It wasn’t long ago that material planners for automotive supply chains would manage transport flows across hundreds if not thousands of spreadsheets, manually checking parts deliveries against inventory levels displayed across any variety of different systems between plants, suppliers and logistics providers.

Today, the material and transport control offices at BMW Manufacturing, led by Julia Fuchs, head of material, transport control and delivery assurance, at the company’s plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina, look more like a NASA control room. Large monitors show maps and dashboards, including those that track material from local suppliers delivering just-in-time and just-in-sequence.