Strategies To Address Procurement Woes In a Volatile Supply Chain Market (Turning Chaos Into Control)
Strategies To Address Procurement Woes In a Volatile Supply Chain Market (Turning Chaos Into Control)
Part One: The Challenges
Change is the only constant and the global COVID-19 pandemic had brought this universal truth home in an unprecedented manner. Businesses across the globe had found themselves faced with severe supply chain and sourcing challenges, leading to higher volatility and higher risk. In the face of such bottlenecks, traditional approaches to supply chain and logistics management were no longer effective or feasible.
Viability amidst volatility
It is no secret that one of the things that make businesses thrive is stability in processes. The pandemic and the ongoing war, however, disturbed the very foundations of stability and compelled organizations to withstand a highly volatile supply chain environment. Here are some of the challenges faced in the prevailing procurement environment:
1. Building capacity is now costlier: One of the main characteristics of the present sourcing market is the exponential rise in the cost of shipping. The rise in container freight and air freight has made it drastically difficult for businesses to build and sustain capacity and stability. For instance, before the pandemic struck the world, the freight for the China to USA route was around $1,500 (for a 40-foot container). This price is now anywhere between $10,000 to $15,000, making it financially nonviable.
2. Preserving the bottom line is now harder: With the rising cost of materials as well as shipping costs, organizations are increasingly grappling with higher operational costs. The problem is exacerbated by the constant decline in demand and, in turn, revenues. The combined effect is a significant drop in the bottom line of organizations.
3. Continuing with Legacy technologies: At a time when digital procurement is being looked at as a key driver to solve businesses’ supply chain woes, several organizations are still continuing with old and obsolete legacy systems. Not only are those systems time-consuming and cost-heavy, but they are also non-responsive to factors such as price compression, capacity changes, etc.
4. Switching to spot bidding for logistics: Traditionally reliant on annual freight contracts with low prices, businesses now have to manage the necessary switch to spot pricing in logistics. The restrictions in the capacity and movement of air cargo in the wake of the pandemic have brought spot price bidding to the fore, placing a higher than ever before pressure on their operational costs.
The Bottom Line
In order to survive and thrive amidst a highly volatile supply chain environment, businesses must turn to digital procurement and technology. This is where Moglix can help you transform your business through our Catalog Based Buying, Automated Workflow, Enhanced Visibility, and Integrated Procurement Solutions. Know more on our website.
The India-UAE CEPA: A Progressive Step
The India-UAE CEPA: A Progressive Step
Inked on February 18, 2022, the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and India is a massive leap forward in the bilateral trade relations between the nations. The agreement is set to usher in a plethora of benefits for both the signatories.
What is The India-UAE CEPA?
The India-UAE CEPA is a bilateral free trade agreement between the nations that came into effect on May 1st, 2022. The CEPA has been envisaged as raising the total bilateral trade between the nations from $60 billion to $100 billion (for goods) and $15 billion (for services) over a five-year period.
With the CEPA coming into effect, there is set to be growth in the total value of bilateral trade as well as benefits in terms of technology exchange, movement of natural persons, government procurement, dispute redressal, and digital procurement, to name a few.
In addition to advantages on the economic front, the India-UAE CEPA is set to drive improvement in access to education, environmental protection measures, cultural exchange, etc. The landmark trade agreement has been projected to generate jobs in excess of 1 million across various sectors, for instance, agriculture, jewelry, and pharmaceuticals.
The Benefits of the CEPA for the UAE
The CEPA between the UAE and India is set to usher in the following significant benefits for the former.
1. Greater access to the Indian Market: The CEPA will provide more than 100 sub-sectors in the UAE access to the Indian market vis-a-vis the trade of goods and services. The UAE is set to gain preferential access on more than 90% of India’s tariff lines, particularly those related to exports.
2. Enhancement of Food Security: The agreement is a pivotal measure to address the UAE’s issues pertaining to food security. Through the establishment of a ‘Food Security Corridor Initiative’, there will be a comprehensive partnership and strategic procurement to improve the country’s logistical network for food.
