To succeed in a competitive and volatile climate, businesses need to comprehend the processes and interactions that occur along their supply chains. This allows businesses to have control of the connection between supply and demand in a way that is integrated, coordinated, and efficient. To accomplish this, today’s automated supply chains rely on enterprise resource planning (ERP), which has greatly improved what traditional supply chains were capable of.
To better understand ERP-integrated supply chains that involve a packaging provider, like Desjardin, and how they can be used to optimize processes for food and cosmetic manufacturers, one must first have a little background in the concept of what an ERP system is, along with understanding the concept of the supply chain.
What is an ERP System?
Over the past decade, enterprise system software has become a multibillion-dollar industry around the globe. This software products components that support a variety of business functions. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is the real time integrated management of main business processes that is controlled by technology and software. ERP is a type of business management software that is generally a suite of integrated applications that is used to collect, store, manage, and interpret data from many business activities.
Using ERP, silos are eliminated as a database management system integrates and continuously updates core business process with data from common databases. ERP keeps information flowing between all business functions and manages connections to external stakeholders. For example, an ERP system keeps track of business resources, including cash, raw materials on hand, and production capability, while also keeping track of the status of business commitments, including orders in-house, purchase orders, and payroll. All this data is shared by the various applications in the system to the different departments that supply and utilize data, including manufacturing, purchasing, sales, accounting, etc.).
What is a Supply Chain?
In business, a supply chain is a system of resources, information, processes, people, and organizations that are involved with moving products from suppliers to their customers. Activities occurring within the supply chain include transforming natural resources, raw materials, and other components, into a finished packaged product. This involves the inclusion of the packaging provider to supply their packaging “just-in-time,” delivered to the right place (anywhere on Earth), and with the variants with the right printing, and color.
Supply chains must be resilient and have the ability to alert, adapt, and quickly respond to changes when a supply chain disruption occurs. Supply chain management includes optimizing the supply chain to:
- Eliminate bottlenecks
- Strategically source materials for a balance between cost and transportation
- Implement JIT techniques to optimize manufacturing flows
- Maintain the proper mix and location of manufacturing facilities and warehouses to serve their targeted markets
- Use dynamic programming
- Maximize distribution efficiency through traditional logistics optimization
ERP and Supply Chain Integration
ERP plays a crucial part in the supply chain by making sure what is needed for each process is available when it is needed. It also helps promote eco-efficiency because it is based on the concept of producing more goods and services using few resources and in a more environmentally-friendlier manner.
According to the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), the critical factors of eco-efficiency include:
- Reducing the amount of material used including waste in producing goods and services
- Reducing the amount of energy used in producing goods and services
- Reducing the dispersion of toxic materials
- Increased recyclability of materials and products
- Maximizing use of renewable resources
- Better durability of products
- Increasing the service intensity of goods and services
Desjardin specializes in producing tins made of tinplate or aluminum. Our tins are customizable in color and shape, suited for food and cosmetic products, and completely recyclable. As a European leader in the metal packaging industry, Desjardin is an integrated part of the industrial supply chain of many global players in cosmetics, food, film-roles, ink cartridges and more.
References and Further Reading
- "ERP Integration as a Support for Logistics Controlling in Supply Chain" (2011), by Adam Koliński & Paweł Fajfer
