Digitization in Supplier Integration

Digitization enables the improvement of material and information flows between companies and their supplier base. In this process, planning, delivery, and production processes between suppliers, freight forwarders, and customers are interlinked through logistical supplier integration. This chapter describes seven successive stages of digitization. The first three stages create basic standards for digitization and make existing processes more efficient through digitization. Among other things, the cross-company visibility of actual stocks is gradually increased, enabling improved control decisions. The following two stages of digitization describe interlocking mechanisms in ordering and delivery behavior, transport, and production, which are only made possible through digitization. For example, the utilization of production and transport capacities between suppliers, freight forwarders, and customers is improved through dynamic coordination. The further two stages of digitization increase the efficiency of the planning system through the transformation into a system with decentralized data storage and decision-making. The time investment in reading this article should be worthwhile for you if the following questions appear interesting and relevant to you: What opportunities are there for companies to benefit from advancing digitization in the area of supplier integration? Are there typical stages in this context that must be passed through in a predetermined order? And based on which key figures and examples can the added value of digitization in supplier integration be explained to non-purchasers and non-logisticians in the company?