Drug manufacturers turning to supply chain management software
tipped to grow 8.6 per cent a year to reach over $8.3m (€6.8m) in
2010, driven by the need to streamline supply chain processes and
improve productivity.
According to a new report by ARC Advisory Group, Supply Chain Execution (SCE) programmes in applications such as collaborative production management, warehouse management, and transportation management will be responsible for fuelling much of the growth.
Supply chain execution requires good management, and SCE software is designed to achieve this, managing the complete order to cash business process, capturing demand, providing inbound and outbound transportation management, and supporting large, complex distribution operations.
Within this SCE segment, growth will be higher among the manufacturing applications than for logistics applications, said the report, titled "Supply Chain Management Worldwide Outlook: Market Analysis and Forecast through 2010".
This is because the role of a manufacturing plant is becoming the focal point in a supply chain network and is often the determining factor of its overall performance.
"As global competition increases, existing manufacturing facilities are under incredible pressure to improve their Return on Assets (ROA)," said Tom Fiske, senior analyst at ARC.
While costs remain an important issue of performance, other factors such as time-to-volume, determining the correct product mix, and having the flexibility, adaptability, and responsiveness to exploit market opportunities are also becoming increasingly important, said the report.
As a result, efforts to synchronise the supply chain are increasing, and supply chain solutions that provide accurate real-time information from operations to enable improved decision-making at all levels of the company and for trading partners in the supply chain are becoming invaluable.
"To achieve higher levels of performance, manufacturing plants are adopting more solutions that better link manufacturing operations with business objectives, that increases their flexibility and agility, and that synchronises their supply chain operations," said Fiske.
"In addition, increased demand from developing regions that are constructing new plants and purchasing best-in-class solutions to achieve world-class manufacturing capabilities and have their products well accepted around the world is also contributing to the growth."