3. Collaboration in the Education Sector: The CEPA also has provisions for collaborations between nations in the education sector. One of the cornerstones of this collaboration shall be the establishment of a first-of-its-kind Indian Institute of Technology on foreign soil – in the UAE.
4. Strategic Partnerships in Technology Sharing: The India-UAE CEPA has also been envisaged as a harbinger of an increased sharing of technological know-how and infrastructure between the signatory nations.
Choose a Consummate Player to Optimize your Procurement Process
The India-UAE CEPA is a significant step forward in the bilateral trade ties of the nations. And manufacturers and exporters in the UAE and India alike can benefit from access to a bigger and more diversified market, profitable strategic partnerships, and sharing of tech initiatives and innovations. A future focused organization like Moglix with its tech led B2B supply chain ecosystem can play a pivotal role in welcoming CEPA to the next phase of growth. To know more about how Moglix can augment and optimize the procurement process, click here.
Have You Explored These Performance Enablers for Your Procurement Team?
Have You Explored These Performance Enablers for Your Procurement Team?
While the world is still seemingly adapting to the rapid digital advancements, post-pandemic, there has been an even greater push on digitization to take center stage in procurement teams. This change has encouraged companies to remake their supply chains and is poised to think about how digital transformation plays a vital role in how the procurement function delivers value.
According to a recent study by WBR Insights, most procurement leaders in the middle east are investing less than 50% of their budgets in future technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), robotic process automation (RPA), cognitive procurement tools and more.
Strategic sourcing is becoming more predictive, transactional procurement is becoming more automated, and supplier relationship management is becoming more proactive.
A report by Gartner stated that more than 70% of sourcing and procurement professionals report using suppliers to tap into new-in-kind technology services and something outside their organization’s core business model.
Procurement is all set to become seamless and frictionless like never before, especially in the UAE. The recent announcement of the ‘Centennial 2071 project’ plans to make UAE the best country in the next 50 years and hopes to enable future generations to live a happier life with a better overall environment, more significant growth opportunities, and stronger communication links with the world. The Centennial 2071 project will focus on four core aspects: Economy, Education, Government Development, and Community Cohesion.
As the competition rises with new players entering the supply chain race, Middle Eastern businesses have a more significant advantage over existing businesses. With the help of futuristic strategies investing in new supply chain concepts and virtual or digital enablers can place them at the helm of digital innovation within a shorter turnaround time and a significant possibility of growth.
Let’s Look at Some Enablers Accelerating Procurement Performance in the UAE:
e-Procurement
e-Procurement or purchase-to-pay technology is used to make the order-delivery supply chain frictionless, contactless, and paperless. It has always existed within the market as a value-add to an on-premise enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.
e-Procurement has grown its utilities a lot more exponentially today to help procurement processes. It integrates and automates the entire back-office lifecycle of requisitioning, purchasing, receiving, paying, and accounting for indirect goods and services.
In the future, e-Procurement will increasingly leverage artificial intelligence, natural language processing, and robotic procurement automation to leverage technology into customizing the buying experience while cutting costs, increasing efficiency, reducing risk, and improving governance and insight on the internal operations. e-Procurement solutions in the UAE will be more open, network-oriented, autonomous, collaborative, and intelligent.
Catalog Based Buying
Procurement catalogs provide information about the items and services that company employees can order for internal use. While this is a very advanced way to strategically manage the overall inflow of spending, on the user end, it also gives the customer a broader and much more appealing range of products to pick.
In the future, intelligent cloud-based procurement platforms will lead to a more vertically integrated analysis, better support for CPOs, and efficient sourcing strategies. This digital transformation will elevate the procurement technologies providing business owners access to previously unavailable metrics.
Artificial Intelligence
A 2019 report on the ‘Government Artificial Intelligence Readiness Index’², which examined over 190 countries worldwide to determine its rankings, has also placed UAE at the top of the Arab world for its readiness to adopt Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies.
