

Many companies are adopting D365 Finance because of its ability to efficiently automate payment processing, allowing you to “create a predefined schedule with a combination of payment proposal criteria to create payment journals with less user intervention,” according to MSDynamicsWorld.

Process automation in D365 begins by setting a schedule under Accounts Payable > Setup > Payments > Process Automations.

The most interesting and advanced feature lets you schedule automation across companies (payment journals would be created in respective companies) without changing the company’s day to day activities of using Dynamics 365 Finance,Source: MSDynamicsWorld

Users can set up batch jobs, define alerts, set amount limits and include invoices from other companies using the included Centralized Payments option, where filters are easily set.

D365 Finance payment process automation lets you:

  • Schedule payment process using different requirements for each day or time of day
  • Reduce manual journal creation
  • Monitor activity with a dashboard view, which informs you of any errors so you can resolve them

Integrating Finance with Supply Chain Management

Keeping track of your products is critical, especially in today’s highly regulated world. Pharmaceutical and chemical companies are under a microscope in terms of regulations. When it comes to shipping medicines or chemicals, the word “complex” doesn’t come close to managing and meeting these requirements.

One important feature in Supply Chain Management (SCM) is its ability to store information related to hazardous materials. Information on these materials is stored in the Product Information section.

  • ADR: Covering the international shipment of dangerous goods by road
  • CFR 49: Regulating dangerous goods by road in the US
  • IMDG: The International Marine Dangerous Goods code
  • IATA: The International Air Transport Association dangerous goods regulations

Handling hazardous materials is a comparatively minor feature in D365 Supply Chain Management, though. Its primary functions relate to inventory management and automating inventory controls.

For example, SCM lets companies create barcode labels for individual products and license plates for pallets and larger shipments. These barcodes can be read by handheld scanners and cellphones letting workers know exactly what is in each container.

In terms of warehouse management, knowing precise quantities of each item allows management to order exactly what it needs. This information management ensures enough materials for production runs without running out of storage space. SCM helps companies walk that fine line between having too little inventory to meet customer needs and tying up funds on extra products. Built-in stock and inventory management functions provide a wealth of data for manufacturing companies.

When dealing with shipping finished goods to customers, SCM’s same labeling and tracking functions, combined with business intelligence, helps route shipments.

Imagine you need to get two pallets from a factory in China to Los Angeles. When shipping by sea, this would normally take about 16 days. That time frame normally works for the product’s 30-day shelf life. However, problems related to Covid-19 mean the delay at the San Pedro docks is now 36 days. When adding Power BI (business intelligence) to your software solution, you are warned about the delay in finding another route.

The Bottom Line

Today’s business world is much different than it used to be. It is running not on gears, widgets and gadgets but big data and mountains of information. Bytes and bits in the form of 0’s and 1s provide insight that today’s organizations rely on to grow. The Microsoft Dynamics 365 line of modular ERP products includes essential information on when it can do its best: before a situation becomes critical.

These robust, modern products offer different functions but share a common goal – helping your company stay competitive in today’s digital world.

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How a Pharma CDMO can manage the Serialization Challenge
How a Pharma CDMO can manage the Serialization Challenge 700 500 Xcelpros Team

At a Glance

  • Today, serialization has moved from being a luxury option to a necessity.
  • Pharmaceutical companies are hiring contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs) to develop solutions that maintain drug quality while avoiding supply chain problems.
  • Pharmaceutical serialization lets manufacturers keep accurate track of their inventory wherever it may be.

As more pharmaceutical and chemical companies move to digitize their operations, they’re looking for ways to track raw materials and finished products through the manufacturing cycle. One way to track these products is through serialization.

“Serialization is the assigning of a predetermined coding type to each product item, assigning it a distinct identity” for tracking and tracing its location in the supply chain,” RFXcel.com states. A simple definition calls serialization, “the process of assigning a unique identity to each saleable product item,” according to Neurotags.com.

Pharmaceutical companies that have gone digital are starting to use serialization to track and trace their products throughout the supply chain. The industry is constantly looking to improve its tracking systems to combat counterfeiting, theft, packaging and storage errors. Companies are also worried about their products being altered after leaving their plants.

Pharmaceutical companies often hire contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs). Using digital labeling methods such as barcodes and QR codes (a type of barcode) helps serialize the supply chain, making tracking raw materials and finished goods easier.

