How to adjust your supply chain strategy and model under an E2E approach to achieve the required levels of customer centricity, agility, resilience, sustainability, and efficiency across global value chains, to face business challenges in the new era.

Historically, many organizations first developed their supply chains within limited geographical bounds, in vertically integrated models. Over time, encouraged by expansion and globalization, these models were broken down into specialist functions, supported by external players and IT systems, making supply chains increasingly fragmented. New pressures in the business environment, such as changing consumer behaviors, risk of large disruptions, and sustainability requirements, call for the integration of the extended supply chain.

Different industries value different combinations of attributes, and organizations face challenges in developing key capabilities in the right balance:

From our perspective, successful supply chains in this new context have evaluated what it takes to win in their industry and market, and embedded these characteristics in their strategies and models.

Integration supports clients to develop a robust, sustainable and implementable end-to-end vision and model for their supply chain, connected to the overall business strategy and goals

The end-to-end supply chain can deliver various advantages, which are more or less relevant in different markets and industries. We work with a strategic mindset and pragmatic hands-on approach to help you:

• Translate your business strategy into clear Supply Chain requirements, guaranteeing leadership alignment
• Ensure top-management buy-in and support, as required for a business transformational journey
• Define the E2E strategic vision and targets, based on your organizational strategy, and an evaluation of the competitive landscape, to push the necessary discussions in terms of strategic trade-offs
• Consider the external perspective, facilitating transparent discussions and alignments with suppliers and customers from a neutral position
• Assess where technologies and systems are needed to support your overall strategy and target model
• Understand and ensure the key success factors are in place
• Prepare the organization internally, identifying changes in organizational structure, ways-of-working, and leadership and/or cultural behaviors
• Implement Change Management actions from the start of the design, to ensure model adoption across the organization and support a successful implementation
• Develop a clear roadmap for the phased evolution of your supply chain model, considering business context and capabilities to make it implementable

Defining and implementing a cohesive end-to-end supply chain strategy enables your organization to meet your wider strategic objectives, bringing relevant benefits to the organization, suppliers, and customers:

• IMPROVE REVENUE AND PROFITABILITY: Develop a new model that will support sustainable growth, in alignment with your business strategy and goals
• BECOME CUSTOMER-CENTRIC: Develop the E2E model and capabilities that will enable right-fit service solutions to drive positive experiences along the customer journey
• IMPROVE INNOVATION: Develop integration, collaboration and synchronization solutions across the extended Supply Chain to improve time-to-market under a customer-centric approach
• INCREASE AGILITY: Identify opportunities to develop flexibility and responsiveness capabilities across the supply chain to react faster to market changes
• BUILD RESILIENCE: Identify where the extended supply chain is vulnerable to large disruptions and which capabilities must be put in place to build strength, along with risk management strategies to ensure reliability
• IMPROVE SUSTAINABILITY AND ETHICAL CONTRIBUTION: Develop solutions in an integrated way with suppliers and customers to drive significant positive environmental and social impact
• IMPROVE EFFICIENCY: Identify cost- and speed-optimal solutions across the extended supply chain elements, in alignment with the required levels of agility, resilience, and sustainability

We assess the end-to-end supply chain as a whole, from its overall alignment with business strategy down to each individual component, and the relationships with other business areas and key players in the value chain.

Integration utilizes the following framework to assess the E2E level of a company’s supply chain and identify opportunities for its evolution, in full alignment with the business strategy.

To assess the end-to-end value chain opportunities in an organization, we consider 3 different dimensions to be evaluated thoroughly:

1. Inside the Supply Chain – We assess all of the components in the framework, focusing on the organization’s Supply Chain, even if all of its functions are not grouped within a single area.
2. Inside the Organization – We evaluate the level of integration, collaboration, and synchronization of each component with other business areas, with a particular focus on commercial strategy (GTM), innovation (I2M), and sustainability/ethical compliance.
3. Outside the Organization – Finally, we look outside the organization’s boundaries and assess the level of integration, collaboration, and synchronization of each component with the main players in the value chain.

Three Assessment Dimensions (Process Assessment Example)

We structure our proprietary methodology to assess the E2E maturity level of the Supply Chain Strategy and model, customize solutions for the gaps identified, and develop an implementation roadmap that leads our clients into this transformational journey.

1. Strategic Alignment and AS-IS Diagnosis:

• • We understand the business strategy, drivers and goals, and translate these into clear requirements for the supply chain, through interviews and workshops with the top management and the Supply Chain Leadership team in the organization.
  • Based on these requirements, we assess with the top management and the Supply Chain Leadership the current supply chain performance. It is common in our experience to find differing expectations across the organization’s leadership, which generates unrealistic targets and generates frustration.
  • Having this clarity, we evaluate the different components of the supply chain – both qualitatively and quantitatively – to define its E2E maturity level, identify the gaps, and the possible root-causes. This is achieved through in-depth interviews with key professionals from the Supply Chain function, and other areas (Sales, Finance, R&D, HR, etc.), data analysis, and benchmarking.

2. E2E Model Definition:

• • Working with the Supply Chain Leadership team, we assess the supply chain strategy and define the necessary adjustments (or even a full redefinition) to meet the agreed requirements, and set concrete strategic attributes and goals. Based on these and the gap assessment, the required E2E maturity level is defined and translated to guidelines for the different Supply Chain components (Network, Processes, Organization, Technology, etc.).
  • We develop the directional TO-BE states for each component, the solutions needed to reach these, and the proposed multifunctional teams that should develop the implementation with us. Involvement of the multifunctional team is critical, as key professionals of functions such as Sales, Finance, Procurement, and HR will be suppliers and/or clients in the new E2E model
  • Workshops are held with the multifunctional teams to develop each component’s TO-BE state, and detail the solutions to address the gaps identified, define the initiatives required to implement (including preliminary high-level timelines), and identify potential bottlenecks and/or required enablers.
  • We validate the TO-BE states and solutions with both the Supply Chain Leadership team and top management, to ensure strategic alignment and solution buy-in – this is a key part of the Change Management process, to guide the whole organization to embrace the transformation.

3. Evolution Roadmap:

• • Leaders are defined for all initiatives and we detail the activities and timelines together with them, with a high-level evaluation of impact and complexity, considering technical and organizational requirements.
  • We conduct prioritization workshops of the E2E initiatives with the Supply Chain Leadership team and top management, to balance quick wins with complex initiatives to guarantee that implementation is feasible given the company’s context and capabilities in place.
  • We develop an overall implementation roadmap and a high-level implementation plan for each initiative and design the necessary governance to execute the transformation, embedding Change Management actions to ensure adoption.