Today UAE accounts for accelerated growth in AI and is estimated to account for 13.6% of GDP by 2030. With the announcement in October 2017, the UAE Government launched ‘UAE Strategy for Artificial Intelligence (AI)’ to boost government performance at all levels, especially the procurement business vertical. With the help of an integrated intelligent digital system, companies can now overcome challenges and provide quick, efficient solutions. Make the UAE the first in AI investments in various sectors. Another 2018 study by McKinsey projects that by 2030, 45% of existing work in the Middle East has the potential of being automated.
Machine Learning
Machine Learning has evolved from the study of computational learning theory and pattern recognition and has become a technology innovation that allows businesses to evaluate and make better decisions. It will enable the procurement businesses to predict outcomes and results based on models and algorithms.
It helps automate collecting, cleaning, classifying, and analyzing expenditure data in an organization. This is the key to identifying savings or paths to greater efficiency.
“A procurement VPA can improve the end-user experience of traditional procurement tools and increase spending under management by guiding people to the correct purchasing tool,” said Magnus Bergfors, research director at Gartner. “A CPA can provide summaries, recommendations, and advice in everything from supplier assessments and performance management, to risk management and compliance.”
Digital Track and Trace of Logistics
In the supply chain industry, track and trace identify the past and present locations of all product inventory and its entire product history. This technology enables a product’s (current) status to be captured through the value chain and to identify and verify its path retrospectively. Digital track and trace help businesses manage all operations and oversee execution at all levels; this means more proximity and less assumption of executed results leaves some to no margin of error.
The Future of Procurement
As digital supply chain transformation takes the lead in the UAE, businesses need to strategically re-evaluate to harness new technologies to become more agile and resilient. Sourcing and procurement are crucial for supply chain acceleration, increasing business value. Given the changing world, sourcing and procurement play an integral role in unlocking new value from the supply base and protecting the organization from future disruption.
Moglix is an Asia-based B2B commerce company specializing in the e-procurement of industrial products. We provide digital procurement and supply chain solutions across industries, such as FMCG, Healthcare, Construction, Oil & Gas, Metal & Mining among others. To know how your enterprise can unlock the benefits of new-age technology-driven procurement and supply chain solutions from Moglix, visit https://business.moglix.ae/contact-us/
How Manufacturers Can Save MRO Costs in UAE by 10%?
How Manufacturers Can Save MRO Costs in UAE by 10%?
If your enterprise is searching for solutions to save MRO costs in UAE, here is the catch. MRO costs usually account for somewhere between 5-10% of total costs and may not make up a significant chunk of the cost of goods sold (COGS). However, UAE has a highly competitive manufacturing landscape and even 1-2% of cost efficiencies can make or break your cost advantage.
To assist in a better way, we have outlined some of the steps to help manufacturers in the UAE avoid recurring expenses on MRO. If you are a manufacturer, you can take care of the following points to save MRO costs in UAE.
Manufacturers Must Minimize Return of Items
Delivering a product incurs a cost. Manufacturers price their products inclusive of that cost. However, when anything goes sideways, such as the product not being up to the quality standards as expected or has some defect, the buyer may return it. The return of items will add to the logistics expenses and impact the overall revenue.
Although the irregularities in the product may exist to some extent, manufacturers should try minimizing the double load on logistics by delivering the correct item in the first place. Here are a few points you can keep in check to reduce the rate of return:
- Quality Control Of Goods
- Correct Sizing Information
- Proper Packaging
- Timely Reviews and Feedback
- Round-the-clock Support
Take control of and implement those points to reduce the return of goods sold.
Manufacturers Should Opt for Digital Supply Chain Solutions
What humans can do, automation can do better. It holds in the case of supply chain management processes. It requires diligent work to manage the whole production line, i.e., from procurement to the final product delivery. If we focus just on the initial procurement part, there are different raw materials from various suppliers. On delving deeper, you have separate invoices for every procurement. On top of it, the communication channel is email, which requires regular follow-ups in case of any delays.
