| | DECEMBER 20218CIOReviewIN MY OPINIONDIGITALIZATION DRIVES SHAPING THE IDEAL LOGISTICS NETWORKBy Bjoern Neal Kirchner, Corporate VP Global Supply Chain Adhesive Technologies, HenkelHenkel Adhesive Technologies is globally leading in the markets for adhesives, sealants and functional coatings. The products and solutions are an integral part of uncountable consumer and industrial goods in more than 800 industry segments and, for example, help reducing the weight of cars, improving the performance of smartphones and supporting the food safety in packaging applications. With about 140 production sites, more than 200 warehouses and around 70,000 products the Henkel business unit is dealing with a complex network in production and logistics. To optimize operations, logistics and material flows and to generate best customer value the Global Operations and Supply Chain team located in Amsterdam is increasingly using the opportunities of digitalization such as Artificial Intelligence, smart planning tools and Smart Factory concepts.Smart Factory concept Smart Factories allow to simulate production processes, and therefore identify quality risks even before they occur. They can display the full picture, consisting of the real-time data that connected machines are sending. Algorithms are able to bundle and analyse this huge amount of data within seconds, so companies know exactly what happens at every single stage of the process. This significantly improves both, the chance to run processes more precisely in the first place, and to dynamically adapt the operations whenever necessary.Henkel Adhesive Technologies continuously upgrades systems and machines of existing sites with Industry 4.0 functionalities. Therefore, the business unit has developed a web-based platform that is currently running at 14 sites across Asia Pacific and the India, Middle East and Africa region. It features a set of modules with specific digital capabilities. Site managers can select the digital solutions that best fits to their specific situation and thatcreate most value. As the feedback is very positive, Adhesive Technologies plans to bring all major sites worldwide onto the platform by 2022.To further digitize its operations, Adhesive Technologies has integrated holistic Smart Factory concepts into the planning and construction of all new sites globally. The most recent example is the state-of-the art manufacturing facility near Pune, India. The end-to-end digitalisation of the plant operations enables a wide range of Industry 4.0 processes and meets the highest standards for safety, efficiency and sustainability. Digitalization enhances efficiency and service level towards the customerBy digitalising supply chain logistics, Henkel creates the basis to stay up to date with market trends, improve the service level to its customers and gain efficiencies to stay competitive in the market. Using data-based technologies such as simulationsand track-and-trace software, the business unit enhances transparency along the supply chain and paves the way for further improvements and new services.Warehousing: Re-arranging a grown structureFor decades, supply chain managers planned a warehouse to be as close as possible to the company's production sites. Nowadays, for Henkel Adhesive Technologies the ideal Bjoern Neal Kirchner
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