Chicago-based McKinsey & Company announced Wednesday they had acquired SCM Connections, a supply chain planning and analytics company.
The acquisition would allow McKinsey to strengthen its expertise in supply chain consulting and offer high-impact end-to-end supply chain planning, the company said. SCM specializes in deploying Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) software that McKinsey would be able to use to create best-in-class strategic, technical, and functional expertise in supply chain planning capabilities that would provide clients with high-impact end-to-end supply chain transformations.
“Global supply chain issues are increasingly complex and volatile supply chains are forcing companies to modernize the tools they use for forecasting demand and planning supply and inventory to meet it,” said Daniel Swan, senior partner and global co-convenor of McKinsey & Company’s Operations Practice. “Today, we are in a new age of supply chain management where advanced planning capabilities are king and digital innovation builds the bridge to resilience. With this acquisition, we will be able to help our clients embed a full, end-to-end technology-enabled supply chain planning approach to fuel long-term growth and build resilience.”
The company said it will supplement APS software with its own McKinsey Digital capabilities to solve unique supply chain problems with the help of advanced analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) drive techniques. Combining McKinsey’s strategic insights with SCM Connection’s execution excellence will maximize returns for organizations undertaking digital planning transformations, the company said.
“We are thrilled to join McKinsey and expand our footprint to serve more clients at greater scale — across the full manufacturing and supply chain cycle,” said Mike Raftery, CEO of SCM Connections. “McKinsey has proven to be distinctive in developing scalable and sustainable transformation strategies, leveraging unmatched insight and expertise in building supply chain and operational excellence. Working together, we will be able to amplify our strengths, driving greater impact for clients at scale and delivering end-to-end transformations that create lasting value.”