If you sum up all this, you will find it takes rigorous manual effort and consumes more time. As a result, your overall production time gets increased. However, if you enable procurement automation, you won’t have to stress repetitive tasks. Below are some notable advantages of relying on P2P automation:
- Easy-to-manage orders and supplies information
- A 50% reduction in TAT
- Easy monitoring of data
- Less hassle
Also, if multiple transactions happen at quick intervals, you can create an SOP and align your process to it. The SOP will help you scale your business. All in all, a refined approach coupled with digital supply chain solutions can create a difference in your final expenses. Thus, helping you boost your profits.
Manufacturers Must Find a Way to Deal with Ad-Hoc Procurement
As a manufacturer, you work on a contractual basis with your partners. You produce a definite amount of goods using the raw materials as decided in the contract. However, there are times when there is an unscheduled requirement of any product. Being a non-recurrent and non-strategic demand, it increases manufacturing enterprises’ expenses.
To solve this issue, manufacturers can take some steps such as:
- Enter into annual rate contracts
- Request for bulk orders
- Regulate your logistics
- Enable Procure-to-Pay solution
- Streamline processes
The main route of escape for manufacturers here is switching to annual rate contracts. In that way, they will be able to fulfill orders in a much better way. It will help them to avoid any unplanned expenses because of no ad-hoc buying.
Manufacturers Should Take Advantage of Data Analytics
The projection of demand and supplies can be difficult to gauge when you rely on static data. For example, an item you are producing may not garner similar interest in the market at a particular time due to various reasons. Since every step in the production line is interconnected, it is critical to have a correct projection right from scratch.
To do so, manufacturing enterprises can use technology and gain valuable insights into the procurement process. New-age technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) can help manufacturers create a mathematical model based on inputs from the data collected and facilitate better decision-making.
Some important avenues that AI and ML will open up for manufacturers are:
- Ability to look beyond the static data
- Evaluate the correct demand
- Improved risk management based on collected data
- Flexibility and transparency
P2P software solutions enhanced by AI and ML technologies can unlock opportunities that remain hidden from us. Thus, adding to the MRO costs, which you can save.
Wrapping Up
Summing up what we have learned here is that saving MRO costs for manufacturers in the UAE is a choice. With a careful, proactive approach and use of technology, you can minimize additional expenses and save up to 10% MRO costs, thus maximizing profits in the long run.
CPOs and the E-Commerce Boom in Indirect Material Sourcing
CPOs and the E-Commerce Boom in Indirect Material Sourcing
Indirect material sourcing has long been riddled with uncontrolled expenditure, non-compliance, and counterfeit products. Traditionally, these risks have made CPOs of large enterprises opt for a direct approach when dealing with suppliers.
With rising costs, potentially unregulated products, and the COVID19 pandemic-led supply chain disruptions in the UAE, a CPO’s job is becoming increasingly stressful. It is especially true for CPOs of large manufacturing enterprises across the Middle-East and North Africa (MENA) geographies where the pandemic has impacted 60% of freight capacity and multimodal logistics.
Integrated Solutions for Procurement
With the e-commerce boom taking over B2B marketplaces, CPOs are welcoming procurement automation solutions with open arms. These new generation P2P software solutions offer scalability, reliability, and risk assessment — all under the same roof.
Besides providing attribute-rich catalogs of pre-vetted, high-quality vendors of indirect materials, these B2B e-commerce solutions offer a dynamic range of functions. Some of these functions are customization, user-friendly interfaces and search options, real-time pricing, and industry benchmark comparisons. With their AI and ML capabilities, these systems can even generate analytics on KPIs such as price spread and per-category spend.
Benefits of E-Commerce for CPOs
B2B e-commerce offers a series of features that are beneficial across the p2p procurement process. They have multiple payment options available in AED, language translation assistance to Arabic, and easy refunds & return policies.
They also offer filtration of vendors based on their proximity to the manufacturing unit, quick logistics, and competitive shipping rates throughout the emirates. Let’s take a look at some of the key benefits e-commerce systems offer to CPOs.
