According to McKinsey, 1-2 months long supply chain disruptions occur every 3-4 years in the post-pandemic world. Such disruptions are characterized by various man-made disasters (regulation inefficiencies, cyberattacks, trade disputes, theft, etc.).
Of course, natural disasters (pandemic, acute climate, financial crisis, etc.) also have a major impact, resulting in combined losses between 10s of $ billions to $ trillions. As such, just tapping into the potential of digitalization isn’t enough. Manufacturers must look to optimize the entire value chain and its operation.
Favorably, SAP S/4 HANA is a solution capable of doing just that.
S/4 HANA is one of the best ways to build a core digital foundation that supports the latest technologies to complement otherwise sophisticated value chain operations.
Why SAP S/4 HANA?
Essentially, SAP S/4 HANA is a modern cloud ERP software to run critical business operations in real-time from anywhere. More so, it’s a complete enterprise resource planning solution that integrates ML, AI, and Smart Analytics. Here’s why it’s an ideal fit for manufacturing companies:
- Optimizes manufacturing processes
- Encourages rapid business transformation
- Utilizes the predictive power of Artificial Intelligence
- Assists in the adoption of new business models
- Orchestrates internal and global resources
Read along to explore how SAP S/4 HANA helps build a future-proof digital value chain.
S/4 HANA Helps Manufacturers Digitize Value Chain
The facility of connected plants allows manufacturing businesses to extract key insights from multiple machines and IoT devices. S/4 HANA drives this process by lending insights on key areas such as product replenishment, equipment maintenance, inventory tracking, etc.
It further leverages Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to automate processes like monitoring production levels or consumer demand. The best part of using the platform is that it can be accessed quickly and securely from any gadget anywhere at any time.
Sapours recently helped one of India’s largest food processing companies perform its routine operations efficiently and prepare itself for rapid and aggressive business expansion. Read the full story here.
That said, let’s take a look at some benefits of SAP S/4 HANA that manufacturers can leverage:
Monitoring Business Operations
SAP S/4 HANA streamlines business operations by driving processes on the back of data and IoT. It helps aggregate real-time data insights into machinery operations, especially failures. As such, it improves the key manufacturing decisions related to operations planning, production, and maintenance. More profoundly, S/4 HANA helps:
- Plan, manage, and produce at peak efficiency
- Access and maintain relevant documents, components, and stage materials
- Prepare and control the entire production process and operations efficiently.
Improved Production Engineering
Leveraging SAP S/4 HANA can simplify the product design processes and manage the changes across the product’s lifecycle. It helps break down the silos from design to production with a centralized control system. This allows for successfully managing the master data, including materials, receipts, bills of materials, routing, and more. More granularly, S/4 HANA helps:
- Define components, products, and raw materials based on the material master
- Organize products based on different groups and variants
- Set up production processes, including confirmations and handling instructions.
Improved Quality and Compliance
Most manufacturing businesses look for end-to-end visibility and tight quality control across manufacturing operations. It is essential to manage the internal processes along with the external suppliers and partner networks.
With SAP S/4 HANA, manufacturers can leverage AI and an in-memory database to quickly identify and act on the issues related to quality management. The benefits extend to:
- Assessing quality standards with production and material inspections
- Supporting continuous improvement of quality within the organization
- Spotting and flagging the quality concerns in an early stage before they happen
- Improving compliance and quality control across partner networks and external suppliers.
Key Manufacturing Insights
Furthermore, S/4 HANA helps get real-time reports and datasets quickly. Manufacturers can improve document accuracy and make informed business decisions thanks to AI-powered manufacturing analytics. More so, the solution helps:
- Receive alerts based on exceptions
- Gain real-time data access to check the operational performance
- Get analysis reports and charts to make urgent operational adjustments.
Better Environment, Health, and Safety
SAP S/4 HANA helps protect the brand and people with responsive solutions and smart technologies. It helps mitigate the risks, assess virtual and real scenarios, manage incidents, and create safety protocols – according to the needs of every function and team across your business. As such, manufacturers can:
- Get global access to permits and regulations in real-time
- Identify and mitigate all types of risks related to the supply chain environment
- Manage incidents efficiently with consistent reporting protocols
- Customize safety guidelines and training for different areas of business.
Read here to know how Sapours rendered value-added application integration and maintenance services to HODEK Vibrations Technologies, one of the largest manufacturers of auto components, to ensure business process effectiveness and automation efficiencies.
With the implementation of S/4 HANA, Sapours helped HODEK
- Achieve a 60% reduction in manual work
- Increase the efficiency by 30%
- Dramatically improve planning in production, maintenance, and sales delivery
The Road Ahead
The capabilities of SAP S/4 HANA for making the manufacturing value chain agile and responsive are invaluable for manufacturing companies. More so, the platform’s benefits are sure to help manufacturers digitize and modernize critical areas of their value chains.
Schedule a free consultation to leverage these benefits for your manufacturing business today.