Yushan Wang
Project overview
This project is to investigate how IoT assist supplier management in today’s sustainable innovation and the agile performance of suppliers to manufacturers. While many traditional manufacturing industries are actively implementing IoT, the role of suppliers is gaining traction and additional responsibility. Some manufacturers have gradually recognized the need to involve suppliers in their sustainable activities, especially in products and process designs that incorporate regenerative and reusable. Supplier involvement can effectively mitigate supply disruptions caused by epidemics and enable manufacturers to adapt to IoT technologies by breaking down information silos to handle difficult materials, optimize space utilization and consume less energy. As manufacturers become increasingly dependent on their suppliers, reorganizing and managing supplier involvement has become an extension of the manufacturer's production system. Suppliers need to have a high degree of visibility into the full life cycle of sustainable products and design processes, respond quickly to change and collaborate effectively with manufacturers.
The IoT enables both internal and external integration of supplier operational processes. Relevant product sustainability data from smart objects, when effectively collected, analysed and transformed into useful information, can provide suppliers with unprecedented visibility and agility in all aspects of their involvement in regenerative and reusable product and process design activities, providing early warning of internal and external conditions that need to be remedied. A heightened degree of agility to these signals can drive new levels of supplier-manufacturer collaboration.