What is a Data-Driven Supply Chain?

A data-driven supply chain has become one of the core competitive advantages of manufacturing companies in modern days.

In this podcast, Yacine Mahdid, COO at Axya, and Hamad Anwar VP of Product at Axya will demystify this term and cover the following topics:

1. What is a data-driven supply chain and where does Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence/Deep Learning fits?
2. Why can't companies just be data-driven? (hint: the data is usually not great)
3. What is supply chain 4.0 in the context of industry 4.0.
4. How to get started with digitizing your organization.
5. Should I do the digitization myself with my IT department, outsource it or hire people?
6. Who should be owning in an organization the digitization project?
7. What are the competitive advantages of having a data-driven supply chain?

Core tips to start your journey in modernizing your supply chain so that it’s much more data-driven:

• Ensure your decision makers are data literate and understand what is data.
• Understand that not all data formats are the same.
• Focus first on the data that you collect. Ensure it’s of high quality for analysis and processing.
• Don’t forget your partners when thinking about collecting data for your supply chain.
• Start with a simple project to digitize your organization, don’t do it in one swoop!
• Ensure that digitalization is a core priority of your executive (like at the CEO level almost).

The podcast is available on Spotify and Apple Podcast. If you wish to be a guest, don’t hesitate to contact either of us to discuss anything data or supply chain related!

Out of-context quotes:
> If your company is based on tribal knowledge passed down from generation to generation and you are telling everybody “Hey guys we’re not doing this anymore, we are doing this other thing and it’s gonna cost us millions of dollars”. At the inevitable first problem you will encounter people will revert back to the old ways.

> It’s a bit counterintuitive, but when your own data is moving through an external application built by advanced technological people and comes back to your stuff. It’s usually much better structured than if it moved through your own systems.

> The two companies that I’ve seen that were top-notch in their digitalization in the manufacturing space were Traf Inc. and SBB in Quebec. The common theme between the two is that the owners understood the importance of digitalization and were spearheading this endeavor.

> Top benefit is total flexibility. You will be able to witness trends before they happen and make the moves. Almost as if you are prescient.

See you in the next podcast! 👋

Yacine Mahdid