Using Data to Minimize Supply Chain Disruptions

Using Data to Minimize Supply Chain Disruptions

It doesn’t take a black swan event to disrupt a supply chain. Here’s how companies can use data to minimize disruptions and keep their supply chains running.

A black swan event, COVID-19 took the world by surprise when it first emerged in central China’s Hubei province in December. By March, nearly 75% of companies were reporting pandemic-related supply disruptions, according to the Institute for Supply Management (ISM). As of July, 73% of organizations had encountered “some” or “significant” detrimental effects on the supply side. 

The full impact of the global pandemic on the world’s supply chains remains unknown, but Deloitte says at least one thing is for certain: “It will have global economic and financial ramifications that will be felt through global supply chains, from raw materials to finished products.”

Of course, COVID-19 isn’t the first—and it won’t be the last—supply chain disruption that organizations will have to face. Long before the word “coronavirus” became a part of our everyday conversations, natural disasters, cybersecurity breaches, international trade wars, and geopolitical turmoil were all creating supply chain interruptions. 

Last year, for example, Resilience360 identified thousands of major events that resulted in significant supply chain disruptions, including industrial fires and explosions, industrial action, civil unrest and protests, port disruptions, cargo and border delays, trade disputes, production halts, and natural disasters. “2019 proved once again that the supply chain risk environment is continually changing and evolving.” (Little did Resilience360 know at the time, but 2020 would prove to be a blockbuster on the supply chain disruption front.)

“COVID-19’s impact revealed that supply chain business continuity plans had both the wrong data and the data wrong,” MIT adds. “Top management literally couldn’t see what was happening — or needed to happen — to ensure safe and reliable deliveries under duress. This came as a shock.”

Disruption isn’t a New Problem

The pandemic may have made supply disruption a more visible problem, but it’s definitely not a new problem. While Ken Sherman, President of IntelliTrans, was working as head of supply chain for a major manufacturer 20 years ago, they encountered some missed delivery deadlines with a high-value customer that was launching a new product. “Our manufacturing run was scheduled, we had the raw materials to make our product on hand, and technically should have been able to deliver as promised. 

The problem was that our material required specialized packaging and labeling that our system said we had in stock. The system turned out to be wrong; none of the packaging material was in stock. This meant we had to go back to the customer once again and revise our delivery date— solely due to inaccurate data within our system. Had we known about the lack of packaging in advance, we could have ordered it and been ready to package, label, and ship our customer’s products on time.” 

This is just one example of how painful data gaps can be for manufacturing, production, distribution, and customer service. Fast-forward to 2020 and even with advanced technology at their avail, many companies continue to wrestle with data-centric disruption issues. The bottom line is that inaccurate, untimely data has real-world consequences in terms of higher operational costs and lower customer satisfaction.

3 Steps to Take Right Now

Any organization that wants to reduce the impacts of supply chain disruptions on its operations should start by looking at its data. Here are three good first steps to take: 

  • Get a full view of your carrier system. You can’t effectively manage your carrier base if you don’t have a complete data set for those carriers. For example, if IntelliTrans went out to its customers and said, “Hey, we can give you railroad visibility, but we only interact with 50% of them, so we can only give you half of your fleet visibility,” it wouldn’t go over very well. Only with a complete, timely, and accurate view of your carrier network can you generate the right data to avoid supply chain disruption.   
  • Always put the customer first. Right now, all organizations have a great opportunity to proactively set accurate expectations for their customers. They also have a wide range of data points available to not only set those expectations, but also to meet them on every order. The problem is, if you don’t have that data available in an accessible control tower, you won’t be able to fully leverage it to create great experiences for your customers. 
  • Use data to reduce inventories and cut costs. In a business world where all companies are focused on their bottom lines, data is a great tool for driving cost out of the supply chain. With the right inventory management data, for example, companies can avoid having to “overstock” in order to avoid potential outages. In the absence of visibility and confidence, companies are forced to increase safety stock (i.e., products, people, fleets, etc.) to make up for that lack of confidence in the data. These moves directly impact the balance sheet and can prevent companies from successfully riding out any disruptions that might be lurking in the shadows.

