The Does LogisticsMatter? Podcast is all about trends and innovations in supply chain and logistics. Returning guest on this episode is Miguel van Asch, Head of Data and Analytics at Ahlers. In episode fourteen, Miguel explained what a digital twin is, and what the three steps are to creating your own digital twin.
In this episode, we talk about how an automotive supplier used a digital twin to improve their contingency planning and made their supply chain more resilient, and we learn more about how scenario’s run with their digital twin improved operations and increased efficiency.
Mitigating Supply Chain Disruptions
If the past two years have taught us anything, it is that unexpected events, whether big or small, can wreak havoc on supply chains. The global pandemic and the blocking of the Suez canal by the Ever Given, are two excellent examples of this. These events seriously disrupted supply chains, leading to extreme delays in some operations. Other supply chains came ground to a halt when complete factories and ports shut down in China.
To mitigate supply chain disruptions a large manufacturer of cooling liquids decided to take a new look at its supply chain to improve its resilience. For a supplier to the automotive industry, delivering on your promise is essential. Missing a delivery can bring a production line to a full stop.
Together with the Ahlers data analytics team they built a digital twin of their supply chain and used that to look at various scenarios. They analysed the outcome and devised new strategies to counter different types of potential disruptions in their supply chain.
Miguel explains how they not only analysed the data but also went on site to look in detail at the operation. Looking at data only is not enough, you have to see what actually happens when the data is created.
Improve Your Operation and Increase Your Efficiency
By creating a digital twin and running different scenarios you can make strategic decisions about how to improve your operation and increase the efficiency of your supply chain. You can look at the big picture and analyse the whole supply chain, or zoom in on a specific problem like the impact of trucks arriving late at one of your warehouses.
If you want to hear more about how to improve your supply chain using a digital twin, then click one of the buttons below to listen to the conversation I had with Miguel.
This blogpost is sponsored by Ahlers.
Header image by Chad Kirchoff on Unsplash
