For a prime contractor to be efficient, effective and capable of delivering a manufacturing programme on time, on budget and fit for purpose, it requires a trusted, experienced and capable supply chain. In turn, the smaller companies forming the supply chain can gain business benefit from being part of an efficient and cost effective manufacturing programme, whether that be engineering, construction or wider areas of manufacture.

The Supply Chain is changing

The days when a single supply chain was dedicated to a single Prime are gone. Competition is such that supply chain companies seek to gain profitability by working across Primes and Industries. Unless they do, market forces can remove a smaller company operating on low margins from the business map. Such companies can be aided to become successful and profitable by the application of digital technologies to integrate and configure data provided by the Prime and the full supply chain spectrum.  The considerable amount of data created any engineering process, if properly configured and integrated, can be harnessed to drive value, cut costs and dramatically reduce waste. 

In turn, effective configuration management will drive operations and ongoing services, leading to an increase in the return on equity. That equity benefit will be shared across the engineering and manufacturing Industry – and internationally – as small companies use the planning ability provided to serve multiple customers, becoming competitive and able to deliver value against national and international competition.

Dassault Systemes leads transformation

As we enter the digital age the Industry is thinking of ways in which to become more efficient, deliver cost reductions to their customers, and become more competitive. The technology developed and employed by Dassault Systemes increasingly is enabling the Industry to generate efficiency and cost effectiveness by harnessing the data essential to the operation of any enterprise – those sectors using this technology are reporting manufacturing cost reductions in the order of 30% and significant reductions in accumulated waste. With data integrated and configured on a dynamic, 3D platform in the Cloud, businesses can have a single source of truth, a window into their world to manage activity, enhance production and drive efficiencies. The data can be interrogated and reconfigured to conduct research into the future of the business, asking the difficult ‘what if’ and ‘if we’ questions.

Engineering is no exception and with the power of the Dassault Systèmes 3DEXPERIENCE Platform at its heart, the design, modelling and delivery of future systems and products will become seamless and deliver value. This value not only derives from the provider but also from the supply chains which feed it. The harnessing of supply chain data to the data of production will lead to greater efficiencies across the spectrum of activity and enhance the skills and capabilities of the supply chain members.

The Supply Chain drives stable, economic growth
By sharing in the outcomes of the enterprise through data collaboration, planning integration and regular communication, companies contribute to the process, learn from the experience, then in turn apply that experience to provide efficient services to others, developing reputation and growing business. It increases their ability to compete more effectively in a demanding industrial and economic climate, leading in turn to national economic growth able to withstand global economic shocks, as well as expanding job opportunity and stimulating increased economic activity and GDP growth.

In summary, the supply chain is key to economic output and industrial growth. That value can be given a significant boost by harnessing the inherent advantages of the digital age – the 4th Industrial Revolution, driving intelligent engineering across the Industry.