Data is the New Oil

IntelliTrans’ Global Control Tower provides high levels of supply chain transparency; aggregates, completes, and enhances data from a variety of sources; offers visibility into and execution of different aspects of the supply chain; and generates data-driven alerts and analytics that ask deeper questions and deliver meaningful insights. 

By leveraging tracking information, the Global Control Tower provides analytics that measures key performance indicators (KPIs) like fleet cycle time, origin/destination dwell time, lane and hauler performance, back orders, freight spend, load optimization, and more. With their rate, equipment, lease, tracking, and invoice data in a central repository that’s accessible 24/7, companies can position themselves for success in any market conditions.      

Technology and Automation – Do More with Less

Technology and Automation – Do More with Less

With more companies announcing massive layoffs, the need for advanced supply chain management technology is growing at unprecedented rates. Here’s how your company can use this technology to do more with less.

After weathering the early impacts of the global pandemic fairly well, companies that use bulk and break-bulk freight are now preparing for uncertain economic conditions that could extend out further than initially anticipated. In fact, we’re seeing companies across all industries announcing new layoffs and furloughs as part of this belt-tightening exercise. 

In June, BP announced plans for 10,000 layoffs, equating to roughly 15% of the oil supermajor’s global workforce. According to Forbes, the move came after a three-month pause in redundancies out of respect for the stresses caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. In planning cuts, BP joins other industry giants like Chevron and Halliburton, which are cutting some 6,000 workers each, as well as many smaller companies like Marathon Oil and Occidental Petroleum.  
Walmart has also laid off hundreds of workers in departments including store planning, logistics, merchandising, and real estate, Forbes reports. Those cuts don’t factor reorganization within its roughly 4,750 U.S. stores to consolidate divisions and eliminate some regional manager roles.

The List Goes On

The list of high-profile organizations that are reducing payrolls right now includes Daimler, which is expected to cut 30% of its global workforce; oilfield services company Schlumberger, which is cutting roughly 21,000 jobs; United Airlines, which furloughed 3,900 pilots; and AT&T, which laid off 3,400 employees.

 According to Forbes, some economists estimate that more than 40% of these layoffs could become permanent. For example, one MIT professor calls the crisis an “automation forcing event that will fundamentally transform the economy.”

 Here at IntelliTrans, we’ve been deliberately planning for an event like COVID—and the resultant economic impacts on enterprises and their supply chains—for decades. We were alarmed as anyone else when the pandemic emerged, but we quickly pivoted to helping companies “do more with less” during this difficult time.

 The break-bulk shipper that was forced to lay off the employees who tracked shipments and contacted carriers, for instance, is now managing those functions through IntelliTrans’ Global Control Tower. This switch took place within hours (versus the weeks or months that it takes to install and implement new software), and the shipper is already seeing the benefits of its decision to automate.

 With more companies dealing with urgent staff and inventory issues right now, the automation trend will only accelerate. “This pandemic has created a very strong incentive to automate the work of human beings,” Time reports. “Machines don’t fall ill, they don’t need to isolate to protect peers, they don’t need to take time off from work.”

    Putting Advanced Technology to Work

    By leveraging IntelliTrans’ advanced supply chain platform, companies can effectively address the people and process challenges that they’re having right now while also preparing for future success. IntelliTrans’ Global Control Tower provides high levels of supply chain transparency; aggregates, completes, and enhances data from a variety of sources; offers visibility into and execution of different aspects of the supply chain; and generates data-driven alerts and analytics that ask deeper questions and deliver meaningful insights.

     By leveraging tracking information, the Global Control Tower provides analytics that measures key performance indicators (KPIs) like fleet cycle time, origin/destination dwell time, lane and hauler performance, back orders, freight spend, load optimization, and more. With their rate, equipment, lease, tracking, and invoice data in a central repository that’s accessible 24/7, companies can position themselves for success in any market conditions.      

