Plant-level Systems: Facing and Dealing with Obstacles
P.J. Jakovljevic - November 22, 2005

Obstacles to Overcome

Unfortunately, there still seem to be walls, not to mention the ivory towers of management, that stand between the plant and the rest of the business. One wall obscures supply chain visibility, preventing people in the plant from getting relevant visibility into the upstream and downstream supply chains. Even large, well-equipped companies with modern supply chain management (SCM) systems suffer from information gaps. For example, SAP relates the experience of a manager of a well-equipped plant at a large, very modern chemical company: "50 percent of the demand that is getting to him is completely invisible until it occurs". Given the company's big setup times and setup costs, this is a high wall that must be overcome...