How end-to-end data collaboration optimises value creation in supply chains

Whether it is a pandemic, war or inflation, our time is characterised by mounting crises. Various events in recent years have shown just how pervasive their impact is on global supply chains. This has led to a clear shift in priorities. Whereas supply chain management was primarily a cost issue in the past, today companies are focusing strongly on resilience and supply chain security. Because it is clear: the complexity of the framework conditions for global supply chains will not disappear. In this context, digitalisation and data collaboration offer the potential to break down existing silos in supply chain management and design a networked, overarching optimum that strengthens companies’ resilience, improves supply security and increases profitability. This paper shows the opportunities that end-to-end data collaborations in supply chains offer for value creation. The author explains how the largest mill-independent materials distributor and service provider in the Western world, thyssenkrupp Materials Services, is using its expertise in materials distribution to create digital services for greater transparency in the supply chain. The focus is on developments such as the forward sensing digital platform and the potential of data use and exchange for managing the dynamic processes of supply chains such as the bullwhip effect. In addition to practical use cases, the author also shares the role customer orientation plays, the impact digital tools can have on the use of materials and the lessons they have learned from dealing with supply chain data.