With access to new regions, customers, and suppliers, high-tech companies enjoy an expanding world of selling and sourcing opportunities. But with expansion comes complexity. Short-term demand and supply volatility is increasing. Customers are expecting shorter lead times, faster commitments on product availability and manufacturing capacity, and consistently on-time deliveries. And, with components and raw materials being furnished via a complex network spread over many locations and time zones, it is very difficult to put the right products at the right place at the right time – as well as at the right level of profitability.

SAP helps enable high-tech companies to reduce supply chain risk and respond faster to short-term demand and supply variability across their supply network. These companies are reducing lead times and lowering overall supply-chain costs via enhanced visibility and tighter orchestration across their supply network.

• Manufacturing network planning – Determine and source production requirements across the network of internal and external sites to meet demand with minimal lead times.
• Production planning and execution – Improve internal manufacturing flexibility through visibility and speed.
• Outsourced manufacturing – Orchestrate responsive execution of outsourced manufacturing to shorten lead times without increased procurement costs.
• Material supply and replenishment – Enable materials availability to enhance manufacturing flexibility, while reducing cost.

Software and Services for Supply Chain Visibility and Control

SAP helps enable you to immediately translate demand signals into a production plan. You can achieve a flexible approach to plant scheduling based on finite capacity and finite materials. In addition, we help you to implement a seamless process flow that helps integrate planning, scheduling, and the plant floor. As result of these capabilities, you are better able to gain bi-directional visibility of demand, supply, and status from scheduling through the plant floor and respond faster to unanticipated changes.

High-tech companies with outsourced manufacturing are shortening lead times without increased procurement costs by using SAP software to automate electronic collaboration. You can rapidly communicate new work orders, as well as negotiate and adjust details such as price, quantity and delivery dates, and shipment status. Tight collaboration also enables you to get timely visibility into work order progress and trigger alerts when necessary.

By establishing real-time visibility and integrated end-to-end process management, you allow demand information to be translated quickly and accurately into material supply orders or releases, as well as pull-based procurement. An SAP partner solution integrated with SAP's planning and execution solution can assist you with component and subassembly multi-echelon inventory optimization and help enable you to set optimal target levels of inventory – helping you maximize production flexibility, while reducing total inventory investment.

The analytic functionality of SAP software can also help you improve overall supply-chain performance by using cross-functional performance scorecards to align incentives. To bring together and harmonize these corporate goals and objectives, SAP Services and consulting partners can help you support balanced scorecard management across all supply-chain functions.

Learn More

• Find out more about SAP partner solutions and services.