SupplyChain Magazine September 2017 | Page 13

LINTON ’ S BOOK SUMMARISES HIS PHILOSOPHY AS L . I . V . I . N . G .
FLEX ’ S TOM LINTON AND THE DIGITAL SUPPLY CHAIN
chain and its direct impact on the bottom line is understandably getting a lot of attention .
“ Supply chain managers who don ’ t focus on the speed or the acceleration , may not be leveraging digital enough meaning they might not be as successful as those who do .”
LINTON ’ S BOOK SUMMARISES HIS PHILOSOPHY AS L . I . V . I . N . G .
L
I
V
Do you have real-time live information ?
Is it intelligent ? - Are you able to connect the essential points in your network through cloud , mobile and other ways to provide the analytics you need ?
Are you moving your assets faster and with velocity ?
I Is your data interactive ?
N
– i . e . can it be accessed by common mobile technology ?
Is your information networked ? – so you can pull it together to get one view ?
G Is your network good ?
These capabilities are all evident at Flex ’ s Pulse centres , which compile data from over 50 different information feeds into a graphic format so that staff can visualise and understand what ’ s happening in the supply chain more easily .
The centres feature a huge wall of interactive screens , which allow staff to engage with the information much as one would on an iPad . They can drill down into the data underneath each feed for a more detailed picture of events and then correlate data to comprehend what ’ s happening , or likely to happen . The system immediately alerts staff to anything going wrong . “ Much like a nurse ’ s station at a hospital , a nurse may be responsible for a dozen patients , but they don ’ t go to the room of the sick patient until an alarm goes off ,” says Linton . “ Then attention is given to the patient . There can be a million things happening in a supply chain , but you only want to be alerted to things that need your attention .”
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