Democratizing Supply Chain Design and Optimization Models via Apps

JTVCYXV0aG9yX2luZm8lNUQ=In the realm of supply chain design and decision support, our customers are creatively utilizing optimization and simulation models to find cost savings, improve service and build more resilient supply chains. By broadening adoption beyond a select group of experts, they are tapping into additional value. This approach allows a wider range of business teams to engage with these models using user-friendly interfaces, ultimately unlocking more value across their supply chain. This blog delves into how simplifying access can allow business users to make informed decisions through familiar platforms like Excel, Google Sheets or even a tailored web app, thus democratizing the wide capabilities of supply chain design.

Understanding the Importance of Supply Chain Design

Supply chain design is pivotal for organizations aiming to enhance and drive most value from their supply chain network. It allows companies to simulate and optimize their current supply chain networks and engage with various "what-if" scenarios, which can range across multiple domains such as sourcing, production, inventory, transportation, and demand. By modeling these elements holistically, businesses can proactively balance cost, service, and risk, ensuring they can swiftly respond to market shifts and operational challenges, maintaining competitive advantage while aligning with long-term business goals.

Empowering Business Users

Recognizing Industry Challenges

In talking with our users and the broader design market, the research shed light on key areas where other offerings fall short, particularly in democratizing design for a broader user base. Challenges typically encountered include:

• Complexity for Non-Modelers: Many solutions are overly complex for business users, limiting their usability without technical expertise.

• Steep Learning Curve: Initiatives aimed at empowering business users frequently require substantial investments in training and learning new and complex interfaces, which can be a barrier to effective use.

• Restrictive Licensing and High Costs: These solutions often come with restrictive licensing models and high maintenance costs, which can stifle wider adoption and innovation.

Our Simplified Approach

Addressing these challenges, we have streamlined the process to make sophisticated supply chain optimization more accessible and user-friendly with:

• Intuitive Applications: We develop apps on well-known platforms like Excel, Google Sheets or simple web apps, designed for ease of use and many templates, allowing business users to engage with advanced models with highly familiar tools.

• Seamless Backend Integration: Our cloud native platform supports complex analyses with minimal user effort, eliminating the need for intricate data management and deep algorithmic knowledge.

• Accessible and Maintainable Solutions: We reduce barriers to entry by avoiding significant upfront investment in specialized training or skills. Our solutions are designed to be easily maintained, ensuring they remain cost-effective and practical for continuous use.

Practical Examples and Impact: To better understand the real-world applications and benefits of our solutions, let’s explore a few use cases where our tools have significantly enhanced decision-making by democratizing design with apps.

• Capex Planning: Business users run detailed SKU-level scenario analysis, providing insights into CAPEX requirements, identifying bottlenecks, and pinpointing opportunities. The app enables strategic moves like product swaps across lines, adding shifts in optimal plants, enhancing work center efficiency, and testing growth scenarios to optimize growth and inform finance about CAPEX needs efficiently.

• Routing Optimization: This app efficiently optimizes daily multi-stop delivery routes from distribution centers to stores, minimizing miles while complying with constraints like asset capacity and driver availability. This deployment significantly cuts operational costs, as it’s deployed across many DCs and directly reduces total miles across 1000s of deliveries and thereby reducing carbon emissions.

• Inventory Optimization: Inventory analysts actively manage and optimize inventory by testing various stocking strategies and adjusting safety stock levels according to demand and supply fluctuations. The app supports experimentation with replenishment frequencies and policy adjustments, helping users quickly see impacts on service levels and costs. This self-serve tool empowers teams to make informed decisions and seamlessly integrates with downstream systems for actionable insights.

Technological Backbone and Architecture

The seamless integration of our user-friendly apps with robust cloud-hosted optimization models & analytics are enabled by sophisticated APIs. These APIs & prebuilt utilities facilitate secure and efficient data exchanges from Excel-driven user apps to our modeling environment almost instantaneously with minimal setup. Users input scenarios and adjustable parameters, which are processed by advanced models and solvers in the cloud. The output is then transformed into actionable insights, detailing key scenario changes and KPIs by use case, accompanied by clear visualizations accessible to planners, analysts, and even executives to make better decisions. This setup ensures that even the most complex data manipulations and model interactions are handled precisely, upholding the integrity and scalability of our solutions, while supporting business users in making well-informed decisions.

Business Value of Democratization

The democratization of supply chain design tools brings several business advantages:

• It enables a wider spectrum of business users to engage with critical supply chain questions, thereby fostering a more inclusive environment for strategic planning.

• Core modelers are relieved of routine queries, allowing them to focus on enhancing model capabilities and tackling new challenges.

• As more teams use these tools, they generate rich data and insights, enhancing the organization's business intelligence and leading to substantial supply chain improvements.

• This proactive approach allows business teams to identify and address supply chain issues early before they escalate. Empowering users to analyze and respond to real-time changes helps organizations anticipate disruptions and refine their strategies efficiently.

Imagine the Possibilities of Self-Service Decision Power

The value and potential opportunities of democratizing supply chain design across the enterprise are enormous. How could your company benefit? What are you risking not having this capability?

• What strategic decisions could you make if complex supply chain modeling was as easy as filling out a spreadsheet? Imagine the possibilities if every team member could simulate outcomes and explore questions, leading to more dynamic decision-making and proactive problem-solving across the organization.

• How much faster could your organization respond to market changes if business users could adjust models directly? Consider the agility and competitive edge your company could gain if business teams could immediately test and understand the impact of external changes and make recommendations.

• Could democratizing supply chain tools lead to better cross-functional collaboration and alignment? Envision how the shared use of these tools could break down silos between departments, align them towards common goals and integrated decision-making, especially when these silos have competing objectives and trade-offs

• What cost savings and efficiency gains are possible if more team members could conduct their optimization scenarios? Evaluate the potential financial impact if more employees could optimize parts of the supply chain independently, reducing the need for frequent consultations with modelers.

Making complex supply chain optimization models accessible to a broader audience is not just about technological integration. It's about transforming the strategic capabilities of businesses, enabling them to leverage collective expertise and insights across various teams. As we continue to simplify and democratize these tools, we empower our teams to contribute more effectively to the organization's overarching goals.

Try Cosmic Frog for Excel

Cosmic Frog for Excel by Optilogic is essential for democratizing supply chain modeling. This powerful tool connects complex back-end data analysis with user-friendly Excel interfaces, allowing business users to easily access advanced modeling capabilities without requiring deep technical knowledge. By seamlessly integrating into existing Excel workflows, Cosmic Frog empowers users to customize their approaches to supply chain challenges, enhancing decision-making and fostering collaboration among teams. With more individuals able to engage and share insights, organizations can elevate their supply chain strategies and drive significant business value. Read: Getting Started with Cosmic Frog for Excel Applications