USA
“ People are understanding this more and more . It ’ s about responding quicker , and more cost effectively and how we can create this near real-time instantaneous communication with our suppliers and treat them as an integral part of our supply chain and network ”
– Mark Schenecker , Vice President , Strategic Customers - Business Networks , Supply Chain
With SAP , Schenecker plays a key role in working on the implementation of industry-leading cloud-based applications to some of the world ’ s largest companies in order to better collaborate with a global network of partners .
Vollmer ’ s sentiment is echoed by Schenecker , who feels that as the procurement transformation journey will only continue to develop further , now more than ever companies must embrace a far more collaborative approach in order to keep up .
“ Typically , in the supply chain space , the conversation will start around demand planning ,” says Schenecker . “ From that , you make up a supply plan based on your customer requirements and then you share that with the suppliers . This is often referred to as forecasting .
“ Forecasting , though , is very hard to get right because there ’ s some level of variability that you just can ’ t control .”
Schenecker points to large companies that tackle this challenge of forecasting demand through collaboration . Rather than spending resources through inventory buffers to mitigate risk in supply , or create more precise forecasting , companies will work collaboratively with their suppliers in order to respond to a change in demand instantaneously .
In the ever-changing pace of product cycles , this is crucial to being able to deliver true value to the supply chain .
“ It ’ s about making your supplier
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