The Symphony of a Manufacturing Supply Chain

Manufacturing supply chains are an intricate network of suppliers, schedules, material call up signals, replenishment methods, and logistics to get the right goods and materials to the right place at the right time, to meet production schedules.

When the supply chain is operating at peak performance, it is a masterful symphony of material flow, arriving just-in-time to create the finished goods. Having spent 10 years in automotive manufacturing with arguably the most complex bill of materials there is (that of automotive vehicle assembly), I have witnessed first-hand the beautiful symphony that a well-orchestrated supply chain delivers.

Manufacturing supply chain operations are a complex mix of suppler-to-store and store-to-line material flows with call-up signals and advanced ship notifications used to keep things flowing smoothly. Different parts often use different replenishment methods from push systems based on supplier schedules to pull systems based on actual consumption of parts. Any disruption to the flow of materials can stop production, especially for those that operate with lean manufacturing principles. And when production stops unexpectedly, the cost of producing finished goods grows exponentially.

Splunk is helping manufacturing organizations optimize their production operations and drive digital resilience across the business systems, processes and data supporting those operations. With Splunk, manufacturers can optimize their supply chain using real-time data insights from their business documents and transactions.

Having complete visibility into the manufacturing supply chain is a must when it comes to meeting production schedules, and having early detection and warning of potential supply chain issues that could halt production is key.

Early Warning Signals With Comprehensive Supply Chain Visibility

Supply chain leaders need early warning signals of supply chain issues to prevent disruptions to their manufacturing production process. Having visibility to supply chain issues can help:

• Prevent disruptions to production schedules
• Avoid production downtime from supply chain issues
• Identify potential for material shortages and stockouts
• Monitor the transportation and storage of goods
• Process purchase orders efficiently and accurately
• Optimize logistics and the transportation of goods

Splunk offers a Supply Chain Monitoring Workshop to explore supply chain use cases for your manufacturing organization, followed by a Supply Chain Monitoring Enablement engagement that will bring Splunk technical expertise to help you deploy the solution within your Splunk environment for each of the relevant use cases from the workshop.

Supply Chain Monitoring Use Cases