Transforming the manufacturing ecosystem
A factory or production facility is just one piece within an enterprise. In the preceding sections, we looked at various use cases of how digitization can help prevent unforeseen disruptions and help with agility. In this section, we look at how digital transformation can help with managing variability and disruptions into systems that feed production and take the product and deliver it to customers—that is, the supply chain.
Concerns in supply chain management
We first start with a look at the supply chain. This is shown in the following diagram. As we see here, there is one pathway wherein material is flowing into the enterprise:
Figure 5.20 – Overview of the supply chain
The plant transforms it to a saleable product, and there is another path where this product is delivered to customers. Encompassing the entire process is the demand signal that drives all the planning activities within...
