DSCAC: Digital supply chain adoption curve
Digital supply chains use technology to optimise the flow of goods and information across the end-to-end supply chain, with cross-sector applications. The aim of the DSCAC: Digital supply chain adoption curve project was to provide a product roadmap for a fully integrated, digital supply chain that could deliver significant value to suppliers and customers in terms of efficiency, agility and security. This would also address some of the challenges within industry around provision of digital supply chains, such as the reluctance of companies to share intellectual property and the inadequacy of digital tools available, particularly at SME level.
Through both its previous work on connected Manufacturing Execution Systems and research related to light weight digital supply chain tools, Project Lead Authentise discovered a myriad of intermediate products that could address a particular supplier or customer need while limiting the information provision required. These had the potential to offer value to supply chain participants, which would help to speed up the digital adoption process. However, they fell short on full integration.
Therefore, DSCAC undertook a feasibility study to:
- Learn – review existing solutions and literature, and put questions to key, supply chain stakeholders
- Design – identify potential product areas, both served and unserved, and compile full product definitions for each of them
- Test an integrated, digital supply chain – at high level with industry interviews and at the granular level with a TWI test bed
The project outcome was a full set of product definitions, based on a holistic approach not undertaken previously, that industry participants can use to identify and de-risk potential market opportunities. The combined capabilities and experience of the DSCAC project partners ensured that the proposed solutions have both regulatory and academic rigor whilst maintaining an action oriented approach that software vendors can use to deliver real-world results, which may be pursued through a follow on industrial research application.
Partners: Authentise, Innovate UK, Lloyd’s Register EMEA and J4IC.
DSCAC was funded by the UK Research and Innovation: Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund through the Manufacturing Made Smarter: Digital Supply Chain, Feasibility Studies competition.