The Supply Chain of the Future: from Reactive to Predictive

Key Steps in the Supply Chain

In recent years the Supply Chain Global has gone through a period of extraordinary complexity. Multiple critical factors, including geopolitical contrasts, raw material supply difficulties, and natural disasters, have generated significant negative impacts. These have manifested themselves particularly through short-circuiting Operations, disruptions in logistics networks, increased shipping costs and longer delivery times.

In this context of increasing instability, it becomes imperative to develop Supply Chain more resilient, able to adapt quickly to crises and ensure business continuity. Organizations thus face three fundamental challenges:

  • Manage and diversify The supply risk to ensure business continuity
  • Reduce costs Related to the procurement of components and raw materials
  • Shorten The distance and delivery time of supplies

Supply chain: method and management, the key steps

To meet these challenges, the Lean World Class® (LWC®), proprietary methodology of Bonfiglioli Consulting, is presented as thenatural evolution of Lean Thinking and World Class Manufacturing (WCM). Its application enables optimization of the entire value chain, from supplier to end customer, through an end-to-end (E2E) approach. This ensures that every step, from sourcing to production, is optimized according to Lean principles to reduce waste, improve quality, increase operational speed and minimize risk.

The methodology consists of. seven key steps, each designed to improve efficiency, reduce costs and minimize risk within the Supply Chain. The LWCP® steps are developed through three main phases: reactive, preventive and proactive, creating an integrated and comprehensive supply chain management system.

The Reactive Phase: immediate resolution of critical issues

The first phase of the approach Lean World Class® focuses on immediate resolution of existing problems through in-depth analysis and targeted interventions. It consists of three basic steps:

  • Step 1: Analysis of critical supply factors (KPIs: Quality, Delivery, Cost and Inventory) on losses in Transformation /Conversion Cost;
  • Step 2: Determine the causes root of the losses and study countermeasures necessary (tend to 0 losses due to the procurement process);
  • Step 3: Implement countermeasures, produce the new Vendor List standard and an initial Vendor Ranking;

The Preventive Phase: anticipating and managing future risks

After stabilizing immediate critical issues, the preventive phase focuses on building a robust system to identify and mitigate potential risks before they occur. This phase is developed through two strategic steps:

  • Step 4: Analysis of all constraints And internal external opportunities to build a long-term strategy
  • Step 5: Supply Risk and evolution of the Vendor Ranking from a preventive perspective

The Proactive Phase: Continuous innovation and anticipation of opportunities

The final stage of the process Lean World Class Procurement® focuses on implementing advanced technology solutions and extending best practices to the entire supply chain. This phase is the culmination of the transformation to a smart and interconnected Supply Chain:

  • Step 7: Extend the method to the supply chain (cascading effect on overall supply chain costs)
  • Step 6: Digitizing processes of procurement (technology 4.0) to aim for maximum efficiency (minimum cost) of the procurement process

The Fundamental Pillars of Lean World Class Procurement®.

The Lean World Class Procurement® method is based on three fundamental elements that form the backbone of the entire supply chain management system:

  • Strategic Sourcing: Optimizes supplier selection by aligning it with business objectives
  • Business Continuity System (BCS): Ensures operability even in crisis situations
  • Digitization: Integrates advanced technology tools to give real-time visibility and responsiveness

Strategic Sourcing

This approach goes beyond simple cost management, focuses on thesupply chain optimization and goes beyond tactical buying, but includes a number of important evaluation factors such as quality, sustainability, and the ability to respond promptly to the needs of a changing market.

The Strategic Sourcing involves structured processes and the implementation of certain tools:

  • Vendor Selection 
  • Country-Risk Analysis
  • Vendor Rating 
  • Kraljic matrix
  • Negotiation
  • Real Time Monitoring and Continuous Improvement

Business Continuity System

A central element of resilience, the BCS identifies risks, defines countermeasures and plans responses to crises. Its key aspects include:

  • Mapping of processes
  • Diversification Of the sources of supply
  • Monitoring continuous with digital tools

Supply Chain Digitization

Digitization improves transparency, collaboration and efficiency through:

  • Control Tower: A centralized hub offering real-time visibility and predictive analytics
  • Process automation: Process automation, combined with predictive analytics tools, enables anticipation of possible disruptions in production or distribution flows, enabling rapid and targeted response
  • The systems of Machine Learning: Analysis of large amounts of historical and operational data to predict trends and anomalies, improving resilience
  • Total Cost of Ownership optimization: Accurate calculation of total procurement costs
  • Advanced monitoring: Dashboard to track cost, quality and delivery time

In an increasingly unstable and competitive global environment, the evolution of the Supply Chain is no longer a choice, but a necessity to ensure business continuity and the ability of companies to adapt to new competitive scenarios.

The adoption of strategies such as the Strategic Sourcing, the Business Continuity System e the digitization of processes, in the setting of the Lean World Class Procurement®, offers a key competitive advantage. These approaches not only improve efficiency and reduce operating costs, but also strengthen the resilience of supply chains, preparing them to meet future challenges with confidence.

The application of Lean World Class Procurement® methodologies leads, based on our experience to:

  • Reduced operating costs: 20-30%
  • Improved punctuality: up to 95%
  • Reduced operating cycles: up to 40%
  • Increased visibility and resilience

This is in the area of Global Supply Chains enables Bonfiglioli Consulting to act as a strategic partner for companies looking to transform their supply chains from reactive to predictive systems, ensuring long-term competitiveness and resilience.