Oracle has announced the introduction of Oracle Smart Operations, a new innovation designed to support organisations in enhancing the efficacy of their global supply chain procedures. As a component of Oracle Fusion Cloud Supply Chain & Manufacturing (SCM), Oracle Smart Operations is founded on pioneering technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI).

These advanced capabilities aim to improve Oracle Fusion Cloud Manufacturing and Oracle Fusion Cloud Maintenance customers by raising productivity, improving the quality of produced goods, reducing unplanned downtimes, and enhancing visibility across operations. Oracle Smart Operations allows customers to develop more efficient and agile processes that can reduce factory inefficiencies, diminish the risk of unexpected downtime, and extend visibility across operations. It introduces connected, intelligent, and automated features to benefit Oracle Cloud Manufacturing and Oracle Cloud Maintenance customers.

Chris Leone, Executive Vice President of Applications Development at Oracle, expressed his company’s objective: "As organisations look to insulate their operations from ongoing disruptions, many leaders are turning to technology to increase output, improve quality, and build resiliency." Leone stated that Oracle Cloud SCM allows organisations to "connect and automate end-to-end supply chain processes and move toward a lights out manufacturing model." He continued: "The new smart manufacturing and maintenance capabilities can help our customers reduce inefficient manual recording and monitoring processes, increase safety, improve quality, and optimise operations."

The new capabilities introduced in Oracle Cloud Manufacturing provide customers with the tools to blend data from machinery, their workforce, and supply chain procedures. This delivers real-time recommendations, autonomously tweaks production, and executes high-value manufacturing processes. This includes Operator Workbench which gives customers a single user interface to gather and obtain information and data required for daily operations. The Digital Work Instructions facilitate complex assembly operations and ensure processes improve quality and consistency.

Similarly, in Oracle Cloud Maintenance, new features allow customers to combine maintenance data with real-time information on assets, the workforce and delivery chain data to support continuous monitoring and predictive maintenance. The capability includes Maintenance Technician Workbench, which helps technicians quickly and easily access relevant work based on assignment or skill while also providing insights into service history and streamlining collaboration with other personnel.

Stefano Mariani, Head of IT at Alcar Ruote, highlighted the significance of the new capabilities: "Being a premium player in the automotive aftermarket industry places a critical focus on our manufacturing and maintenance operations. Our customers expect a consistently high-quality product and on-time delivery... With these new capabilities in Oracle Cloud Manufacturing and Oracle Cloud Maintenance, our production operators will be better able to work with speed and accuracy."

Oracle Cloud SCM aims to assist organisations in fluently integrating supply chain processes while being nimble in their response to changing demand, supply, and market states. The Smart Operations capabilities form part of the broader Oracle strategy of regular feature updates to bolster resilience and adaptive processes in supply networks.