30-40% of all medicines circulated in the developing countries are counterfeit.
5-7% of all medicines circulated in the developed countries are fake. Source: WHO Report

Counterfeit drugs pose a serious threat to the public’s health. They also damage the reputations of legitimate companies and the pharmaceutical industry globally.

CDMOs worldwide face challenges when implementing a robust pharma serialization solution. Streamlining manufacturing and distribution processes while understanding their client’s unique requirements is challenging.

Serialization Challenges Faced by CDMO

Some of the challenges a CDMO faces while implementing pharmaceutical serialization for track and trace functionality include:

Seamless Serialization for Multiple Clients

CDMOs typically prefer to operate globally, providing comprehensive drug manufacturing and supply services to many pharmaceutical companies. Catering to a diverse client base has its unique set of challenges, especially when it comes to the serialization of individual drugs.

CDMOs need to equip themselves with the right technology to be able to modify their production or manufacturing lines and seamlessly label multiple drugs for different clients.

Regional Compliance

Every country around the world can have different regulations for exporting drugs. Labeling—or serialization—is part of that compliance. CDMOs are expected to take responsibility in terms of drug quality of drugs and compliance with various government rules. Being in compliance is challenging for CDMOs, especially considering the volume of information required to achieve it.

Figure: 1Key Serialization Challenges Faced by CDMOs

Key Serialization Challenges Faced by CDMOs

Picking the Right Labelling Solution

When it comes to drug serialization, a “one size fits all” approach to labeling solutions doesn’t always work. Assuming a CDMO has a preferred labeling software, there’s still the important decision of choosing:

  • Printer types such as thermal inkjet, thermal transfer, lasers
  • Printing materials such as paper, film or holograms
  • Special formulas to make counterfeiting harder

In terms of label design, everything must meet government codes and regulations. This applies to label layout, orientation, barcode configuration and other design elements. Every label must be printed in time to avoid delaying shipments. CDMOs are pressured to make the right choices for coding and labeling products.

Understanding Market Requirements

While larger pharmaceutical manufacturing companies use an in-house team of analysts and marketing specialists, smaller firms often rely on CDMOs for market intelligence.

When it comes to labelling client drugs, CDMOs need to understand the different markets and their requirements. Using market analysis, CDMOs must decide how many drugs need to be labelled for a particular market, including whether they’re choosing to label randomly or with a centralized approach.

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Overcoming Serialization Challenges

No two CDMO clients are the same and neither are the challenges each CDMO faces. In terms of how each company deals with its serialization issues, they should consider:

  • Equipping their workforce with the technical knowledge and details of serialization hardware and software
  • Making use of advanced technological applications like Big Data, cloud computing, the Internet of Things (IoT and advanced analytics)
  • Understanding how enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, like the Microsoft Dynamics 365 line of modular product, can help them maintain and monitor client data

With the right software and people skilled in its use, a CDMO can manage multiple production lines while meeting drug production requirements for different clients.

Investing in the right partner with experts that understand global pharmaceutical regulations will help CDMOs label and locate their products no matter where they are in the world.

Since CDMOs are not only vendors but also producers, they need to be in constant contact with their clients and suppliers. This includes dealers, wholesalers, packagers and transporters. Using the right ERP will help them maintain transparency at every level while avoiding recalls or stock-outs.

CDMOs benefit by developing flexible templates for their serialization solutions. These templates serve as a blueprint for any pharmaceutical client. Making them flexible lets a CDMO adjust a process to meet the client’s requirements, saving time, effort and money.

Final Thoughts

Drug serialization and labelling pose several challenges for CDMOs around the world. However, managing these challenges is an excellent opportunity for an organization to show its technological skills. When a CDMO has the right team and solution, it can overcome any challenge.

Taking advantage of products like Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 suite of solutions gives pharmaceutical companies access to powerful tools. Included is a way to track serialization, such as customer onboarding and lot traceability to toll manufacturing, from start to finish.

Using a powerful and effective ERP to enhance serialization will help a CDMO combat counterfeiting and theft while ensuring government compliance. At the same time, good software can also help a CDMO establish a more efficient supply chain.

Meeting serialization requirements for pharmaceuticals pose many technical and skill-based challenges. CDMOs worldwide are constantly looking for more efficient ways to handle these challenges. Investing in the right partner can make a big difference.