    How Did the Modern Supply Chain Come to Be?

    How Did the Modern Supply Chain Come to Be?

    Here are eight key events that contributed to the creation of the modern-day supply chain.

    The modern supply chain is a complex animal that’s come a long way since the cavemen in the cartoon below were experimenting with the earliest modes of transportation (we’re hoping this one didn’t make it past the drawing board).

    Much innovation and evolution has taken place since those early, experimental days. Fast-forward to 2020 and we’re at a point where hundreds of millions of shipments traverse the world’s transportation networks every day. Supporting these movements is an ever-evolving technological foundation that includes advanced innovations like artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), robotics, and business analytics.

    The modern supply chain’s predecessors were equally as advanced for their time. Here are eight facts you may not know about the history of the supply chain and how it culminated into today’s complex, global networks:

    1. Ancient trade routes were mostly linear chains that took finished products to their ultimate destination. Because production and consumption of most items took place locally, the producer and consumer communicated directly with each other. This made for a pretty simple supply chain. “In ancient times, transportation technology was basic and the cost of moving goods was an important determinant of the production and distribution of a product,” The Globalist points out. “Thus, goods were put together close to the source of raw materials. Then, these products made their way in a largely linear chain to their end consumer.”
    1. The Industrial Revolution broke up that linear chain of command. During the 18th century, shipping technology improved to the point where it could supply the large-scale functioning of international production networks. As the Industrial Revolution took shape, production networks took on a different scale, globalization took hold, and transportation technology witnessed major breakthroughs (i.e., railways, the Suez Canal, and the Panama Canal). “As a result, the cost of transporting goods dropped sharply,” The Globalist “Ocean freight rates, for instance, fell 70% between 1840 and 1910.”
    1. Supply chain management started in the warehouse. Early efforts were focused on pallet and pallet lifts mechanization (circa 1940-1950) to obtain better warehousing space, racking, and layout. The “unit load” concept and pallet use became popular, extending to transportation management in 1950 by utilizing intermodal containers together with ships, trains, and trucks to transport them. This set the stage for supply chain globalization.
    1. The computer was born. In 1963, the National Council of Physical Distribution Management took a lead role in transferring some of earliest supply chain discoveries over to the world of physical product distribution. Computers came to be right around the same time; this helped push NCPDM’s agenda. Up until that point, manual records and transactions were the norm. Then, data computerization created opportunities and innovations in logistics planning (e.g., randomized warehouse storage, truck routing, and inventory optimization).
    1. There’s a self-proclaimed “father” of the modern supply chain. Consultant Keith Oliver recalls the moment in 1978 when a light bulb went off while he was a working for a unit of Philips NV. Components in a Philips television, he discovered, traveled an average of 30,000 miles—hopscotching the globe from one step of production to the next before arriving in an American or European living room. U.K.-born Oliver, then in his mid-30s, pitched a solution initially billed as “integrated inventory management.” That term eventually became “chain of supply” and, later, “supply chain.”
    1. Supply chain management hopped on the technology train. By the 1980s, personal computing was stoking logistics transformation and improving supply chain management. “With access to computers, planning surged ahead with unprecedented graphical interfaces,” FlashGlobal points out. “An emergence of new technology like flexible spreadsheets and map-based interfaces significantly improved logistics planning and execution technology.” This would continue to evolve throughout the 1990s, when enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems were used to identify planning and integration needs for logistics components.
    1. The cloud changed everything. Today’s supply chain is an evolving ecosystem where trading partners can collaborate via the web. Cloud computing technologies are enabling breakthrough innovations in supply chain management (SCM) applications delivered via SaaS (software as a service) models. “By enabling a ‘network’ view,” Accenture points out, “digitization can help companies capture huge savings and competitive advantages by fostering networked processes; optimizing the complete enterprise instead of individual functions; and driving new ways of thinking and working by enhancing visibility, collaboration, and innovation.”
    1. Supply chain control towers amped things up. As supply chain managers target greater efficiencies, Accenture says one overarching cloud- based strategy can be used to enhance cost improvements and performance: establishing a “control tower” to coordinate and orchestrate the elements that make up the supply chain. “Control tower systems connect trading partners and service providers,” Accenture states, “to create a vibrant, ‘always on’ electronic community.”

