Boston Consulting Group
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Origins of the Bionic Supply Chain
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A short history of the term ‘bionic supply chain’ in industry. Sustainability technology finds new ways to adopt into operations. Handcrafted lightsabers in time for Halloween.
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Building the Bionic Supply Chain
To capture the greatest value from their end-to-end (E2E) supply chains, companies need to adopt a bionic operating model. With the help of adaptable key performance indicators (KPIs) that focus on optimizing overall performance in any situation, a platform organization that works cross-functionally, and a data and digital platform (DDP) that enables collaboration, a bionic supply chain leverages the best of what both machines and humans have to offer.
Building a bionic supply chain requires a comprehensive digital transformation where employees as well as leaders play crucial roles. Although the size of the effort is enormous, a bionic supply chain can lead to substantial improvements in performance. It can boost revenue by 4% to 6%, customer service levels by 5 to 30 percentage points (pp), and EBITDA by 2 to 4 pp. Moreover, a bionic supply chain has the potential to reduce manufacturing, warehousing, and distribution costs by 10% to 20% and working capital by 15% to 30%. It’s also more able to react swiftly to sudden changes in demand, supply prices, trade policies, and so on—perhaps the most important consideration of all in the current business environment.