The unique selling proposition of the sedApta Suite

The manufacturing sector is experiencing and will continue to experience a deep transformation. Market analysts and supply chain experts believe that new innovative technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), 3D printing, and Big Data Analytics will soon bring to what could be defined as the“4th industrial revolution” or “cyber-physical manufacturing revolution”.

Manufacturing, especially in market sectors such as textile and automotive, is characterized by increasing levels of customer involvement in the productive phase, with a “Customize to Order” usually adopted.

Following this trend, companies need to become more and more agile and flexible as to be able to respond to their customers’ needs in the best possible way. To do so, companies need to change. They need to evolve their strategy, moving from Smart Manufacturing to Smart Planning.

To better manage this change, it is essential to develop tools that help rationalize all Supply Chain processes, support human resources in the adoption of new models and IT procedures, and support monitoring activities over the processes. All-encompassing tools that support companies in all these activities help create a virtuous cycle of continuous improvement, ensuring that changes in processes due to technological innovation are matched by adequate work force competences and knowledge.

It is indeed due to this continuous push, together with the increasing complexity and far reach that characterize the Supply Chain, that the need to have intelligent tools capable of managing and optimizing Sales & Operation Planning processes becomes concrete. These tools have to ensure the right levels of agility, adaptability with regard to demand, and flexibility in adapting plans to face unexpected events, for all planning processes and all nodes of the logistic and distributive chain.

Thanks to its 350 employees, 50 of which employed in R&D, sedApta has acquired and developed a wide range of products for the optimization and management of the Supply Chain. The sedApta S&OP Software Suite can support companies in all aspects of the Supply Chain, ensuring collaboration at all levels, from demand and production planning, to customer orders scheduling and productive lines performance monitoring. With more than 500 installations globally, the Suite is considered by market analysts as a must to help companies develop and mature towards a Demand-Driven Value Network (DDVN).

In addition to the core components, the sedApta Suite also proposes innovative frame components dedicated to help companies in their Change Management activities, from the analysis of the company processes “as-is” to the definition of the “to-be” scenario. These components are integrated in the O.S.A. (Orchestrate, Support, Analyze) ecosystem, characterized by process orchestration, “just-in-time, just-enough” support to information systems operators, and performance analysis for both users and processes.

All modules of the sedApta Suite share technological and functional features designed to achieve maximum performance and the best results. The unique characteristics that distinguish the sedApta Suite in the extensive market for supply chain management solutions are:

• The O.S.A. ecosystem. Thanks to its three frame components, created by the two innovative start-up of the sedApta group (Aryosa and Skillaware), the Suite can assist the company in its Change Management processes. With Orchestrator users can design, execute and orchestrate of all business processes; with Skillaware, the company can supply real time support to users, and create and distribute learning material; and with Analytics , performance analysis can be execute for all users and processes.
• Strong collaboration in the decision process among different users, not always internal to the company. In particular, this feature becomes especially important with regard to demand forecast processes, where close and continuous interactions with the sales force is paramount, and to suppliers and contractors management, where a well-structured and constant dialogue is key to reach higher levels of efficiency in terms of inventory and production management.
• Fast generation of simulative scenarios capable of supporting planning decisions. Different simulative scenarios can be generated in minutes thanks to the module “in-memory database” function, enabling what-if analysis to ensure users can make informed choices on the best possible scenario to choose.
• Possibility to create highly customizable dashboards for the analysis of major Key Performance Indicators, filtered by users role and preferences, thanks to the Vision tool.
• Possibility to create dynamic standard interfaces to facilitate the integration of the sedApta Suite components with third-parties systems such as ERP, MES e DCS.

Thanks to its versatile components, the sedApta Suite helps manage all aspect of the Supply Chain, giving its customers a push towards innovation to increase the company competitiveness and making a difference in the industry 4.0 landscape.