Neo Tangent Explores the Invisible Supply Chain at the European Supply Chain Summit

An order can be recorded in an ERP and still depend on someone chasing missing information, resolving discrepancies or securing an approval. In the morning keynote, “The Invisible Supply Chain: Rethinking the Work Between Your Systems,” Eric Lee, who leads Neo Tangent globally, challenged leaders to examine this work and redesign it before automating it. examined how this often-overlooked work can be identified, redesigned and, where appropriate, automated.

Neo Tangent’s contribution drew on its experience managing supply chain operations for clients. The company also led a panel with senior executives from HP, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Omya and Aliaxis on the practical demands of digital transformation.

Redesigning the work before automating it

Eric shared findings from a review of operations for a major global sourcing enterprise supported by Neo Tangent. The review mapped approximately 4,200 manual touchpoints, including checks, data transfers and follow-ups. Through process redesign, the team identified an opportunity to reduce these to around 2,500, or roughly 40% fewer, before further automation.

Duplicate checks offer one example. When teams cannot see or rely on each other’s validation, they may check the same information again. A shared, reliable result with clear ownership can remove unnecessary handling while preserving the required control.

Eric also emphasized the need to measure where work waits. A faster individual task has limited impact on turnaround if the transaction still spends hours waiting for clarification or approval.

Putting Orbit to work in daily operations

Neo Tangent manages supply chain processes as an extension of its clients’ teams, with accountability for service levels, accuracy and productivity. Orbit grew from that operating experience. It is Neo Tangent’s operating layer for the work between systems, helping coordinate workflows across existing applications while retaining the context, controls and decisions needed to move work forward.

Orbit, its operating layer for the work between systems, supports that delivery by coordinating workflows across existing applications.

Orbit combines workflow controls with AI to help teams move information and tasks through the process, while keeping people responsible for exceptions and decisions that require judgment.

Its portfolio addresses recurring operational tasks: OrbitFLOW turns incoming information into structured data, OrbitMATCH validates documents against business rules, and OrbitDUTY supports product classification and duty research.

A panel with global supply chain leaders

Neo Tangent also moderated a panel discussion, “Digital Supply Chain Transformation: Driving Visibility, Resilience, and Agility”, with senior executives from HP, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Omya and Aliaxis on the practical demands of digital transformation.

• Juergen Kull, Vice President, Supply Chain Operations, HP
• Christopher Gallwas, Global Head, Supply Chain Optimization, Animal Health, Boehringer Ingelheim
• Jens Imbeck, Vice President, Supply Chain Management, Omya
• Filip Buytaert, Vice President, Supply Chain Operations, Aliaxis
• Ivonne Zamora, Vice President, Supply Chain Excellence, Bayer

The panel’s focus included the practical application of AI and automation, developing teams’ capabilities, and adapting supply chains to changing demand, regulation and geopolitical disruption.

Across the two-day summit, Neo Tangent connected with a wide range of companies to discuss operational challenges and explore how process redesign, managed services and Orbit could help.

Talk to Neo Tangent about a process your team wants to simplify.

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