With the help of cutting-edge applications, a skilled team and a systematic approach toward serialization, CDMOs can establish themselves as leading end-to-end manufacturing and distribution partners.

References: What Is a CDMO (and Why Do You Need One)

How Azure helps SMBs grow
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How Azure helps SMBs grow their businesses
How Azure helps SMBs grow their businesses 700 500 Xcelpros Team

Azure is

Small and medium businesses and enterprises (SMBs/ SMEs) looking to move into a secure and versatile cloud computing environment need to take a closer look at Microsoft’s Azure platform. About to enter its 12th year, Azure has provided a wealth of open-source programs, renowned security, cloud computing services, and scalability to help small and medium businesses grow.

Microsoft’s Azure is:

  • Hybrid cloud computing, letting companies create virtual machines on Linux or Windows platforms.
  • Application development including E-commerce and mobile products.
  • AI (artificial intelligence) aimed at helping mine knowledge from your existing data.
  • Cloud migration and modernization, moving information from an on-premise server farm to a distributed cloud.
  • Data and analytics, including blockchain.
  • The Internet of Things, allowing manufacturers to attach sensors to machine components and be alerted before critical failures strike.
  • Security, including disaster recovery.
  • Industry solutions covering financial services, government, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, energy, media, entertainment and space.

Azure features are helpful in all of these situations and more. Companies can create custom applications for their unique needs using open-source programs and run them through Azure. Additionally, Azure can seamlessly share data with other Microsoft products like Dynamics 365, Microsoft’s flagship enterprise resource planning (ERP) suite.

Azure and IoT: A Perfect Match for Manufacturing

IoT in manufacturing refers to a set of intelligent machines and equipment communicating in a network. Hundreds of connected sensors can monitor wear on equipment, relate temperature and pressure settings, and monitor flow rates.

Each of these sensors feed information into a computer network. The data then needs to pass from its source where it can be analyzed and turned into actionable intelligence.

This is a huge benefit if your company has a manufacturing plant in another country. Every team is aware of what the other is doing, and if there are any issues in the manufacturing process.

Connecting other Microsoft programs, like Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management on top of Azure ensures your small to medium enterprise (SME) has accurate control of its inventory. With the global supply chain issues ongoing, knowing what’s where and how to get your products to your customers has become critical.

Azure is Open Source

Azure’s being open source means your developers can create programs that help your business and other companies. As a bonus incentive, as of Sept. 28, 2021, your company can earn Azure credits for open-source projects for one year.

Among the programs already taking advantage of Microsoft’s incentive are:

Figure: 1 Advantages of Microsoft’s incentives

Advantages of Microsoft's incentives

  • FreeBSD, a Unix operating system for servers, desktops and embedded platforms. The credits help developers work on custom kernels.
  • Alma Linux is an enterprise distribution system.
  • Snakemate, a workflow management system for creating scalable data analyses. The workflows can be scaled to server, cluster grid and cloud environments.
  • Promitor discovers Azure Metrics for easy use anywhere.

Often, taking advantage of open source technologies like these helps SMBs getting just started with Azure identify a number of new opportunities for growth. Quoting a 2020 McKinsey and Co. report, Microsoft states, “organizations that adopt open source technologies score 30 percent higher on innovation and 20 percent higher on developer satisfaction.”

One of the oldest open source programs around is Linux. Linux virtual machine(VM) images make up 60 percent of Azure Marketplace VM images. Pairing Linux with Microsoft’s Azure lets developers and businesses:

  • Spend less time on administrative tasks
  • Streamline the creation of fully governed environment using Azure blueprints
  • Protect your intellectual property (IP) and digital assets with the Azure IP Advantage program.

Among the seven products listed on the Azure Linux home’s website is one that lets you provision Windows and Linux virtual machines in seconds, one letting you migrate your current on-premise virtual machines to Azure, and another letting you gain deeper insights into your data.

Azure is IoT

Azure is designed for the Internet of Things (IoT). Azure IoT Central is a secure, industry-focused, enterprise-grade, and scalable app platform. As your business grows, your investment can scale with it.

Since IoT is able to create stacks of big data in real-time, Azure has been designed to provide quick connectivity between IoT devices and the cloud. This lets you track what’s happening and modify commands when unexpected situations occur, like an unexpected breakdown on the production line.

