Three sixty | Rotating to a 360° value creation

As I write this editorial in June, I’m looking forward to the return of the Olympics. The athletes, regardless of nationality or sport, are putting the pandemic behind them and focusing on the future—staying healthy, competing, overcoming challenges and winning gold. Soon, we can admire athletes running, jumping, spinning around and performing "360-ies" again. As operations managers, let’s embrace the ideals of Olympians and transfer them to our business activities.How? Of course by moving forward with the same positive mindset and a determination to succeed but also by performing 360° moves – not physically, but with a focus on value.

For this reason, our tenth issue of the Operations.Insights focuses on and illustrates 360° value creation. The COVID-19 pandemic has rapidly evolved the global conversation on value. The universal imperative is clear: Organizations are moving past narrowly defined financial views of value and focusing on people, experiences and our planet. Today, we take a much broader view on how we measure value.

A value mindset will evenly affect supply chain and operations functions. The traditional values in supply chain—right product, right place, right time and right cost—are now being augmented by additional sources of value: customer centricity and experience, talent, sustainability, inclusion and diversity.

To address these developments, you’ll find articles that explore and present some reasonable examples for creating value within supply chain and operations by incorporating this holistic approach:

We begin with a perspective on how a digital thread can enable the process industry to enhance their customer engagement, manage regulatory complexity and reach sustainability goals by utilizing a single source of truth for product data. This enables companies to accelerate time to market and secure compliance in a fast-changing environment.

After an excursion into the world of procurement and a perspective on how technology and sustainability can enable trusted ecosystems, we demonstrate how to transform supply chains from a solid foundation of operational excellence toward a customer-centric value chain.

Of course, we don’t miss the automation perspective:

Our article on rapid process optimization at scale is explaining how companies can move from isolated often effectless pilots to perpetual performance across all end-to-end processes building on experience and talent. S/4HANA is on everybody’s horizon and with "The cash flow connection" we shed a light on how business and IT can drive a high-value supply chain transformation and quickly enable a positive cash flow.

Last but not least, we address regulatory compliance and efficiency and show how companies engaged in international trade can make their supply chains more efficient by rethinking their customs operating model and making it more proactive.

I wish you an insightful read. As always, we look forward to getting your feedback and discussing the challenges you face within the domains of supply chain, operations and sustainability.