How Low-Code Can Help You Overcome Automotive Material Shortages
In the automotive manufacturing ecosystem, organizations need a steady flow of materials. It’s crucial for meeting production targets and fulfilling customer commitments. Unexpected material shortages can disrupt the production process, leading to missed deadlines.
To meet the needs of the supply chain, organizations are often left with one of two choices. They can adopt off-the-shelf solutions. Rarely do these solutions meet all the requirements needed to manage a supply chain. They also generally lack integration capability for SAP or other ERP systems.
The other route is software customization. Yet, this path offers can be time-consuming and laborious.
This situation has led a lot of organizations to low-code.
A leading global automotive manufacturer partnered with the digital engineering company, Nagarro.
Using the Mendix low-code development platform, Nagarro developed and implemented the solution, Material Shortage Planning. This solution aids the supply chain management (SCM) team in managing material shortages.
The Mendix platform provides connectors. Connectors help organizations integrate with siloed core systems. With Mendix, organizations can develop applications across a wide number of use cases. They can address issues up and down the supply chain, across the factory floor, and in the field.
7 ways to mitigate material shortages
The SCM team wanted to
- Proactively identify and reduce material shortages
- Institute faster and resource-efficient processes
- Better meet their customer commitments on time
Nagarro created a solution that integrates with SAP’s Material Management (MM) module. Here are the 7 ways it manages material shortages.
1. Stock vs. production planning visualization
The solution visualizes stock levels compared to production planning. This enables the SCM team to identify potential material shortages. They are also empowered to take measures to reduce risk.
2. Incident management with priority escalation
The Material Shortage Planning solution enables the SCM team to track and manage shortage scenarios. Its priority escalation capabilities allow them to quickly address critical issues. This all ensures minimal impact on production.
3. Stock visibility and material movement
Thanks to the Material Shortage Planning solution, the SCM team now was visibility into stock levels at other plants. This lets them identify potential material sources and start order requests. By streamlining the supply chain, the solution ensures optimal resource usage.
4. Vendor insights
The SCM team now has insights into vendor materials, capacity, and order status. Through this, they can build strong relationships with reliable suppliers and reduce shortages.
5. 360-degree view
The SCM team has a clear view of finished goods, production planning, and material shortages. The solution highlights production delays, order delivery impacts, and customer effects. This information enables customer manages to provide accurate updates to stakeholders.
6. Expedited decision-making
The solution helps the organization make decisions faster. It also improves clients’ abilities to take timely actions. This agility helps maintain production efficiency and customer satisfaction.
7. Seamless integration with SAP
Mendix has a library of connectors to ERP systems such as SAP. Integrating the Nagarro solution with SAP MM module ensures data flow between the two systems. This gives the organization a comprehensive view of inventory levels and supplier performance. It also lets them perform demand forecasting.
Learn how to overcome your material shortages
By harnessing the power of Mendix, Nagarro built an innovative solution that bolsters the SCM team’s ability to:
- detect and counteract risks
- secure a consistent material supply chain
- help the company fulfil its obligations
The collaboration between Nagarro and Mendix highlights how low-code technology can re-shape manufacturing. And foster the automotive industry’s sustainable growth.
Learn more about how you can use low-code to mitigate your material shortage risks. Download your free copy of Reimagine Smart Manufacturing and Supply Chains with Low-Code.