Digitalisation is the essential strategy for FMCG partner collaboration, writes Josephine Coombe
In today’s volatile market, supply chains that effectively manage their networks and collaborate with external trading partners are gaining a significant competitive advantage. The key to this success lies in shared transparency, real-time data access, and seamless collaboration across the supply ecosystem.
By leveraging software like Nulogy’s Supplier Collaboration Solution, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) brands and their contract packing and manufacturing partners are achieving increased levels of efficiency, responsiveness, and agility.
The Power of Network Collaboration
As brands increasingly lean on third-party contract packing and manufacturing suppliers to deliver additional capacity, speed to market and specialisation, digitalisation is becoming increasingly critical to manage interaction with the external supply chain. For many brands, the external supply chain remains a black box, with order status, as well as materials and inventory status difficult to ascertain.
Cloud-based platforms like Nulogy are key to illuminating this black box, enabling true multi-enterprise collaboration by bridging the collaboration gap between brands and their external networks. Such systems connect all stakeholders and provide a single source of truth for tracking key order milestones, capacity, and inventory – allowing brands to gain the kind of visibility and control they have with their internal manufacturing in the external environment as well.
Enhancing Material Visibility
For brands, market responsiveness is in large measure dependent on having the right inventory and materials to fulfil orders at the right time in the external manufacturing network. With Supplier Collaboration software, brands can get a firmer handle on what is where in their external networks, allowing them to respond to market demand with greater speed and agility.
Facilitating Order Collaboration
Using a centralised platform for order planning and execution ensures that all partners have access to the same information, reducing friction and improving coordination. By collaborating on order details, brands can better leverage external suppliers to bring products to the market faster and with higher quality. This streamlined approach enhances efficiency and strengthens relationships between suppliers and brands.
Managing Network Capacity
For brands, aligning with their contract packing partners on orders and forecasts is essential for managing capacity allocation and optimising outcomes. Real-time visibility into where capacity resides enables companies to respond quickly to market opportunities. Collaborative capacity management ensures that products are launched faster and orders are fulfilled on time and in full, enhancing consumer satisfaction and driving market competitiveness.
Leveraging Collaborative Analytics
Through digital enablement, real-time data becomes seamlessly accessible; workflows are streamlined; and critical information such as order milestones, and materials and inventory statuses are easily tracked with shared accountability between the FMCG and their suppliers. Collaborative analytics allows for pre-empting potential order issues through automated alerts for at-risk orders, ensuring on-time fulfilment and avoiding costs associated with late penalties, expedited shipping, and materials write-offs.
The ability to manage a network and collaborate effectively with external suppliers is a critical driver of competitive advantage in today’s market. Solutions like Nulogy’s Supplier Collaboration Solution provide the necessary tools for brands looking to achieve this with their co-pack and contract manufacturing partners.
Josephine Coombe is Chief Commercial Officer at Nulogy Europe
