With over 20 years of remarkable progress, Microsoft is now a major player in the ERP market. Dynamics GP stepped aside for NAV, which gave way to AX, which has now been surpassed by the wildly successful Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations. One of the company’s most basic obligations has always been to keep pace with this sort of change.
Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations has already been replaced by two new programs: Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management and Dynamics 365 Finance. This allows enterprise customers to purchase new capabilities as they need them — either the former (plus enhanced capabilities) or the latter.
The powerful solution provided by Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management Features boosts productivity for distributors, retailers, and manufacturers along the supply chain.
Complete visibility and management over supply chain operations are provided by D365 Supply Chain Management, which also offers a wide range of capabilities enabled by cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, machine learning, and mixed reality.
This technology is intended to support a strong and intelligent supply chain, facilitating smooth and efficient operations all around. Instantaneous and intelligent insights into every transaction in the supply chain are provided by it.
Furthermore, supply chain management (SCM) easily combines with Dynamics 365 Finance and Commerce to meet the financial and accounting requirements of these processes.
Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management Explained
Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management is a powerful solution to help companies manage their operations. It gives businesses the ability to create a supply chain that is very durable, integrated, and agile—a valuable tool as the industrial scene grows more complicated.
D365 Supply Chain Management provides several AI and IoT-enabled capabilities that optimize planning, manufacturing, inventory, warehousing, and transportation. These tools assist maximize operational efficiency and improve product quality and profitability. Organizations using D365 Supply Chain Management can:
- Enhance worker performance, productivity, and security with astute direction and suggestions.
- Proactively identify and fix problems to improve product production and quality.
- Get complete visibility into warehouse operations and maximize the effectiveness of your supply chain.
- Improve the overall efficacy of the equipment by managing capacity and raw material usage efficiently.
In the simplest of terms, D365 SCM offers a set of digital tools to optimize and streamline the many operations involved in overseeing the flow of goods and services from suppliers to end customers. By leveraging advanced technologies, it’s a solution that’s not only capable of helping companies meet the challenges of an event like the COVID-19 pandemic but can help them foresee and address future obstacles to supply chain operations.
What Are the Capabilities of Supply Chain Management with D365?
A wide range of updated and new capabilities are available in Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management to assist businesses in improving manufacturing processes, streamlining the supply chain, optimizing production performance, and extending asset life. Let’s examine a few of its special abilities:
IoT, AI & ML
Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management leverages a powerful combination of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and the Internet of Things (IoT) that assembles itself at the forefront of modern industrial innovation, allowing organizations to create interconnected factories that orchestrate operations and share intelligence as never before.
At its heart, Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management reinvigorates what it means to operate. AI-driven insights provide organizations with the ability to see problems before they happen, allowing them to proactively manage shop floor activities and the operations of equipment which elbows down both to minimize disruptions and maximize uptime and throughput while increasing the overall quality of the process and product being built at the same time.
The technology also incorporates IoT to take in trillions of real-time data streams coming from sensors machinery and equipment throughout the factory. These data streams bring the ability of informed decision-making that allows for process optimization in any aspect and a continuous stream of improvement and innovation. The result is not just automation, but an ecosystem where AI, ML, and IoT intersperse, allowing them—or the enterprise they serve—to traverse the complex environment of modern manufacturing with an intelligence agility and efficiency that’s never been seen, providing a foundation for perpetual growth and competitive edge today and in the future.
Automation
Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management offers a unified platform for driving automation across a broad spectrum of manufacturing environments that covers discrete, lean, process, and mixed-mode processes. It empowers organizations to optimize their asset management and streamline their operations, resulting in improved efficiencies and productivity at every level.
A key area where automation can deliver significant advantages is warehouse management operations. By using advanced algorithms and leveraging real-time analytics, organizations can maximize the utilization of space throughout their entire network – from small, basic stockrooms to highly automated distribution centers. By optimizing space, organizations can all but eliminate wasted space and poor utilization of the space that they have, while gaining increased inventory visibility and accuracy. This is critical for meeting customer demand with agility and precision, enabling organizations to deliver on their promises with greater consistency.
Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management also centralizes and automates field service operations, enabling organizations to improve how they manage and maintain their most critical assets. With predictive maintenance algorithms that are built into the system, coupled with intelligent scheduling tools, organizations can ensure they have the right resources in the right place at the right time. An optimized schedule not only leads to a major reduction in downtime – it also ensures that assets such as equipment and vehicles are being utilized at maximum capacity. By detecting and addressing maintenance needs proactively – before they turn into catastrophic failures – organizations can thwart the costs that come with unexpected breakdowns while instilling greater overall reliability within their operations as well.
And lastly, automation within Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management is designed to be both flexible and highly adaptable to the specific, evolving needs of today’s progressive businesses. Whether the demands of automation involve operation efficiency, complex workflows, or siloed lines of business that don’t communicate with one another, the platform can cater to organizations of all sizes, streamlining complex processes and automating mission-critical workflows.
From its ability to automate repetitive tasks to its knack for integrating across a bevy of existing systems, platforms, and technologies, D365 Supply Chain Management is the linchpin needed to drive the sustained operational excellence that has escaped so many organizations in their quest to optimize production and drive operational efficiencies.
In the end, that’s what Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management is all about. It’s about driving agility, efficiency, and innovation across every nook and cranny of an organization’s manufacturing and service operations, to enable dynamic and multi-speed environments to hang in the balance. By automating throughout the value chain, organizations not only stand to streamline their operations – they’re now positioning to sustain, deliver, and compete in a world that is anything but.
Minimal Downtime
Within Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, this algorithmic power works by delivering a continuous pulse of information that keeps you aware of vital sales activity, stock levels, and emerging sales opportunities driven by artificial intelligence. This real-time data management is what gives you the insight you need to make the informed, data-driven decisions necessary for both greater operational efficiency and strategic alignment of aims.
At the core of this is the Intelligent Distributed Order Management feature that is central to the functionality of the platform. This takes advantage of the ability to seamlessly orchestrate order fulfillment processes across a distributed network, turning your supply chain from a logistical backwater into a dynamic advantage that’s hard for your competitors to keep pace with. Not by the kind of brute-force automation and over-wrought programming logic you might have tried to assemble in the past, but through the application of advanced algorithms and predictive analytics to optimize each order routing, allocation, and execution to ensure every customer order is filled with the precision and agility that it was created with in mind.
This salient element of the Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management functionality does more than this, however. It also helps you put in place the foundation for ever deeper and more profitable customer engagement and loyalty by prioritizing orders based on guidelines you set — such as proximity to customers, inventory availability, and delivery timelines This means as you drive operational efficiency, you’re also enhancing the overall customer experience.
But, it’s also a strategic tool for the organization whose supply chain you are working to optimize and modernize. This feature gives your organization visibility and control over the entire order fulfillment process — from order inception to delivery. This then gives you the agility to respond rapidly and effectively to changing market dynamics or customer demands.
Predictive Insights
Within Dynamics 365, the integration of predictive insights represents a radical shift in how organizations manage their equipment and operations. By leveraging the depth of capabilities of advanced analytics and machine learning algorithms, organizations are empowered to predict and preempt potential issues with their equipment before they occur, eliminating expensive downtime and maintenance activities.
At the heart of this capability is the proactive identification of anomalies and patterns in equipment data that signify potential issues. By examining historical data and monitoring real-time telemetry, Dynamics 365 detects the onset of subtle deviations from normal operating parameters that can indicate impending equipment failures or inefficiencies. Armed with this predictive insight, organizations can take preemptive action, scheduling maintenance activities or repairs at a time that is most optimal to minimize disruption and maximize operational uptime.
