Concentrate on transparency in your supply chain

Olli Nastamo is leading the operational excellence – developing operations and ways of working – at Outotec Plc. Currently, he is also responsible for the global supply.

In the manufacturing industry, the customers expect faster and more reliable service, and the requirements for on-time deliveries are increasing. To be able to compete and be a preferred supplier you need to have these mentioned values in good shape. It’s a good way to move faster by using digital solutions.

The transparency of the supply chain will be in the key focus in the upcoming years. In end-to-end transparency, everybody can see where we are, where are the bottlenecks, and decide how to react. As we understand, today there are good digital tools to be a reality.

My advice is to look beyond your own industry because there are good examples in other areas where people have done digital development already earlier, so you don’t need to invent everything by yourself. Look for example to fields of banking, retail and telecommunication and learn from them.

The other recommendation is to use modern tools like design thinking to start with the minimum viable product, really understanding what customers want and build on that. Don’t start with great technology thinking what shall we do with that because then you will not achieve great products or solutions that customers love.