Azure’s IoT-based design provides a bridge between business applications, such as the Dynamics 365 ERP suite and your IoT data. Complex custom intermediate software is not required to interpret what your IoT sensors are telling so it can communicate with your ERP. Azure handles it for you.

The IoT Plug and Play app helps simplify device interactions, enabling easy device-to-cloud integration. This cuts development time, cost and complexity. It lets you build devices that integrate easily with Azure IoT cloud solutions without writing embedded code.

Azure is About Making Data Useful

One of the programs built for the Azure cloud services program is Azure Databricks. Azure Databricks offers three environments for generating data intensive applications:

  1. 1.Databricks SQL for analysts wanting to run SQL (structured query language) queries, letting them explore your data from different perspectives.
  2. 2.Databricks Data Science & Engineering provides collaboration between data engineers, data scientists, and machine learning engineers. Ideal for big data pipelines, Azure Databricks, can turn information from multiple sources into insights your SMB can turn into profits.
  3. 3.Databricks Machine Learning is an end-to-end machine learning environment for experiment tracking, model training, feature development and management plus feature and model serving.

Book a consultation to learn how Azure can accelerate your business growth.

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Azure is Innovation

Being open source, Azure has access to a host of shared programs.

CsharpCorner lists nine ways to run an application in Azure. They include virtual machines, Azure Kubernetes service, Azure Container Instances service, Azure Batch, Azure App Services Web Apps or Mobile Apps, Azure Function Apps and Logic Apps.

With more than 180,000 open source projects and more than 1,400 unique licenses, the odds of finding pre-built, easily customizable open source software are in your favor.

For example, the Azure Marketplace is promoting featured apps that support innovation and software needs in several industries:

  • Digital Factory: Digitize manufacturing processes such as performance tracking, production scheduling and log-keeping quickly and cost-effectively
  • Exact Globe: Designed for financial services, it integrates financial and operational processes creating best-in-class financial administration
  • Personalization Platform: Made for online retailers, it lets your customers have a personalized, relevant and intuitive experience

The Bottom Line

Azure provides security and flexibility with unparalleled potential growth in terms of computing. This in turn will help your company grow, especially if it wants to digitize production. Designed with the IoT in mind, Azure has features that let it seamlessly move information from machine sensors to ERPs. Any SMB considering moving beyond on-premises computing to the cloud should take a long, hard look at Microsoft Azure, and the growing number of open-source solutions. What’s your next move?

Freight Visibility in the Chemical Supply Chain
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The Importance of Freight Visibility in the Chemical Supply Chain
The Importance of Freight Visibility in the Chemical Supply Chain 700 500 Xcelpros Team

Introduction

Having a complete view of inbound shipments is critical for chemical manufacturers. Maintaining accurate product counts, ensuring on-time delivery, monitoring rising transportation costs and complying with the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) regulations are some of the reasons.

As a highly regulated industry, chemical manufacturers are under constant compliance pressure at several levels, not just federal. A clear view of end-to-end supply chain visibility helps mitigate supply chain challenges.

For example, a single federal hazardous materials violation can cost your company anywhere from nearly $80,000 to $500,000.

Failing quality controls and product recalls come with steep costs. Adding competition, transportation, supply chain challenges, and growing customer expectations means chemical manufacturers can’t afford to make any mistakes.

One of the more manageable costs is freight. It can be expensive and daunting to manage when your organization makes hundreds of shipments daily.

Accurate labeling becomes critical in terms of understanding what is in each shipment. Labeling is also vital when planning the classification and storage of the materials, plus determining workforce requirements. Without a straightforward labeling method that all workers can use, ensuring end-to-end supply chain visibility becomes a nightmare.

Consequences of Poor Freight Management

Poor freight management can lead to several different problems, such as:

  • Damaged, lost, or late deliveries
  • Processing delays causing customer complaints
  • Delays in downstream work orders
  • Greater freight costs caused by carrier policies
  • Wasted raw materials and space due to unaccounted inventory
  • Decreased productivity due to poor scheduling

This list doesn’t account for accidents, either. What if hazardous materials get mixed up with another order? How will you know? Mistakes like this can be disastrous and even fatal.

One report states that unreported delays lead to an increase in inventory carrying costs, as high as 30-40% of total inventory costs.

