Statement Ilse Henne: Supply Chain Day 2023

Whether it's fragile supply chains, cost pressures, or increasing sustainability requirements, the logistics industry is facing increasingly complex challenges. To meet them, companies need to make their supply chains more flexible and resilient. To mark "Supply Chain Day" on April 20, Ilse Henne, Chief Transformation Officer at thyssenkrupp Materials Services, looks at current developments and trends in the industry: 

"Global supply chains are increasingly developing into complex supply networks. Their resilience is essential in the current global market environment – but this requires more transparency and collaboration between all players. The digitalization of industry offers enormous potential: for example, end-to-end data collaboration can break down existing silos in supply chain management and increase the resilience, supply security and profitability of companies. For customers in particular, this creates real added value. 

Digitalization also helps companies avoid supply bottlenecks and optimize (intra-)logistics and utilization of existing machinery. In addition, comprehensive real-time data exchange with the other participants in a supply chain can reduce dynamic processes such as the bullwhip effect and thus secure competitive advantages. 

Companies should therefore focus on their supply chains and invest, for example, in software solutions that create transparency in their supply chain. The partnership-based (data) exchange of all parties involved is also becoming increasingly important in order to be sufficiently informed and to pull together. This is the only way companies can meet the challenges facing logistics and the global economy today." 

As the largest mill-independent materials distribution and service provider in the Western world, thyssenkrupp Materials Services is already working on solutions for end-to-end data collaboration across the entire supply chain as part of its strategic development "Materials as a Service". The aim: to make supply chains more digital and resilient, improve forecasts, avoid supply bottlenecks and ultimately strengthen global supply security.