    The Evolution Continues

    IntelliTrans’ Global Control Tower provides high levels of supply chain transparency; aggregates, completes, and enhances data from a variety of sources; offers visibility into and execution of different aspects of the supply chain; and generates data-driven alerts and analytics that ask deeper questions and deliver meaningful insights.

    By leveraging tracking information, the Global Control Tower provides analytics that measures key performance indicators (KPIs) like fleet cycle time, origin/destination dwell time, lane and hauler performance, back orders, freight spend, load optimization, and more. With their rate, equipment, lease, tracking, and invoice data in a central repository that’s accessible 24/7, companies can position themselves for success in any market conditions.

    Benefits of End-to-End Supply Chain Visibility

    Benefits of End-to-End Supply Chain Visibility

    If your supply chain management platform isn’t giving you end-to-end visibility, you’re missing out on some critical benefits and competitive advantages.

    For most companies, the idea of having end-to-end supply chain visibility has been the Holy Grail of supply chain management. It’s also been somewhat of a pipedream for most of these organizations. They know this level of visibility exists and they understand its value, but they just can’t seem to connect the dots in a way that leads them to complete, end-to-end supply chain visibility.

    This presents major problems for companies that need end-to-end visibility in order to manage inventory, monitor shipments, and meet customer expectations. Today, that pretty much encompasses all B2B and B2C organizations. The problem is that many shippers don’t know where inventory is located, what level of service their carriers are providing, or where the stopgaps are in their supply chains.

    You Can’t Run on Incomplete, Outdated Information

    Despite the investments being made in people, processes, and technology, few companies can say that they have end-to-end visibility across the supply chain. Lacking accurate key performance indicators (KPIs) based on this data, most of these companies are still running on incomplete and outdated information.

    It’s been nearly three decades since IntelliTrans introduced its visibility platform, and we’ve been perfecting it ever since. To date, we’ve helped thousands of companies achieve something that’s still out of reach for many: obtaining a complete, end-to-end view of the supply chain that starts at the transportation planning stages and ends when the product is delivered to the end customer.

    With a supply chain visibility platform in place, shippers can save an average of 6%-10% in annual transportation costs. These savings come not only from selecting the lowest-cost carrier and the right transportation mode, but also from achieving flawless shipment execution across the entire supply chain:

    • It starts at the planning stage. The shipper gets the order from its customer, and then works to select the right transportation mode. It then executes the load with that carrier or carrier base. The pickup date is determined and the payment is calculated.

    • Extreme dock scheduling. The shipper and carrier decide on a pickup time at the dock. The carrier knows exactly where to be at what specific time and what it’s supposed to pick up, to ensure the most fluid operations possible. This helps eliminate the detention charges associated with trucks sitting around the yard, waiting to be loaded or unloaded.

    • Managing in-transit shipments. Using exception management as a basis, the visibility platform helps reduce transit time variations by automatically resolving these and other exceptions. Rather than having someone overseeing the entire process, he or she can jump in and tackle the exceptions that need attention (and spend the rest of the time on more important tasks).

    • Shipping more loads with the same number of assets. When you optimize the above steps, you can effectively reduce transit times and ship more loads with the same number of vehicles or carriers. This can significantly reduce asset costs in a business world where transportation and equipment costs continue to grow year-over-year.

    Freeing up cash. With all eyes on the bottom line in our current economic climate, having end-to-end supply chain visibility equates to shorter sales cycles and the ability to bill sooner for shipments (which, in turn, arrive at their destinations faster). This helps reduce the amount of cash that’s tied up in the business.

