Novidades tecnológicas já estão mudando o setor de compras, mas será que a área já atingiu o nível de maturidade exigido pela era da Indústria  4.0? Descubra!

The purchasing sector in Industry 4.0

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For some time now, companies have been investing in creating a purchasing industry that uses resources such as automation technology and cloud computing for greater efficiency.

But has this area reached the level of maturity necessary to benefit from the transformation that is within the reach of purchasing in Industry 4.0? That’s what we’ll see next.

Digital maturity of the purchasing sector

In a recent study, Forrester Consult interviewed 417 purchasing leaders from North America and Europe to identify the degree of digital maturity in the area, noting that 65% of organizations said they were at an advanced stage in this regard.

However, the same survey showed that they are further away from a 4.0 Purchasing sector than they had imagined, with only 16% of companies at an advanced level of maturity – meaning they make intelligent use of the technological innovation available and are programmed to keep up with all the evolution that technological resources will bring in the coming years.

Another highlight of this study concerns the poor technological choices that companies have made. The result is that 82% of them have changed (or are thinking of changing) their digital provider, mainly due to the lack of integration between the implemented solutions (30%) and the difficulty of use of the tools by users (27%).

The conclusion of the researchers is that the vast majority of the companies interviewed still adopt a digital approach that simplifies processes and improves the efficiency of the purchasing sector, but this is not close to the transformation provided by Purchasing 4.0.

And the first step in this direction is up to the purchasing manager: to realistically assess the digital maturity in which the sector currently finds itself and, together with the Information Technology department, to outline the best strategy towards a planned and continuous transformation journey that will provide real competitive advantage for the company.

Organizations that do not adopt a smart approach to purchasing will risk losing space to the competition with digital knowledge, since the current business environment is one of extremely rapid change.

The Purchasing Team in Industry 4.0

Purchasing managers are still reticent about implementing new technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence, Robotic Automation or Blockchain in the industry routine.

This is the conclusion of a survey conducted by Deloitte – an American business consulting firm based in several countries around the world, including Brazil – pointing out that 51% of the managers interviewed are hesitant because they understand that their teams do not yet have enough resources to execute a digital purchasing strategy.

It is clear, therefore, that Purchasing 4.0 managers need to find new talent and also prepare the employees already hired, forming a multifunctional team with training to face the digital transformation.

Another essential factor to obtain the best possible performance from the purchasing team is to establish metrics that make it possible to evaluate all the collective and individual work. This analysis will allow us to know the team’s weak and strong points, investing in improvement actions.

And, of course, we must not forget that the purchasing manager himself must adapt to the new times, acquiring fundamental skills for the digital era.

Using modern tools correctly, the area will be able to capture, analyze and act from updated data in real time, creating agile connections with the entire organization, optimizing processes and increasing purchasing efficiency.

Purchasing 4.0 raises the sector’s value proposition

According to the German Henrik von Scheel, creator of the expression and fundamentals of Industry 4.0, we entered the second wave of Industry 4.0, characterized by the connection between advanced technologies and the use that humans can make of them, aiming at the improvement of organizational processes.

The purchasing sector has the opportunity to take advantage of this phase to increase its value proposition within the company, uniting its strategic knowledge about the market and its wide experience in purchasing with the opportunities brought by technological transformation.

This is the case, for example, with the use of bots. Considered a kind of assistant with Artificial Intelligence, it can provide updated information on purchasing processes and also generate automated demand. Through sensors placed in the stocked materials (making use of systems based on intelligence of things, IoT), the bot can identify the decrease in the stock of products and issue, autonomously, the purchase order before the item finishes and interferes in the organizational routine.

One of the great advantages of bots is that they can be implemented quickly, with little change in the process already used. That doesn’t eliminate the need for constant monitoring, by a properly trained professional, to ensure control over the resource – IT specialists recommend that the monitoring takes place on a daily basis, to ensure that the bots are running, and that there is a deeper performance assessment, on a monthly basis and whenever system changes occur.

Bots are already a reality in organizations, providing vendor management, purchase order creation, order and payment processing. But there is much to explore in this resource, and it is important that organizations reflect on operational details and impacts before the bots are deployed in the area.

In our blog, we’ve already covered other technologies that are influencing purchasing in Industry 4.0. Therefore, to complement your knowledge on the subject, we recommend reading from:

4 technologies that will change global trade

Soluparts can also collaborate for greater efficiency in the purchasing area, offering benefits such as better prices and agility to its customers. Get to know Soluparts differentials and values and take the opportunity to quote with our experts.