Some 27% of sites in a worldwide poll just completed by ComputerWire among a universe of 100 manufacturing sector CIOs and senior technology executives said they have no concrete plans to automate their supply chain.
In 20% of cases, use of supply chain automation was described as pretty mature and established. Another 26% of sites reported that the use of supply chain automation was steady and growing.
There is undoubtedly a great deal of complexity to untangle in a supply chain planning project. Understanding the supply chain can be extremely challenging. Streamlining it more so. Some chains extend across many trading partners, territories and time zones, and there is a need to fully explore the business consequences of any supply chain modification.
The poll of 100 confirmed that 23% of SCP-using sites considered the technical complexity of supply chain implementation to be a major concern in inhibiting take-up of online collaboration among smaller trading partners.
A much bigger issue was one of online security, however. Some 44% of sites felt that it was concerns about security that was limiting the penetration of automated supply chain systems into their supplies base. Cultural issues were cited as a major inhibiting factor by 18% of SCP users.
Some 11% of all sites using SCP felt the cost of the extra ERP software licenses that are often needed to allow trading partners direct access to core enterprise planning systems is constraining their online collaboration strategies.
