Transformed Order Management Enhances Speed and Agility of the Syngenta Supply Chain

Did you know that 450 million smallholder farmers spread across low- and middle income countries make up the largest farming group in the world and produce 35% of the world’s grain?

With its ‘good growth plan’ Syngenta is on a mission to make crops more efficient, empower smallholder farmers, and help reduce poverty. The company helps farmers around the world with improved farming techniques, protection measures against droughts and floods, and seeds and crop-protection products at the right price and at the right time.

Production and supply chain excellence are therefore critical for Syngenta to live up to its ‘good growth’ promise.

Ensuring supplies at the right time, at the right place, and at the right cost

1 in 7 tomatoes in the world come from Syngenta. 20 billion liters of Europe’s beer is made from Syngenta’s barley. The company introduces 100 new ornamental plant varieties every year. In the first year of its ‘good growth plan’ implementation, the company has achieved the feat of improving fertility of 800,000 hectares of soil, reaching 15 million smallholder farms globally, and enhancing biodiversity of 700,000 hectares of farmland.

The movement of products from factories to the country units is managed by an internal network, enabled through Syngenta’s global hubs. The company works toward applying an end-to-end integrated approach to build and operate a supply chain that functions with clockwork precision to ensure supplies to farmers at the right time and at the right cost.

Clockwork precision in the supply chain – a function of enhanced Order Management

Building a supply chain that works with clockwork precision is easier said than done. Complexity is endemic in supply chains, as most lack end-to-end visibility, with little or no process integration.

Order management is a vital link in the supply chain mechanism. It requires close collaboration between a multitude of stakeholders and processes including inventory management, procurement, supplier management, credit management, payment management, and shipment operations. Syngenta’s hubs have local teams that manage orders through global operations. The business of seeds and cropprotection products is seasonal and is characterized by spikes of activities that are not just critical for Syngenta, but also for the end consumer. Farmers cannot wait for the seeds or crop protection products they need, and any delay in processing orders by the hubs results in lost sales for the company and the farmers.

To circumvent such problems even before they crop up, Syngenta wanted to industrialize the operations of its Order Management hubs. The agribusiness leader needed a Global Process Model supported by the relevant tools that could help make real-time data-driven improvements to the sourcing-planning-processing cycle, while keeping costs low.

Transforming Order Management

Syngenta engaged Capgemini, its partner of ten years — and well-versed in Order Management for large global customers such as Nokia Networks — to build a world-class solution.

Capgemini’s solution for Syngenta combines a “Global Enterprise Model” based on its Global Process Model (GPM)*, the Rightshore® approach, and the innovative BPOpen® platform that includes the OMEGA workflow engine, to consolidate and harmonize Syngenta’s operations.

 * The Global Process Model© is Capgemini BPO’s pioneering approach to running best-in-class processes. GPM is a library of best practices based on two decades of experience delivering world-class processes for more than 100 clients across various industries. It is a key enabler of transformation within the Global Enterprise Model, driving standardization and harmonization of business processes across global operations. GPM is one of the most important levers of Capgemini’s Global Enterprise Model (GEM) — an industrialized methodology for engineering and rapidly implementing powerful BPO and Shared Services solutions that drive business transformation.

Results Count — Syngenta transforming supply chain to enhance the lives of farmers

A transformed Order Management process at its first hub of choice has translated into benefits for the company and the thousands of farmers who use Syngenta’s products.

Impact on Syngenta’s business:

• Increased cost efficiencies: Syngenta is expected to achieve cost efficiencies of over 40% with the implementation of GPM and the Rightshore® approach for the Singapore hub.
• Better control over orders: Improved visibility on the end-to-end process and data is augmenting order performance and fulfillment.

Impact on farmers:

Transforming the Order Management process has resulted in enhanced speed and agility of the Syngenta supply chain, impacting farmers positively.