Automation of operational accounting for arrhythmias of supply and demand
Dwain Ross
16 / January / 20
Visitors: 252
The crisis is a redistribution of market shares. The strong become stronger, the weak risk losing everything.
I suggest to look at this process from the point of view of readiness of various accounting systems (logs/Excel/automated ICs) to help an average food enterprise to withstand unexpected attack of competitors.
What happened?
Demand has lost its usual uniformity and manageability.
There are fewer people in supermarkets now than there were on January 1 at 8 a.m. But personally I remember well the days when customers were sweeping off the shelves. It's necessary and not so good. Jokes on this topic are all the publications, who were not too lazy, so I will not go into details of the motivation of citizens, and I will confine myself to stating the fact: a couple of days later the stores were full again. After all, as long as there is a demand and supply. The only question is whose products were allowed to meet this demand. What brands lay on empty counters to be exposed to a new influx of hungry and suffering people?
New conditions of the game
The lull in orders from retailers and other customers is undoubtedly a sad story for manufacturers. But if you look at the consequences, is it so terrible compared to the surplus of demand for finished products? Let's take a look at what happens when there's this kind of consumer "boom"? The networks are making new orders. At an unrelated moment/unrelated volumes. (There it is, the effect of surprise). For food producers (taking into account the strong limitations on shelf life, as well as the latest tightening of control by Rospotrebnadzor), such a surge in buying activity is like an unscheduled contest of the format "who is faster".
The conditions are simple: it is necessary to do it promptly (i.e. faster than competitors).
to accept and process the order;
plan production;
make a product;
mark;
ship.
And do not lose the data on the movement of raw materials, warehousing operations and sales, necessary for further analysis of the enterprise.
In principle, each of these operations could be divided into at least five more points, because each of them is preceded by an analyst in different metrics, on the basis of the results of which is formed the final job to perform. But now it is enlarged.
This is a "quest-multi-mode".
In the normal mode, when everything is calm in the market (or almost so), decisions are made in a balanced way and based on rational justifications. For each operation, time is laid down (usually known in advance).
In the case of logging, it may take up to a few days to assess production resources and find reserves.
Excel will lightly untie your hands and calculate everything itself. Only the data for the calculations will have to be entered manually. But it will also steal the precious watch.
An automated system will give you a ready-made plan (production, marking and shipping to customers) many times faster, based on available technical capabilities and human resources.
And in all three ways you can achieve the same result. This is proven by companies where the coherence and success of the system is based primarily on the consciousness of employees. It is based on the principle of habituality and, as a result, the coherence of daily communications of people or business units.
When the same scenario is continuously lost day in and day out (and for gastrointestinalists this is a suitable model), it seems that automation is really not necessary. Why is that? Even if trade marketing, as a certain factor of uncertainty, has already become quite manageable with a proper level of "rolling" of necessary operations.
But in a situation when the template format of behavior fails, as it has happened now, the system operation based on human habits starts to fail. Namely, to lose the accuracy and speed of task execution.
This is where the realization of the real value of business process automation comes in. When with a sharp change of input parameters and plans, instead of panic comes into play a clear structure of planning actions in the context of each division and executor. In addition, the rapid conversion of communications (in terms of issuance and control of tasks) into electronic form also plays an important role in the conditions of distortion.
"It's too late to drink Borjomi" or "the horses at the crossing don't change" When the thunder's gone down, everyone survives as best they can. Which accounting system was the one to rely on. Only those businesses whose business processes work like clockwork will find the way "into the ladies' room" much easier. Judge for yourself. In what case it will be easier to adapt - with a magazine in hand or by pressing a few buttons on the gadget (perhaps even sitting in the office, and not at work remotely)? In fire mode, only coherence and clarity are saved. And to this, as you know, the machine mind is much more inclined than human. So that's what I'm saying... Of course, sooner or later the emergency mode will pass. But the consequences are not going anywhere. And those enterprises, whose trade turnover has been damaged, will have to long and hard recover in the eyes of retailers and the end consumer (if they still have the resources to do so, of course). So, maybe we should buy a "fire extinguisher" in advance? And not at the last moment to look for it on empty counters? We recommend timely preparation. But it's up to you, of course.
