The Ledger

Material Handling in the Digital Factory

“Material handling is playing a vital role in the emergence of the digital factory, as data analytics reshapes the workforce.”

The material handling market is growing as consumer demand and expectations increase.  This rapid evolution requires considerable distribution infrastructure to support it. What’s needed is either very larger warehouses or several small warehouses strategically located near consumer demand or, most likely, some combination of these facilities, feeding each other. The scalable nature of automation solutions allows for easier deployment of small, medium or large systems to support this kind of infrastructure. A key driver in this scenario is the ease of communicating between the systems that your vendor offers in order to allow for efficient operation strategies.

Read More at MH&L >

Mastering the New Digital Age for Management Accountants

It is no secret that technology is transforming the management accounting profession due to outsourcing and automation eliminating most entry-level jobs.  At particularly high risk are the mundane, repetitive jobs we all had as entry-level financial professionals. Most entry-level jobs have either become completely automated, or the skills necessary to succeed in these roles have changed. For example, in financial planning and analysis (FP&A), the bulk of time isn’t spent interpreting data—it’s spent transforming and cleaning it. While this evolution of the profession may seem like a large obstacle to overcome, that isn’t the case.

Read More at Strategic Finance Magazine >

How Technology is Enhancing ERPs For Better Business Decisions

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is being used to streamline and boost business efficiency and productivity. Sensors track products at every stop of their life cycle from the shop floor to customer sites.  Cloud solutions enable the collection of millions of data points to create the foundation for machine learning.  Personal assistants are readily available to simplify and accelerate information retrieval for more informed decision making. There are newer technologies available that can integrate with ERP systems to provide further insight into businesses and meet the challenge of analyzing real time data from different sources with a high level of reliability.

Read More at Industry Week >

Data Simulation Can Save Your Planning

Often times, FP&A leaders do not incorporate large events or seasonal events in their supply or maintenance planning. When unexpected things  complicate the planning, companies should have an alternative scenario ready to prevent any upheaval. When it comes to warehouse management, you simply need to know what comes in and what goes out. Once you know that, you can start analyzing data and gradually optimize the process. Data by itself is not very valuable, because it is not information and you don’t always know what to do with it. With integrated business planning you go from gathering data, via analyzing it, to an actionable process.

Read More at The Digitalist by SAP >