By now analytics has become a common term. Analyzing large volumes of data that companies generate helps them find various solutions. Analytics allows one to find patterns in past information and extrapolate them to predict opportunities and risks. The supply chain is an area where it can provide a lot of benefits.

Why is Supply Chain Management Important?

Firstly it is the area of an organization that connects with customers. In an era of increasing e-commerce business, companies depend on prompt delivery of goods to protect their reputation. Any delay in receiving items can frustrate buyers and prompt them to move to other suppliers. Supply chain management is also very important to ensure that raw materials reach on time and production doesn’t suffer. A course in analytics includes lessons on using existing data to optimize the process. One can know more about this course here.

Another important reason for closely monitoring and optimizing logistics is cost. Every movement of goods costs money. This can increase production costs and selling prices. Companies can lose competitiveness due to higher prices. It is essential to find whatever opportunities exist to reduce costs. Organizations collaborate with many partners for both sales and supplies. This makes managing this process even more difficult. As with other activities in an establishment, this also generates a lot of data, and analytics could be a way to improve efficiency.

What Is Supply Chain Analytics?

A supply chain consists of various systems and software applications related to these. Procurement, inventory management, vendor management, order fulfillment, warehouse management, and transport are all parts of logistics. It is common knowledge that if any one of these systems is affected, it can cause disruptions in all others. All these different processes are controlled by software and all of them generate information. The data science certification course by XLRI teaches how every piece of facts can be integrated and used beneficially.

Procurement software will give details about raw material arrivals. Stocks of items that are below minimum levels can be known from an inventory application. Warehouse programs generate data about product movements and space availability. It is also possible to know an approximate time of arrival of goods. But all these facts exist separately. Integrating them will help SCM officials to make changes that could help reduce time and cost. Supply chain analytics integrates all these and uses available information to provide valuable insights.

Types Of Supply Chain Analytics

Descriptive Analytics – This analysis looks at past data and finds patterns that can help identify problems in a system. Information from internal supply chain software and from channel partners are used for this purpose. Companies can see where there is a need for improvement.

Predictive Analytics – This process looks at past data and predicts events in the future. It is possible to forecast disruptions in the supply chain and how they can impact businesses. It will help firms to become proactive.

Prescriptive Analytics – This is most beneficial for organizations as it combines the above two analytics to prescribe solutions. Companies can use this to avoid risks. This will help firms to reach their business objectives.

Cognitive Analytics – This method uses AI to think and behave like humans. This helps establishments to find solutions for complicated problems. It will also reduce the workload of employees as more work can be automated.

Role Of Analytics In Supply Chain Management

What role can analytics play in improving supply chain management? A course in analytics can teach you that companies can gather and analyze data generated by their logistics systems. It will help in finding out where they are losing efficiency. Analytics will deliver valuable insights into how the system can be improved to reduce costs and get an edge over competitors. Logistics systems span across countries and generate large amounts of data that cannot be processed manually. Analytics helps in this.

Predicting Demands

A very valuable contribution of analytics is in predicting market demands. Earlier companies depended on analyzing past sales records and making guesswork of future demands. With analytics past information can be combined with present market conditions to arrive at a more accurate sales forecast. Companies benefit greatly from this predictive analysis because they can plan their inventory correctly and reduce costs. Valuable warehouse space need not be used for raw materials that may not be used for long periods.

Keeping Production Plans On Track

A major problem faced by most companies is disruptions in productions and loss of valuable time. This leads to an increase in manufacturing costs. By using prescriptive analytics it is possible to avoid this problem. The data science certification course by XLRI teaches students that feeding existing production plans to analytics can help in arriving at an optimum schedule for achieving higher efficiency. Such analytics will also take into account disruptions that can stop or delay production and suggest backup plans.

Improving Transport Logistics

Transport is a major problem for any supply chain manager. Planning vehicles to make deliveries promptly is always filled with various issues resulting in delayed supply. This causes customer dissatisfaction and loss of reputation of a firm. With predictive analytics forecasting demands accurately, it is possible to arrange transport more promptly. Supply chain analytics can also analyze existing logistics systems and point out areas for improvement. Prescriptive analytics can also offer solutions for unexpected problems.

Fostering Better Collaboration

Various departments and teams work together to produce an item and deliver it to a customer. This means that all these teams must act in tandem if work must be efficient. But it doesn’t always happen that way. In many cases, demand forecasting can be different from team to team. This could cause disruptions in supply. A course in analytics teaches that highly visible predictive analysis can put everyone on the same page. There will be lesser obstacles in prompt delivery of products.

Wrapping Up

The use of analytics in supply chain management is going to increase as companies are forced to reduce costs and improve delivery times. Attending a data science certification course by XLRI can help logistics officials properly utilize this process.

More Information:

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Advanced Certificate In E-commerce Supply Chain Management And Analytics from XLRI JAMSHEDPUR