Supply Chain
Network Design
Sustainable network planning: we create efficient supply chain structures
No company operates on its own. Every value chain only exists in and through complex networks that organize and facilitate logistics, the supply of raw materials or the return of empties, for example. To ensure that these networks are and remain efficient and effective, it is important to review them regularly and adapt them to changing conditions. Does the network structure still fit? At which nodes is there a problem? Is the overall system stable and resilient?
This can be particularly important in phases of growth or during consolidation. Acquisitions and sales often create completely new challenges. In all these cases, restructuring can provide a decisive advantage. In order to find new, sustainable solutions in complex networks, you should take a progressive, analytical approach to network planning.
The Supply Chain Network Design model enables the comprehensive, holistic and quantitatively data-driven evaluation and design of your value creation networks and business processes. We use advanced software technology and advanced analytics to gain differentiated insights into the complex conditions of your networks and infrastructure. Using virtual simulations, we can examine whether the possible solutions and alternative courses of action developed together with you are really economical and feasible – and gain precise insights into potential difficulties.
Supply Chain Network Design is therefore particularly suitable for analysing and optimizing complex, multi-level supply chains and value networks in terms of procurement, production and distribution. Our aim is to use sound planning to make your value creation networks efficient and resilient, to optimize delivery capability and service levels and to reduce yourcarbon footprint.
Supplier Network Design
Efficient and consolidated procurement logistics
Every manufacturing and trading company has a large number of suppliers. And as precise as the delivery specifications may be, each supplier has its own processes and specific characteristics. This diversity quickly becomes a challenge, as you naturally have an interest in managing your procurement logistics efficiently and controlling and processing incoming goods in all their complexity in a uniform manner.
The supplier network design concept creates flexible logistics structures that ensure that the heterogeneous material flows from suppliers are consolidated and routed to the company’s production plants and logistics centers using standardized processes. The open design of the logistics network avoids one-sided dependencies on individual suppliers. This ensures the ability to deliver and increases the resilience of your company.
The central tool for network planning is a digital twin of your supplier network and processes in procurement logistics, in which all challenges and difficulties can be identified and analyzed and possible optimizations can be simulated in advance.
Service packages
- Building the digital twin of the supplier network
- Developing a consolidation strategy
- Designing flexible, open logistics networks
- Analyze risks
- Optimize network
Your benefit:
- Increase in material availability
- Reduction in transportation costs
- Increasing resilience in procurement
Dr.-Ing. Kai Philipp Bauer
Senior Manager Supply Chain Management
Talk to us!
Would you like to restructure your value creation network? Please send me a message. I will get back to you as soon as possible.
Production Network Design
Optimize complex production networks unerringly
It is a major challenge to restructure and optimize historically grown, complex production networks in such a way that they can also meet future requirements. How can the associated far-reaching decisions and high investments be analytically validated?
A modern project approach with advanced software technology is required in order to make well-founded decisions. We use production network design to develop efficient structures for complex value creation networks that are aligned with the overarching corporate strategy.
The concrete form this takes can look very different. We analyze this:
- Single or multi-stage production networks
- Which products are manufactured at which location
- Centralized vs. decentralized network structures
- Creating efficient redundancies to increase resilience
- Expansion of existing or development of new locations
In order to be able to justify the specific approach based on data, we start with an assessment of the existing network and model it as a digital twin. This allows us to model and simulate possible solutions digitally in order to derive efficient and promising measures.
Service packages
- Describe existing production network
- Modeling the production network as a digital twin
- Developing strategic solutions
- Formulating more efficient network structures through numerical optimization
- Ensuring economic efficiency through simulation
Your benefit:
- Flexibilization of production
- Optimization of cost structures
- Avoidance of production downtimes
- Cost-efficient resilience
Distribution Network Design
Efficient logistics to the customer
How well your distribution logistics work has an important influence on how your products and services are perceived by your customers. After all, delivery capability and reliability are an important component of your market success. For you as a company, it is of course crucial to achieve high quality in the most cost-efficient way possible. As your environment and the specific market requirements are constantly changing dynamically – sometimes predictably, sometimes unexpectedly – it is necessary to structure your own distribution network optimally and review it regularly.
For a holistic distribution network design, we first create a digital image of your current distribution network. Based on your distribution strategy, we then develop how your distribution centers should be organized – how many levels does your distribution channel have, should it be decentralized or highly centralized, how many and which locations would be beneficial?
The aim is to organize your distribution as cost-efficiently as possible. To this end, we develop various scenarios that we can then evaluate in comparison with each other. An important topic here is the resilience of the distribution network to disruptive influences such as natural events from earthquakes to storms, changes in political and legal conditions or strikes.
Service packages
- Mapping the distribution network and market structures as a digital twin
- Develop, evaluate and select strategic distribution design approaches
- Reconfigure network in detail using numerical optimization
- Use scenario technology and simulations to assess risks in concrete terms
Your benefit:
- Optimization of your service levels
- Reduction of delivery times
- Increase in customer satisfaction
- Securing the ability to deliver
- Reduction of distribution costs
Reverse Logistics Network Design
Organizing the circular economy logistically and intelligently
Reverse logistics (also known as reverse or disposal logistics) is an integral part of the modern circular economy. However, in order to combine ecological and economic corporate goals, it is important to find an intelligent logistical solution for the return of products, consumer goods and empties. It is advisable to fall back on industry standards or create new ones in order to achieve great synergy effects with cross-company solutions.
Reverse Logistics Network Design is intended to create open logistics networks in which one or more companies can efficiently handle their waste disposal logistics. The particular challenge here is, of course, cross-company cooperation, which makes it necessary to prepare the network thoroughly and coordinate it with all the partner companies involved. Of course, reverse logistics can also be organized for a single company; in this case, it makes sense to intelligently combine distribution and reverse logistics.
We will be happy to advise you on which solution is best suited for you and which best practices in your industry you can use as a guide. We use a “digital twin” to map existing reverse logistics and develop possible cooperation models. A simulation of the various options makes it easier for you to decide between the possible variants.
Service packages
- Map reverse logistics as a digital twin (cross-company if necessary)
- Developing cooperation models
- Integrating distribution and reverse logistics
- Configure reverse logistics in detail using numerical optimization
- Assessing risks using scenario technology and simulation
Your benefit:
- Cross-company synergies
- Improving the ecological footprint
- Increase in customer satisfaction
- Reduction in the costs of disposal logistics
Transportation Network Design
Smart transportation management
A product, its raw materials and preliminary products are moved around a lot during the course of their creation. During transportation with different means of transport, a large number of transshipment points are sometimes touched, legal areas and customs borders are crossed.
Due to their complexity, large, international transport networks can only be optimized if they are subjected to a comprehensive and detailed analysis beforehand. We rely on the concept of transportation network design, in which we first create a digital image of the transport network using advanced software technology. To do this, we take into account storage locations, transshipment points, various means of transportation and loading technologies, relations, customs and border points, among other things. This creates a comprehensive model of the logistics processes and aspects. Innovative solutions can then be developed from this and tested using digital simulation.
In this way, different approaches can be played through, which would not be possible in the “conventional” way. The simulations also give you the option of weighting the factors that are most important to you (such asCO2 reduction) for network planning. We then use the results to develop concrete steps and measures to put the optimizations found into practice.
Service packages
- Mapping routes and transportation as a digital twin
- Develop delivery areas and route planning through numerical optimization
- Clocking off timetables
- Select suitable means of transportation through simulation
- Assessing risks using scenario technology and simulation
Your benefit:
- Reduction in transportation costs
- Increasing the service level
- Reduction of theCO2 footprint
- Minimization of transport risks