Every stage of the chemical supply chain, from raw materials to end-user delivery, requires a significant amount of planning, tracking and implementation. Companies today need a centralized and secured solution that offers flexibility with the ability to integrate, automate, and be optimized regardless of location.

Enterprise labeling solutions boost efficiency, accuracy, and reliability, plus significant cost savings in these highly regulated environments.

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Managing Hazardous Freight – Responsibility of the Manufacturer and Carrier

Penalties for Violation of Federal Hazardous Materials

It’s the manufacturer’s responsibility for identifying hazardous materials, not the freight carrier’s. Whenever chemicals are being shipped, it’s up to the manufacturer to ensure its documentation, labeling and packaging all meet government standards.

Among the most common items on a hazardous materials manufacturer’s shipping checklist are ensuring all of the following items are current:

Hazardous Materials Manufacturer’s Shipping checklist

  • Contents meet the federal definition of “Hazardous Material”
  • Employees are properly trained
  • Correct packaging is used
  • Blocking and bracing requirements are outlined
  • Shipping manifest is complete and accurate
  • Emergency response information is included
  • Emergency response contact information
  • Certifications are complete
  • Security plans and processes are in place
  • Incident reporting procedures are being used
  • Product Compatibility is accounted for when shipping multiple chemicals together

Among the correct documentation requirements are:

  • Shipping name
  • Classification/ Division
  • Identification Number
  • Hazard warning labels and markings

Freight carriers have their responsibilities, too. These include validating the following:

  • Accuracy of the manufacturer’s packing lists.
  • Products are accurately described and adequately packaged.
  • Vehicle is suitable for shipping chemical products and is in good repair.

Carriers, as well, have additional responsibilities when transporting hazardous materials. These include:

  • Documents and manifests are accurate and complete
  • Proper labels and placards are in all required positions on the vehicle and the shipment
  • Loading and unloading meets safety guidelines
  • Employee training is complete
  • Security plans and processes are up to date
  • Incident reporting procedures are up to date
  • Adequate blocking and bracing meets government guidelines
  • Product compatibility is considered when shipping multiple chemicals together

The Real Cost of Freight

The actual cost of freight can only be realized after a product reaches its final destination. The final cost of deliveries can be influenced by a number of different fees for layovers, oversized cargo, after-hour deliveries, mispacked orders, incomplete manifests and damage incurred during shipping and unloading.

Large businesses making hundreds of shipments a day are often able to absorb shipping cost fluctuations that might severely hurt small and medium businesses. Unfortunately, manufacturers shipping products don’t always know what will trigger additional fees. These issues with inbound shipments can affect all departments in a supply chain: Sales, Planning, Purchasing, Production, Accounting, and possibly more.

Understanding your transportation process inside and out is the most effective solution to address supply chain challenges in the chemical industry. Staying on top of every process, every step of the way lets you track and monitor the movement and condition of products from start to finish. Lack of visibility into shipping is the most challenging thing to correct and can significantly impact both manufacturers and shipping companies.

55%

of Third Party Logistics suppliers (3PLs) said they either lost business or didn’t know if they lost business due to lack of visibility of their offerings.

Source: American Shipper

Outdated Systems

Even today, a surprisingly large number of companies continue to run their operations on antiquated inventory tracking systems designed to manage local-only supply chains. Successful supply chains operate globally, connecting production and procurement to sales and customer service. This way, everyone knows what’s in transit and when it’s due to arrive.

Maintaining freight visibility, especially for a company spread thin, is not an easy task. Obsolete, “legacy” systems make it an even more challenging objective.

A modern, cloud-based solution provides a complete end-to-end view of a supply chain network.

Switching operations to an integrated, multifunctional transportation management system (TMS) platform brings agility to your transportation network. This kind of switch offers better support for seamless communication, allowing companies to respond proactively to unexpected issues and customer demands.

Disparate Systems

Effective coordination and collaboration should be needed across multiple sites and warehouses to manage a supply chain effectively. Running a business on many different applications is one of the biggest roadblocks to total freight visibility. If your organization’s systems can’t connect with your vendors, there’s a good chance you’re missing something.

Having an inventory control system that communicates with your suppliers’ improves inventory management, communication and freight visibility. Connecting a Transportation Management System (TMS) with warehouse operations allows shippers to find detailed insights from inbound and outbound logistics within a single unified platform.

