FOCUS ON SUPPLY CHAINS
FROM CHAIN TO NETWORK
“ Only a strategic and integrated approach can truly change a process as complex as the one underlying the supply chain .”
Industry 4.0 , digitalisation and sustainability have sparked a revolution in supply-chain management and the evolution of today ’ s supply-chain model .
All images : Shutterstock . com .
The rise of Industry 4.0 has meant a revolution for the global production system . The increasing use of automation systems , designed to help increase production and improve working conditions , has transformed the industrial world as well as the way that we think about the entire production system .
In many cases , and in line with strong and steadily increasing trends , manufacturing facilities have given way to smart factories . These are characterised by new technologies that bring together people , machines and tools and play a crucial role in sustainability . Digitalisation is a central tenet of this as it offers the supply chain opportunities to evolve in terms of speed ; scalability ; AI ; cloud ; connectivity and interconnection .
In recent years , a real ecosystem has been forming where , through innovative IT and technological tools , each player in the process chain is connected to the other in an integrated , flexible and dynamic way . Thanks
By
Prima Industrie SpA
to digital technologies we are witnessing greater integration between supplier and client systems , leading to improvements in processes and products that can better respond to new market requirements . Today ’ s supply chain also considers sustainability , both environmental and economic , to be a key factor in this .
It is by optimising the management of these processes that we can overcome many of the supply-chain challenges in today ’ s competitive world .
An evolving model
Today ’ s supply chain is a complex and articulated system that differs substantially from the supply-chain model in existence just a decade ago . Although the new paradigm is based on greater sustainability , as well as flexibility and agility of the actors involved , it is still vulnerable to major setbacks .
In the past two years , both the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war have exposed the vulnerability and delicate balance in which manufacturing industries and the production sector in general operate today . Current conditions are highlighting , in some cases with dramatic clarity , the importance of developing strategic and technological solutions that allow industries ( now and