Supply chain integration
Building strong partnerships through collaborative technologies
The development and manufacturing of products has become increasingly complex in today’s global economy. Typically, multiple communities of suppliers are involved in product design and development, and these communities are geographically dispersed. Without a central location or an integrated system of communication, it can be difficult for people, from executives to floor supervisors, to identify problems in the production line or respond quickly to a change in customer demand.
To work effectively together, manufacturing partners must have tools for communicating with each other and managing inventory across the supply chain. With a closely-managed inventory, the delivery of products can be automated based on predicted rates of end-customer sales and achieve greater efficiency and profitability.
Supply-chain integration builds strong partnerships
Manufacturers can reduce time to market, decrease costs, and manage inventory turns through supply-chain integration. Companies like SAP, Red Prairie, Manhattan Associates, i2 and HighJump have built software applications on the Microsoft platform to help manufacturers collaborate with their supply-chain partners. These software solutions can be extended to meet specific manufacturer needs through system integration partners such as Accenture, Capgemini, BearingPoint, Unisys, and Infosys.
By building on industry-standard Microsoft technologies, these and other software companies help manufacturers achieve:
| • | Total asset visibility. Because Microsoft technologies support important industry standard technologies such as radio frequency identification (RFID), supply-chain partners employ the Microsoft platform to create a visibility portal. Using RFID, individual products can be uniquely identified during the manufacturing process, creating an audit trail that includes information on the product’s creation, storage, transportation, and maintenance. This enables manufacturers and suppliers to gain immediate inventory metrics for supply chain management. |
| • | Enhanced system integration. Integration between manufacturing, trading, and third-party logistics partners in a supply chain is a critical success factor in a changing environment. The Microsoft platform enables partners and suppliers of any size to integrate their operations. For example, some partners use Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services and Microsoft InfoPath to view product transactions. Others use Microsoft BizTalk Server 2004 to deliver XML to a partner’s InfoPath form on a SharePoint site. |
| • | Effective collaboration. The critical process of planning, forecasting, and replenishing inventory along the supply chain is built on a foundation of collaboration between supply chain partners. Technologies such as Exchange Server and SharePoint Portal Server enable partners to easily communicate and access the data they need, so they can make critical, timely adjustments to inventory production and distribution. |
Achieve maximum performance with Microsoft technologies
The Microsoft platform and .NET technologies deliver the integration, communication and collaboration capabilities that manufacturers need to compete effectively in an increasingly challenging global marketplace. Software partners with expertise in the manufacturing space have chosen to build their solutions on the Microsoft platform so their customers can take advantage of powerful Microsoft technologies such as Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server, and Microsoft Exchange.
Microsoft software is optimized to help manufacturers and the people who work for them achieve maximum performance:
| • | The extensive use of Web services and XML schemas in the Microsoft platform empowers manufacturers to achieve their business goals without abandoning prior investments in automation systems, production processes, and other specialized systems. |
| • | Collaborative services provided by SharePoint Portal Server and Exchange Server make it easy for people to share data and collaborate with vendors and partners across the supply chain. |
| • | Adherence to open industry standards and manufacturing-specific standards such as OPC, S-99, S-95, radio frequency identification (RFID), OAGIS, and UCCNet provide IT and development teams with a flexible architecture that supports their existing ERP, CRM, and other control systems. |
| • | Universally familiar project and data-management products such as Microsoft Project and Microsoft Excel are easy to learn and already have a high level of adoption among workers within the manufacturing supply chain. Microsoft Office provides standard software for delivering information across teams and enterprises. |
| • | Optimal security measures help to ensure the integrity, confidentiality, and accessibility of plant floor data. In addition to shipping products with maximum security design, Microsoft also provides regular updates and patches to make it easier to manage security. |
Learn more about Microsoft manufacturing partners
To learn more about solutions that can help you achieve supply chain integration, please contact one of our Microsoft partners.
If you want assistance in finding the right partner for your needs, please contact your Microsoft representative today.