The predictive insights afforded by Dynamics 365 also serve to optimize an organization’s operations at every level. By proactively addressing issues with their equipment, organizations help to ensure higher product quality and consistency, leading to greater customer satisfaction and loyalty over time. Furthermore, by reducing the instances of unplanned downtime and production interruptions, organizations can begin to build a reputation for reliability and dependability, which strengthens their competitive positioning in the marketplace.
Finally, the predictive insights delivered by Dynamics 365 serve as a powerful driver of continuous improvement and innovation. By examining historical performance data and identifying patterns and trends, organizations can pinpoint opportunities for greater process optimization and efficiency gains. Through this iterative process of ongoing improvement, organizations can not only achieve cost savings but can also develop a culture of innovation and agility, enabling them to better cope with the ebb and flow of a dynamic and competitive marketplace.
Planning Optimization Add-in
Today’s manufacturers need every advantage they can get, which is why the Planning Optimization add-in for Microsoft Dynamics 365 can be a game changer. With it, manufacturers can use a rich set of tools to manage production in real-time, as customer demand shifts, materials become available and capacity constraints collide across multiple sites and warehouses.
At its core, the add-in lets manufacturers shift from a static model of planning to one that is more fluid and more adaptive – like supply chains are today. It lets companies adjust their plans on the fly, using a combination of real-time data streams and cutting-edge algorithms, to respond to market shifts, unforeseen events, or even new customer desires.
In practice, this means that key features of the Planning Optimization add-in include optimizing inventory levels based on demand changes – and possibly, also on capacity limitations. By doing so, companies can keep inventory trimmed across their supply chain network, achieving the optimal mix of service levels, carrying costs, and cash flow. The result: a reduced risk of stockouts or excess inventory, and a more agile and more resilient supply chain, today.
In the end, the Planning Optimization add-in is a great way for organizations to improve their bottom line, and boost customer satisfaction too. By aligning production plans more closely with real-time demand signals, manufacturers can be sure to fill orders on time – and possibly even faster than they do today. And when that happens, customers are generally more willing to engage, and also, stay engaged with a company. And that’s the type of customer that Microsoft sees will help its clients grow and differentiate themselves from their competitors, over the long term. (Plus, we think it’s the “right thing to do,” but you can decide that for yourselves.)
Lastly, the Planning Optimization add-in is a very useful tool to let the client’s collective employees – not just within the same building, either – think and work collaboratively without needing to ask anyone to change what they do for a living. Sales and production managers, procurement and logistics – everybody. Everyone sees the same data and everyone gets a common understanding about what’s happening — in real time. From there, circulation of supply, ramp up of output — now possible. And thus, the game’s afoot!
Field Service Integration
The confluence of Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management and Dynamics 365 Field Service marks the advent of a new era of operational excellence, enabling organizations to optimize end-to-end resource management across diverse workloads with unprecedented efficiency and effectiveness. At its core, the combined solution serves as an enabler of automation, simplifying the orchestration of any resource – human, mechanical, or logistical – across the complete service ecosystem. By seamlessly unifying data and workflows across supply chain management and field service operations, organizations can capture synergies that increase efficiency, reduce costs, and elevate service quality.
One of the critical benefits of this new integration is the capacity that it affords organizations to realize a shared view of their workforce, equipment, and tools in real time, which helps them optimize resource allocation. As a result, organizations can ensure that the right person with the right skill set is dispatched to the right location at the right time – minimizing response times and downtime while maximizing asset utilization to catalyze a higher degree of operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. In addition to real-time views, this integrated solution also powers proactive maintenance and predictive analytics, enabling organizations to detect, preemptively address, and prevent potential issues from ballooning into costly disruptions. By leveraging machine learning and historical data, organizations can automate the implementation of preventive maintenance schedules, do more with less when it comes to equipment through condition-based, meter-based, and predictive maintenance, and eliminate unplanned downtime – increasing uptime and overall operational reliance. Enabling Teams to Operate As One
Leveraging this blended solution, organizations can also dissolve silos, so that functionally separated teams can operate in a coordinated, communicative, and coherent manner from the supply chain planning phases through to field service support. By providing a common platform for sharing data and insights, organizations can use the solution to drive a culture of transparency, collaboration, and continuous improvement across the entire service lifecycle.