Lack of collaboration

Tracking shipments in real-time is the core of transportation management. When loads are distributed across different carriers, getting reliable data from the entire carrier network can be a real challenge. Trying to track shipping information manually leads to inaccurate quotes and customer complaints.

Combining  business intelligence and advanced analytics offers real-time shipping and location data visibility. The data delivers accurate tracking information directly from the supplier’s carrier to the shipper. Your customer will always know when their products are due to arrive.

Finding the Right Solution

Most logistics solutions are unable to display “right now” data on incoming shipments and outgoing orders. If you’re in the process of figuring out what solution will be best for your business,there are a few questions you’ll want to be sure you ask:

  • Does their system have AI-enabled software that automatically records vehicle movement, be it truck, ship or plane?
  • Can their system generate automated email alerts in real-time?
  • Does their solution connect the vehicle and the driver, letting you know when unexpected hurdles or opportunities occur?
  • Is their system integrated with other essential business systems your company uses?
  • Are they using software as a service technology providing your company access to your data any time, any where?
  • Are upgrades done automatically through cloud computing, eliminating the need for on-premise upgrades?
  • Is their software a complete package or just a part of the delivery ecosystem?
  • Can their system communicate data easily with other TMS systems, electronic logging devices or enterprise resource planning systems?

Final Thoughts

With the anticipation of continued, long-term shipping challenges, more chemical manufacturers see the need to take a close look at their supply chain management software. Knowing exactly where incoming shipments of raw materials and pre-assemblies are and when they’ll arrive, along with the ability to track products from your facility to your customer’s door, every step of the way, is becoming more and more critical to customer retention.

Best-in-class organizations are embracing newer technology to help spot and correct problem points before they become a roadblock. The goal is to reduce expenses by lowering total shipping costs.

Reach out to us to learn more about Microsoft Business Applications that can help enhance freight visibility.

How To Enhance Your Chemical Supply Chain
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How To Enhance Your Chemical Supply Chain
How To Enhance Your Chemical Supply Chain 700 500 Xcelpros Team

At a Glance

  • Today’s chemical industry is all about enhanced visibility and accountability.
  • Dealing with varying laws and regulations for different regions, fluctuating and lack of visibility across the board requires advanced solutions.
  • Integrating advanced technologies can reduce waste, unearth new products, find new markets and enhance a company’s status.

Change in Operations

Chemical companies, especially pharmaceutical companies, are seeing an increase in the need for global reach.

Since its first discovery, the effect Covid-19 has had on supply chains has been severe, regardless of product. As with many problems, this disease has also created numerous opportunities, especially for the chemical industry. Major companies continue to expand operations, delivering their products worldwide, including former “third world” countries with a growing thirst for everything from antiviral medications and cleaning products to beauty supplies.

“The chemical industry touches nearly every good-producing sector, making an estimated $5.7 trillion contribution to world Gross Domestic Product (GDP) through direct, indirect and induced impacts, equivalent to seven percent of the world’s GDP, and supporting 120 million jobs worldwide.” Source: The Global Chemical Industry

This data from the ICCA shows a considerable market share, making it safe to say that the chemical industry is looking at a secure future. Globalization, however, requires dealing with unique challenges and roadblocks, especially regarding the movement of chemicals from supplier to producer and consumer. Today’s supply chain management won’t work in silos. That idea is no longer sustainable or feasible. Today’s global marketplace requires expanded thinking, and that means going digital.

Today, planning a chemical supply chain means using effective, profitable methods where customers, suppliers, parts vendors, shippers, sales and production facilities are connected, regardless of their physical locations. Modern software like Microsoft Dynamics 365’s suite of modular programs can help chemical companies use modern digital methods and enhance the operational efficiency of their supply chain.

In this article, we will look at some of the key supply chain challenges in the chemical industry today and how technology is playing a key role in enabling forward-thinking companies prosper.

Top Challenges in Chemical Supply Chain

Every company has its own set of challenges, such as the size of the company, the locations of its manufacturing units and the structure of its supply chain. Regardless of an individual firm’s situation, all chemical manufacturing companies face common supply chain issues.

