Manufacturing supply chains are global, dynamic and complex. They require the management of hundreds, if not thousands, of components and materials. With global supply chain disruptions, labor shortages and rising economic pressures, the challenge of managing this dynamic environment demands that manufacturers maintain visibility across the entire supply chain.
Not only does inadequate or poor use of data and analytics delay decision-making, it leads to disadvantages in competitiveness and also increases risk and costs. Consequently, operationalizing large-scale data usage in near real-time across the supply chain is now an essential business requirement for every manufacturer.
According to a recent report by IDC, the challenge for manufacturers is that traditional data integration is failing to meet new business requirements. According to IDC, 46 percent of manufacturers lack the appropriate visibility and agility to effectively see and respond to supply chain changes. Moreover, 30 percent of manufacturers indicate lack of collaboration across suppliers/customers is a problematic gap in their supply chain.
Manufacturers cut time to insights with faster data movement
Manufacturers rely on dozens of applications to help them gain the intelligence necessary across their entire supply chain ecosystem. ERPs, CRMs, instrumentation systems, manufacturing systems and more are necessary to support day-to-day manufacturing operations. Meanwhile, the explosion of IoT devices in manufacturing environments generates hundreds of thousands of data points daily. All of these data sources need to be integrated and centralized to provide a holistic view across the supply chain.
Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are also becoming critical components of manufacturing by enabling predictive analytics, predictive maintenance and automating processes so plants can operate more efficiently and profitably. These models are most powerful and accurate when they have real-time access to large, comprehensive data sets.
Supporting the ever-increasing volume and velocity of data and complex AI/ML models and algorithms requires a new standard of data movement that can centralize data from disparate sources to provide real-time visibility and intelligence.
The benefits of improved visibility across the entire supply chain opens the door to analytical models that can deliver both faster insights and valuable predictive insights through the use of AI/ML models.
Connecting multiple disparate data sources via a single platform allows manufacturers to gain intelligence across the business and supply chain partners. These insights can then be leveraged to improve cost management, capacity planning, demand forecasting, inventory management, maintenance and service decisions.
Modern manufacturing is built on the modern data stack
A real-world example of the value of supply chain visibility is Redwood Logistics, which transformed its supply chain with a modern data stack consisting of Fivetran and Snowflake.
The logistics company generates more than 500,000 data points per hour and previously struggled to derive real-time insights from that data. To resolve this issue, Redwood invested in a modern data architecture and deployed Fivetran's high-volume data replication solution to automate the data replication from its on-premise SQL databases to the Snowflake Data Cloud.
Fivetran replicates numerous types of data in Redwood's Snowflake Data Cloud, including:
- Operational data
- Invoicing and payment data
- TMS data
- Rating info
- Extensive audit data
Redwood can now quickly supply custom and feature-rich data dashboards to internal customers and leadership to better track their business metrics. Redwood can also access and process more data, enabling its customers to quickly recognize and adjust to changing market trends.
Coke One North America (CONA), a technology platform for the North American Coca-Cola bottling business, has also seen positive results by leveraging SAP data with Fivetran and Snowflake. CONA has been able to unify and move data across the enterprise at speed and scale to provide actionable insights for better business outcomes, including:
- Improved transparency into supply chain bottlenecks
- Faster response to critical situations
- Accelerated financial reporting
- Reduced risk in variable market conditions
Move your data at speed and scale with Fivetran
To remain competitive, manufacturers need real-time intelligence. Relying on legacy systems and delayed data movement makes it impossible for manufacturers to assess and manage risk proactively. Moreover, as IDC notes, integrating disparate systems while maintaining data integrity is a significant challenge to cultivating meaningful and relevant insights for the business.
Fivetran makes it simple for global companies to consolidate their disparate on-prem, cloud and IoT enterprise data sources in near real-time. Fivetran’s automated, high-volume data movement allows manufacturers to make actionable, intelligent decisions that are collaborative and proactive across the entire organization.