Agility
B2B e-commerce solutions give enterprises quick and easy access to a robust e-catalog of indirect materials, akin to a B2C e-commerce experience. The products and services are structured and itemized based on several attributes and filtered by a configurable list of business rules. This includes but is not limited to compliances, ratings & reviews, technical specs, availability, and shipping rates. These automated systems have rapid TATs across the p2p pathway and endow the CPOs with greater transparency and market awareness channels to make better decisions.
For instance, the global procurement head of an automotive OEM has said that e-commerce adoption for indirect material sourcing has increased their price competitiveness. “It has expanded our knowledge,” he explained, adding that their enterprise is now planning to digitize their direct material sourcing as well.
Cost Savings
Typically, enterprises spend 15% to 30% of their revenue on indirect material sourcing. It is usually valid for enterprises with fragmented spending structures and limited internal resources for procurements. The human capital spent on the traditional procurement process is perhaps the highest. CPOs spend countless hours in monotonous transactional activities that leave them with little to no time for any value-addition work to the enterprise.
However, with digital procurement automation solutions, operational costs in UAE can be reduced up to 40%. More importantly, they offload CPOs with hours of repetitive work. It unlocks critical free time for CPOs to spend on supply chain management and optimization of the p2p procurement process.
Technology Integration
For large manufacturing enterprises, the integration of an e-commerce marketplace with their existing ERP is the deciding feature of pre-investment. By entangling itself with the enterprise’s p2p procurement process, the e-commerce solution automatizes and simplifies a vital link of the digital supply chain. It enables the system to intelligently monitor inventory, issue purchase orders, execute payments, track deliveries, and receive stock. It also minimizes the hassles of negotiations, contract management, and price comparisons.
Some of the advanced digital procurement systems offered by digital supply chain solutions enterprises can seamlessly integrate with ERPs like SAP, Jagger, and Oracle. These systems successfully streamline the accounting, reporting, and controlling of the procurement process, thus building end-to-end supply chain visibility.
Data Cleaning & Management
A global market study indicates that almost 63% of the items listed in a conventional procurement catalog have incomplete or duplicate information. However, with digital supply chain solutions, CPOs can assess their MRO master data quality using the system’s native AI and ML capabilities. These data analytics tools can also learn user behavior over time and generate optimized results that promote operational excellence.
Reports on purchase, fulfillment data, including buying history, spend limits, and wish lists, make it convenient for procurement teams to increase their work efficiency.
What CPOs Need to Know
With increasing demand, the scale of high-quality suppliers of indirect materials is rapidly growing on B2B e-commerce solutions. Some experts predict that by the end of 2021, 60% of the large enterprises will be using digital procurement methods for indirect material sourcing. It is also aligned with the government’s vision to digitize UAE’s economy in the coming years.
With a rationalized and automated procurement solution in place, the role of the CPO is shifting from being a negotiator to that of a creator. The present-day CPO discovers new marketplaces, innovates new procurement strategies, and collaborates with suppliers. The CPO also draws new digital blueprints for quick approvals and reviews, and smoothens the enterprise’s upstream supply chain operations.
Moglix launches digital supply chain financing platform Credlix
Moglix launches digital supply chain financing platform Credlix
Moglix launches digital supply chain financing platform Credlix with the aim to provide quick collateral-free working capital solutions for its 15000+ suppliers and make the supply chain ecosystem future-proof from disruptions.
Credlix aims to make it easier for the suppliers to get just-in-time payments through its technology-driven supply chain financing system. Suppliers will be able to request early payments from enterprise buyers at affordable discount rates to keep their supply chain up and running even during times of disruption.
Rahul Garg, Founder & CEO, Moglix said in a statement,
MSMEs in India account for 11 crore jobs and 29% of the country’s GDP. Unclogging the cash flow through the supply chain will be integral to fostering winning partnerships between MSME suppliers and large enterprise buyers and realizing the Government of India’s vision for Aatmanirbhar Bharat.
Credlix is on track to provide invoice discounting of Rs 1000 crore over the next 12 months and is aiming to touch Rs 10,000 crore discounting value over the next three years by scaling up to include more banks, suppliers, and geographies.
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