Typical chemical industry supply chain challenges include:

  • Distributing chemicals and related raw material in different countries. Companies struggle to keep up with the laws and regulations of varying regions. What’s safe and acceptable in one country may violate worker safety laws in another. This is especially true when it comes to hazardous chemicals.
  • Existing chemical supply chain management can fall prey to manual errors and miscommunications, causing potential safety hazards and monetary loss.
  • The bottom line often depends on a company’s ability to source raw materials. When prices for essential materials fluctuate, the entire supply chain can be affected.
  • Tracking material pricing and delivery details create a lot of data. This includes information regarding the chemicals, their compositions, material pricing, safety precautions, distribution lists, and more. Managing this information is a top concern for chemical supply chain managers.

Looking to Improve Your Chemical Supply Chain? Book To learn more, request a consultation.

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Figure: 1 Supply Chain Challenges in Chemical Industry

Supply Chain Challenges in Chemical Industry

3 Ways Technology is Reshaping the Chemical Supply Chain

01.Technology Enables Creating a Connected System

Today’s world is much more connected than it used to be. Systems are linked with smart devices, modern sensors and powerful software running it all. With these sophisticated enterprise resource planning systems in place, it becomes much easier to organize your chemical company’s supply chain. Modern systems can generate an alert when a violation occurs. These automatic alerts reduce manual errors or oversights.

A connected ecosystem provides top-to-bottom visibility in the supply chain, giving top-level decision-makers a clear picture and greater transparency across the board. This enables better accountability and the ability to find solutions to common problems and bottlenecks.

Figure: 2 New Technologies in Supply Chain

New Technologies in Supply Chain

02.AI Helps Create a Failsafe Supply Chain

Chemical supply chain management is highly susceptible to changes in prices of raw materials. To stay ahead of the curve, companies need to stay up to date on global, as well as regional changes to predict how these changes will impact their supply chains.

Artificial intelligence(AI) enabled solutions can analyze data in real-time, letting decision makers know what is likely to happen, how it will affect them and most importantly, what they can do to avoid or reduce any impact. This software can help these companies make necessary modifications to their supply chain strategy on the fly.

03.Using Cloud Computing to Manage Supply Chain Data

Data collation, cataloging and analysis, are intricate tasks. When performed by people, they can be prone to manual errors. However, with progressive technological tools like Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, companies can store unlimited data and analyze it much more efficiently. This categorized and analyzed data can be leveraged to generate insights that help fortify the company’s supply chain for smooth transitions and better efficiency.

Supply chains are the backbone of many industries. The chemical industry needs to adapt to changing times, and make use of the right technologies to harness maximum benefits.

Key Takeaways

Like any industry, the chemical industry is witnessing the need for change in its supply chain model. With the help of cutting-edge technological tools and applications, chemical supply chain management can be overhauled and optimized for enhanced efficiency. Is your supply chain ready for a change?

References: Chemical Supply Chain: Challenges and Opportunities in the Era of AI

Five Steps to Transforming Manufacturing Operations
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Five Steps to Transforming Manufacturing Operations
Five Steps to Transforming Manufacturing Operations 700 500 Xcelpros Team

Introduction

Lasting effects of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic continue to disrupt numerous manufacturing operations as the year draws to a close. Companies not only surviving, but thriving were those already undergoing a digital transformation to their manufacturing operations.

“Digital transformation is the transformation of business, industrial products, operations, value chains and services that are enabled through the augmentation of people, knowledge and workplaces through the expanded use of digital technologies. It’s about the people in the workplaces, the processes, the technologies and services,” Janice Abel wrote in an ARC Advisory Group blog post.

Today, digital transformation is all about rethinking the way your company functions. Is it a series of departments that act like independent nations, each competing for scarce resources and seldom sharing information? Or is your company a unified operation where department names are merely labels and the data created by one is open and accessible to all?

At the end of the day, digital transformation in manufacturing is all about enhancing customer service. Taking good care of your customers leads to more sales, better growth opportunities and higher profits. Achieving that goal requires breaking down barriers and ensuring free-flowing information between all employeesF.

Sharing this data in a timely fashion requires a manufacturing execution system (MES) and a manufacturing operations management (MOM) process. MES is computer software, while MOM may be software or an overarching process. An MES helps track raw material consumption during production. A material resource planning (MRP) package helps you prepare your production inventory.

According to an ARC survey, most manufacturers deploy MES solutions to connect the information in different silos and plants. While there is some visibility, data silos remain even though artificial intelligence (AI), machine intelligence (MI) and other digital methods are being used to varying degrees.