Power BI Analytics
The integration of Power BI analytics within Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management doesn’t just represent an incremental efficiency gain—it’s a transformative leap for what’s possible for operational efficiency and strategic decision-making. Across a spectrum of supply chain activities, at its core, Power BI analytics serves as a dynamic engine driving these gains.
Real-time visibility for inbound and outbound processes such as put-away, pick-pack-ship, and order fulfillment, for example, helps organizations streamline operations and logistics, and identify and minimize bottlenecks and overall throughput. This intelligence makes it possible for organizations to pivot quickly in response to changing demand signals, optimally allocate resources, and deliver stellar service to customers.
The fact that Power BI analytics is embedded within Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management means that organizations can be nimble both in their operations and in manufacturing more broadly. Whether it’s make-to-stock, make-to-order, or configure-to-order scenarios, for example, Power BI analytics serves as the key lever to optimize production scheduling, inventory management, and resource allocation for maximum operational efficiency and maximum responsiveness to customer needs.
Equally important, end-to-end visibility through its warehouse, with the ability to get insights into inventory levels, as well as receiving, picking, and shipping process, for example, and the ability to do so in real-time with its comprehensive capabilities, Power BI analytics is a key driver for companies to not only identify inefficiencies but to optimize layout and workflow design, and to drive improvements in inventory accuracy, and fulfillment accuracy.
And last, but certainly not least, the rich analytics capabilities of Power BI are enabling companies to discover hidden patterns, trends, and opportunities within their supply chain and operational data, and paired with advanced analytics and machine learning algorithms, companies are going beyond simple analysis to identify opportunities for cost saving, process optimization, and even new revenue opportunities and stepping beyond the old paradigms of performance.
Asset Management Add-in
The integration of the asset management add-in with Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management opens up a world of possibilities in equipment management and maintenance. By uniting predictive, corrective, condition-based, and preventive maintenance in a single add-in, organizations can optimize performance, extend the life and reliability of their assets, reduce downtime, and increase operational efficiency.
At its core, the asset management add-in provides organizations with the tools to plan and execute maintenance activities, taking into account future requirements. Leveraging advanced predictive analytics and machine learning algorithms, the add-in can foresee when a piece of equipment is likely to fail, enabling preventive maintenance and avoiding costly downtime. This predictive maintenance model not only extends the life of critical assets. It also prevents disruptions to production schedules, thereby enhancing operational resilience.
Further, the add-in allows organizations to execute corrective and preventive maintenance on equipment throughout its useful life. Automating the maintenance workflow and scheduling maintenance as the result of pre-defined criteria – based on units or time used, for instance, or its current condition – organizations can optimize resource utilization. This can help minimize maintenance costs and extend the amount of time assets are in use.
Most interestingly, the add-in enables organizations to use real-time data and insights to improve their maintenance practices continuously. By leveraging historical maintenance data and identifying patterns and trends, organizations can determine where they need to optimize their processes. As recurring issues become apparent, corrective measures can be put in place to address the root cause of problems throughout their life.
Importantly, the asset management add-in allows for broad collaboration and alignment across the teams that play a part in equipment and management. By providing them with a single platform from which to access asset data, schedule maintenance tasks, and monitor performance metrics, organizations can create the transparency, accountability, and efficiency necessary for smooth operations across teams.
Wrapping it Up
Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management helps automate and simplify the supply chain, increase worker productivity and efficiency, and enhance cash flow in a world where manufacturers are facing a variety of operational issues. Built with the use of the Internet of Things and machine learning technology, it aids in process visibility, asset longevity, and improved completed goods transportation for contemporary producers.