{"id":26511,"date":"2017-11-15T22:36:18","date_gmt":"2017-11-16T03:36:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/caterpillar-building-the-supply-chain-of-the-future\/"},"modified":"2017-11-15T22:36:18","modified_gmt":"2017-11-16T03:36:18","slug":"caterpillar-building-the-supply-chain-of-the-future","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/caterpillar-building-the-supply-chain-of-the-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Caterpillar: Building the Supply Chain of the Future"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><u>Why does Caterpillar want to digitalize its supply chain?<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Across industries, companies are racing to transform themselves by embedding digital technology into their operations, and organizations that are slow to do so risk falling behind. A recent Gartner analysis of supply chains identified digitalization as a key focus area for industry-leading companies like Apple, Proctor and Gamble, and Amazon [1]. These technologies help organizations access real-time information across the supply chain and react more nimbly, empowering them to make decisions that lowers costs and improves service like reducing waste and shortening lead times.<\/p>\n<p>Caterpillar, one of the world\u2019s largest manufacturers of heavy machinery, manages an extremely complex network of suppliers, manufacturing facilities, and customers [Figure 1]. This unwieldy network is difficult to manage in perfect conditions, and doubly so when the supply chain is disrupted. For example, natural disasters require companies to accurately identify production or inventory issues and work around them to meet demand. Issues like this are common, with ~40% of North American supply chain executives facing a disruption of some kind over the last year [2].<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, Caterpillar\u2019s core machinery business is highly susceptible to macroeconomic conditions. In poor economic times, demand for the company\u2019s core construction equipment plummets, significantly reducing profitability for the company and underscoring the need for effective variability management in the supply chain.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_26281\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-26281\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/11\/Picture-1-1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-26281\" src=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/11\/Picture-1-1-300x194.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"194\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/11\/Picture-1-1-300x194.png 300w, https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/11\/Picture-1-1-768x497.png 768w, https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/11\/Picture-1-1-600x388.png 600w, https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/11\/Picture-1-1.png 917w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-26281\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Figure 1<\/strong>: Caterpillar&#8217;s manufacturing, dealer, and distributor network<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong><u>What is the company doing?<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Caterpillar is currently working on an initiative to establish end-to-end visibility across the supply chain [3]. Since launching the initiative, the company has been able to reduce their inventory by over $250M [4]. Digitization is a key part of this, and the company has made extensive use of embedded sensors to gain greater visibility into its in-transit inventory.<\/p>\n<p>These sensors have lowered the company\u2019s costs and helped it maintain steady gross margins during economic downturns. The sensors are attached to products like bulldozers as they move across the supply chain, giving the company increased visibility over where its inventory is at all times. This helps the company recognize when bottlenecks are building and make better decisions about how to respond. For example, after a 2015 fire in one of its facilities led to a halt in production, Caterpillar collected data from its supply chain and determined it had enough inventory in transit to meet demand without boosting output at other plants [5].<\/p>\n<p>To date, Caterpillar\u2019s focus on incorporating digital tools into the supply chain has focused on managing variability, managing disruptions, and reducing inventory costs. In the future, Caterpillar aims to be more proactive and use data to predict the health of equipment, productivity, and sales\u00a0in order to optimize the structure of their supply chain [6]. Caterpillar is also partnering with industrial digital technology startups like Uptake to co-create digital solutions [7] and investing in R&amp;D to develop innovative technology [8].