Driving Digital Transformation

Ongoing supply chain disruptions are having a huge impact on manufacturing companies. When questioned about the resilience of their manufacturing and supply chains, the overwhelming response was “not very,” according to a recent blog by Forbes.

Forbes posted some response numbers from the Fictiv 2021 State of Manufacturing Report about existing supply chains:

  • 94% of respondents had some concerns
  • 55% worry that increasing digital operations increases security risks
  • 47% state that supply chain management overhead costs are too high
  • 42% believe that working with global markets creates intellectual property risks
  • 31% think that lack of visibility into operations creates risks and uncertainty

The Fictiv report quoted by Forbes concluded: “The way we manage supply chains and manufacture goods has been forever altered.”

Cost overruns were a key concern for 81 percent of recipients while 55 percent were worried about information technology security with their current supply chain.

“Whatever the issue, it’s clear the old way of operating is no longer optimal,” Forbes states. Using digital methods to manage manufacturing has essentially replaced the older methods, at least according to this survey.

  • 95% of respondents believe digitally transforming their manufacturing operations is essential to their company’s future
  • 91% of respondents reported an increase in digital transformation spending
  • 77% defined their digital spending boost as “dramatic” or “significant.”

A Different Perspective

Digital technology enhances productivity, reduces costs and boosts innovation. Manufacturing companies that pay careful attention to their data are able to use it more efficiently to help find and develop new revenue streams.

Figure: 1 How the Internet of Things (IoT) is integrated with Operating Technology (OT)

How the Internet of Things (IoT) is integrated with Operating Technology

At its core, the currency of automation, optimization and profound transformation can help turn new business models into an “as a service” economy, I-scoop suggests.

Many companies transform their manufacturing operations by using the internet of things (IoT) coupled with operational technology (OT) and automation on the production floor. IoT sensors in many devices let computer programs track data as each potential product makes its way through the production process.

Mechanical engineers are able to maintain equipment to more refined levels of precision. Software engineers are using the data provided to reduce waste and find new ways of boosting efficiency. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software uses the data to ensure machines are scheduled efficiently. The ERP software helps ensure a near continuous flow of material, even when humans aren’t present.

Learn more about the impact of digital transformation on manufacturing operations.

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Roadmap to Your Digital Transformation

The first step for companies yet to embark on their digital transformation is creating a roadmap. Without understanding what direction you want your business to go and how to get there, any results are likely to be far less than desired.

At a bare minimum, formulating a plan ahead of time helps:

  • Set priorities
  • Manage change
  • Identify and allocate resources

A well thought-out roadmap can help plan your entire journey, or identify problems and new opportunities as you work towards your goal.

Major steps in creating a digital manufacturing roadmap include:

1.Clearly define and help your company’s current position and its digital strategy. Stating concrete, achievable goals and then communicating them with partners, employees and clients helps everyone understand what they need to do so that everyone benefits.

2.Defining your financial baseline. Making demands of whatever system you choose to go with, only to balk at the resulting price, is no benefit to anyone. Having a plan to only move to the next digital manufacturing transformation phase when you reach specific financial goals makes financial sense and motivates to reach those incremental goals.

3.Ensuring internal Agile processes are ready to go. Breaking your production process into smaller chunks lets you create products and services faster by having processes run concurrently instead of sequentially.

4.Assessing your technology and talent. Understanding what equipment you need, and what skills are required to operate it, lets you start training existing staff or adding new employees ahead of time. Having people who know what they are doing as you implement each phase ensures your digital transformation proceeds smoothly.

5.Choosing the right digital transformation partner. Having a partner experienced in your industry means they’re likely familiar with any problems you may face. Having seen them before, they already know what solutions work and what is a waste of your money. The right partner can also help you set short- and medium-term goals, ensuring your transformation is progressing according to plan.

Final Thoughts

Embarking on a new digital transformation pays numerous benefits in the long run. One of the biggest benefits is the ability to rapidly respond to customer requests for new or unique products, resulting in more efficient MAAS (manufacturing as a service).

The most important thing to remember when looking to complete your transformation is the need for a detailed roadmap and ensuring you have a digital transformation partner who understands your industry and can help you overcome any hurdles along the way.

Connect your business to drive productivity and profits
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Brochure Connect your business to drive productivity and profits
Brochure Connect your business to drive productivity and profits 400 400 Xcelpros Team

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