How command centers can help with supply chain operations

Teams managing supply chain operations need to understand what’s happening right now, across their complex ecosystems, and take immediate action. To do so, they’re increasingly turning to supply chain command centers.

What is a supply chain command center?  

If you’re feeling confused, don’t be alarmed — supply chain command centers are a fairly recent phenomenon (or, at least, this way of describing them is).

The term “supply chain command center” was first introduced by Gartner in a 2022 report, and, at time of writing, is more of a concept than an established supply chain management software category — although some companies are beginning to create command center software.

Though there’s some debate about what the term means, the consensus seems to be that a supply chain command center uses various technologies to integrate data from the many functions that form (or are adjacent to) the supply chain — like Procurement, Inventory Management, Logistics and Transportation, and Order Management.

By connecting this data, a command center provides visibility across different functions. It can also bring in external data (like info from vendors or partners, or impacts from current events) to improve supply chain decision-making. And it may leverage predefined use cases for common supply chain scenarios, allowing users to provide recommendations and ultimately trigger actions.

Author’s note: The Celonis Process Intelligence Platform shares some features with supply chain command centers, but is not itself a supply chain command center. You can read more on how the Celonis Platform works with and enables supply chain command centers later in this post. 

How is a command center different from a control tower?

A supply chain control tower is a more established tool for integrating data from multiple sources (for example, sensors on trucks, equipment, and more), improving visibility and aiding supply chain management. Control towers are usually specific to individual functions,and have in the past been used most commonly in Logistics.

Teams turning to control towers to manage supply chain operations might use:

• A Logistics control tower to look at transport resources across the global supply chain

• An Inbound control tower to understand supply operations and see how materials are being brought from a supplier into a factory

• A Distribution control tower to see how finished goods are delivered to customers

But this domain-specific approach can result in domain-specific visibility, rather than a broader, more  end-to-end view. And supply chain control towers aren’t necessarily built to help users take immediate action, even when issues are identified. A control tower could highlight an issue or area of concern, but workers would still have to step in and sort it all out themselves via various software, phone calls, emails, and more.

Supply chain control tower

• Usually specific to individual function

• Often used in Logistics

• Generally based on internal input

• Can be used to observe

Supply chain command center

• Usually encompasses multiple functions

• Often used for overall supply chain operations management

• Can accommodate internal and external inputs

• Can be used to observe and act

Supply chain command centers can be seen as an expansion of control towers, allowing  for greater connection and orchestration (that is, triggering actions or processes)  within supply chain operations. A command center becomes a hub for all of the systems and processes that must be monitored and acted upon as part of managing supply chains, bringing together the control towers and adding the ability to solve problems, rather than just observe them.

• This isn’t to say control towers are obsolete. Read more about how control towers are still being used to get ahead of supply chain disruption and build supply chain resilience.

How can command centers be used to manage supply chain operations? 

The use cases for supply chain command centers are nearly limitless. But they’re most effective when they’re helping supply chain workers make decisions based on data from multiple functions — often incorporating complex constraints and variables — and then take action on related process optimization initiatives.

Here are just a couple of examples: 

Improving materials planning 

Optimizing materials planning strategies to reduce excess inventory and free up working capital requires data from functions like Procurement, Production, Inventory Management, and Sales.

A command center connecting all of this info and offering users greater supply chain visibility could reveal that Procurement should actually order less of a specific material, or that Production should create more of another material, based on both actual and anticipated customer demand.   

• Find out how the Celonis Planning Parameter Optimization App can help with supply chain planning.

Using excess stock as a supply source 

Using excess inventory as a source of supply isn’t as simple as seeing where there’s too much stock and moving it to locations where inventory levels are low.

A supply chain manager needs to consider both the cost of moving stock between locations and the impact on the origin location of moving that inventory. Whether or not these costs and impacts are worthwhile can also depend on additional factors like customer priority. A command center could bring together all the data necessary to factor in these variables for the most-informed decision.  

• Take a look at our Inventory Management Starter Kit to discover some of Celonis’ most impactful Inventory Management use cases.

Streamlining logistics management 

Expanding on the classic control tower model of logistics observation and management, a command center can provide a fuller picture of logistics performance, indicating where it’s dropping below (or exceeding!) benchmarks around key metrics like on-time delivery and transportation costs.

By adding in richer data from functions like Order Management and Inventory Management and the ability to actually take action, a command center can help take logistics optimization to the next level. This might mean shifting capacity between different lanes or shipping modes to reduce costs, or considering order fulfillment from a different location to improve delivery times.  

How does Celonis enable supply chain command centers? 

Celonis is a Process Intelligence Platform that unites data across functions, processes, and domains. As a result, you get a common language for understanding and improving how your business runs, connecting you to your processes, your teams to each other, and AI to your business.

Users can then take action in the Celonis platform itself, or use it to trigger action in other systems. This makes Celonis the perfect platform to enable supply chain command centers.

Rather than replacing existing supply chain solutions, Celonis enhances a typical supply chain tech stack. It works with everything from enterprise resource planning systems (ERPs), warehouse management systems (WMS), transport management systems (TMS), and shipment visibility solutions, to data lakes and data warehouses. Celonis sits on top of all these solutions to provide cross-functional insight into supply chain operations. It also allows users to initiate corrective actions to improve performance.

Get in touch to find out how the Celonis Process Intelligence Platform can work with your existing systems and enable your command center, helping solve your pressing supply chain management challenges.

Or, for inspiration on your supply chain strategy: 

• Check out The Insider’s Guide to Supply Chain Optimization 

• Watch recordings of different supply chain seminars from Celosphere 2024

• See how Freudenberg uses Celonis to bring real-time transparency into material flows

Kelly Fritz

Senior Content Creator

Kelly Fritz is a Senior Content Creator at Celonis. When not writing, she spends way too much time searching for vintage dresses, underpriced houseplants on Facebook Marketplace, and ever-faster bike routes between Brooklyn and Manhattan.