<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><u>What else should the company be thinking about?<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Though the company has far worked to incorporate digital technology into its supply chain, most of the work has focused on improved inventory visibility and data analytics for internal use.<\/p>\n<p>As a next step, Caterpillar should consider additional innovations like additive manufacturing that are helpful in their own right but also build on Caterpillar\u2019s digital infrastructure. For example, in the event of a supply chain disruption, managers could decide to 3D print certain components instead of routing them from another part of the supply chain, provided the 3D printing is more cost effective. To make this decision, Caterpillar would need data from the digital systems it\u2019s currently implementing.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, Caterpillar could look to more tightly link its supply chain with its customers, providing them with greater visibility and data into their orders. Just as Caterpillar appreciates knowing where its inventory is at every step of the supply chain, customers can make use of improved and real-time data to better manage their own supply chains and plan for potential disruptions.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><u>Open questions<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Like many companies, Caterpillar is hard at work digitally transforming its supply chain, but several important questions remain:<\/p>\n<p>-How should Caterpillar identify new technologies? Should it look to do more in-house development, like with its innovation labs, or should it do more external searching, like with its start-up partnerships?<\/p>\n<p>-How should Caterpillar think about the decision to investigate new technologies? For example, many companies are automating previously manual tasks with tools like drones, but how would Caterpillar determine if it should use drones its supply chain?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Word Count: 736<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[1]\u00a0Aronow, Stan, Kimberly Ennis, and Jim Romano. 2017. &#8220;The Gartner Supply Chain Top 25 For 2017&#8221;.\u00a0<i>Gartner.Com<\/i>. https:\/\/www.gartner.com\/doc\/3728317?refval=&amp;pcp=mpe.<\/p>\n<p>[2] GT Nexus. 2016. &#8220;State of the Global Supply Chain&#8221;. <em>gtnexus.com<\/em><\/p>\n<p>[3] France, Tom. &#8220;Visibility in the cloud&#8221;.\u00a0https:\/\/ieondemand.com\/presentations\/visibility-in-the-cloud-07-11-2013<\/p>\n<p>[4]\u00a0<strong>\u00a0<\/strong><span id=\"js-reference-string-1\" class=\"selectable\">&#8220;3 Problems CAT Solved To Save $250 Million In Excess Inventory&#8221;. 2017.\u00a0<i>GT Nexus<\/i>. http:\/\/www.gtnexus.com\/resources\/blog-posts\/cat-saved-250-million-in-excess-inventory.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>[5]\u00a0&#8220;Caterpillar&#8217;s Internet-Connected Sensors Steady Profit In Downturn&#8221;. 2017.\u00a0<i>Digital Commerce 360<\/i>. https:\/\/www.digitalcommerce360.com\/2016\/07\/26\/caterpillars-internet-connected-supply-chain-steadies-profits\/.<\/p>\n<p>[6]\u00a0Reiss, Robert. 2015. &#8220;Supply Chain Leaders Share How Digital is Transforming Operations&#8221;.\u00a0<i>Forbes.com<\/i>. https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/robertreiss\/2015\/12\/07\/supply-chain-leaders-share-how-digital-is-transforming-operations\/#148952294b04.<\/p>\n<p>[7]\u00a0Caterpillar And Uptake To Create Analytics Solutions&#8221;. 2017.\u00a0<i>Caterpillar.Com<\/i>. http:\/\/www.caterpillar.com\/en\/news\/corporate-press-releases\/h\/caterpillar-and-uptake-to-create-analytics-solutions.html.<\/p>\n<p>[8]\u00a0Caterpillar Announces Grand Opening of First Data Innovation Lab&#8221;. 2017.\u00a0<i>Caterpillar.Com<\/i>.\u00a0http:\/\/www.caterpillar.com\/en\/news\/caterpillarNews\/innovation\/caterpillar-announces-grand-opening-of-first-data-innovation-lab.html<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Caterpillar is using data and analytics to manage its complex supply chain and reduce costs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10126,"featured_media":26512,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[231,2687,990,428,3235,4120],"class_list":["post-26511","hck-submission","type-hck-submission","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bigdata","category-caterpillar","category-complexsupplychains","category-construction","category-digital-supply-chain","category-machinery","hck-taxonomy-organization-caterpillar","hck-taxonomy-industry-industrial-products","hck-taxonomy-country-united-states"],"connected_submission_link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/assignment\/rc-tom-challenge-2017\/","yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - 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