From digital to sustainable transformation: strengthening resilience in industrial companies

How companies overcome crises

Germany is an industrialised nation, led by the automotive, mechanical engineering, electrical, chemical and food industries. The coronavirus pandemic has resulted in massive losses in turnover in some sectors, and the economy is currently in the process of recovering from this. The coronavirus, the war in Ukraine and the energy crisis are currently driving home a stark reality for companies: they must take proactive measures to safeguard themselves in order to navigate crises effectively and remain successful in the long term.

A company’s resilience depends largely on how well it is able to respond to problems and unforeseen events. Transparency, data-driven decision-making and technologies such as artificial intelligence lay the foundations for forward-looking risk management.

In the logistics sector, the key challenge for the future will be to make supply chains more transparent and flexible. Intelligent management of supply chains is vital, for example, to respond to bottlenecks or supply issues by making appropriate adjustments. Supply chains designed purely for cost efficiency are ultimately at a disadvantage due to a lack of flexibility. Independence is becoming increasingly important. It is essential to tap into new capacities and alternative suppliers in good time. In addition, IT can help to optimise the organisation of logistical processes in industrial companies and minimise risks.

To make supply chains transparent, containers, pallets and vehicles are fitted with electronic IDs and networked with one another. The Process-as-a-Service platform from myleo/dsc, for example, offers end-to-end transparency across the entire supply chain by mapping all factory and transport logistics processes. The solution connects manufacturers, suppliers, warehouses, haulage contractors and branches, and manages all supply chain networks in real time. This not only speeds up processes but also enables disruptions and failures to be identified and resolved as quickly as possible. Ultimately, all parties involved benefit. Artificial intelligence, machine learning and the IoT form the technological basis of the platform, which was developed specifically for the logistics and supply chain management sector.

This solution is already being used successfully by various industrial companies, such as Nordzucker AG. To ensure that the sugar manufacturer’s products arrive on time at supermarkets, its on-site logistics were digitised in collaboration with myleo/dsc. Since the implementation of the relevant technologies, traffic congestion on the factory premises has become a thing of the past. When a lorry is 60 minutes away from the factory, a time slot is triggered for order picking from a high-bay warehouse.

Find out more about Materna’s Industry Solutions here. 

IT security measures

Another essential issue relating to resilience in industrial companies is IT security measures. This is because cyber-attacks can be devastating in the logistics sector, ranging from data theft to the failure of entire warehouses, cold chains and so on. The only solution here is an effective cyber security strategy. A Security Operations Centre (SOC) can provide end-to-end solutions, from prevention to real-time handling of security incidents. You can also find out more about this on our website: The Materna Security Operations Centre

Read more here about the key challenges facing the industrial sector:

Part 1: Customer loyalty in industrial companies
Part 2: Increasing
efficiency in industrial companies Part 3: Strengthening
the resilience of industrial companies Part 4: Ensuring the future viability of the industrial sector