    Reducing reliance on labor. When a plant, warehouse, dock, and/or yard are automated and running on high levels of visibility, the shipper’s labor needs can be reduced. It also means fewer “touches” on orders and reduced costs of physically moving assets. Because labor is one of the most expensive line items for any product-oriented operation, this can result in substantial savings and improved bottom lines.

    In an era where transportation costs continue to rise, and with events like the global pandemic driving some carriers to introduce “COVID” rate hikes, companies need 24/7 insights into their transportation costs, fees, assessorials, and other charges. This is just one more advantage to having good end-to-end supply chain visibility, where access to data means being able to quickly identify and address inaccurate bills and invoices.

    When you can prove that a carrier’s truck did not sit idle at your site for two hours, waiting to be loaded, disputing incorrect charges on an invoice—even 30 days later, when the bill comes—is pretty easy.

    Your End-to-End Supply Chain Visibility Partner

    IntelliTrans’ Global Control Tower provides high levels of supply chain transparency; aggregates, completes, and enhances data from a variety of sources; offers visibility into and execution of different aspects of the supply chain; and generates data-driven alerts and analytics that ask deeper questions and deliver meaningful insights.

    By leveraging tracking information, the Global Control Tower provides analytics that measures key performance indicators (KPIs) like fleet cycle time, origin/destination dwell time, lane and hauler performance, back orders, freight spend, load optimization, and more. With their rate, equipment, lease, tracking, and invoice data in a central repository that’s accessible 24/7, companies can position themselves for success in any market conditions.

    5 Ways Global Supply Chain Transparency Improves Customer Service

    5 Ways Global Supply Chain Transparency Improves Customer Service

    Here’s how global supply chain transparency helps companies attract new customers and keep their current buyers happy.

    When consumers buy from companies that provide high levels of supply chain transparency, they’re willing pay anywhere from 2% to 10% more for products. That statistic comes from MIT, which talked to consumer about issues like the treatment of workers in the product supply chain, the seller’s efforts to help improve those conditions, product ingredients, materials used, and where products come from.

    According to MIT, all shippers should be thinking about two different aspects of supply chain transparency. They are:

    • Visibility: Accurately identifying and collecting data from all links in your supply chain.

    • Disclosure: Communicating that information, both internally and externally, at the level of detail required or desired.

    Put simply, when they know what’s happening “upstream” in your supply chain—and when that information is communicated both internally and externally—customers aren’t afraid to shell out a bit more money for their orders. This mindset has made its way into the B2B space, where bulk and break-bulk companies are being asked to provide more information and data about their processes, products, and policies.

    We’ve Come a Long Way

    In addition to wanting to know that their products have been sourced responsibly, and that the people making them are being treated fairly, customers also want to know exactly when and where their orders are at any point in the supply chain. This puts new pressures on B2B companies, which weren’t part of the initial “Amazon-incited” push to get orders fulfilled and out the door within hours (or even minutes) of receiving an order. Over time, the same expectations made their way into the B2B space (after all, business buyers are also consumers themselves).

    Consider this: Twenty years ago, manufacturers could ship out customer orders on the day that they promised to ship those orders. It didn’t have to be on the same day that the order was received. It just had to be on the day that the customer was expecting the order to ship. Customers were happy, they received their orders within their expected timeframes, and they came back for more when they needed to reorder.

    Fast-forward to today and the scenario couldn’t be any more different than it was in 2000. Today, companies are expected to hit 30-60-minute fulfillment windows. Credit the customers’ “lean” inventory approaches with creating at least some of the urgency, for without a lot of stock to pull from, buyers are pushing more inventory back to their suppliers.

    5 Ways to Put Transparency to Work

    The good news is that with good global supply chain transparency, shippers can meet these demands, hit those tighter delivery windows, and maintain their own profitability levels. Here are five ways transparency supports all of these goals:

    1) Accurately answers the question, “where’s my stuff?” Your customers know that the technology needed to track their orders from point of origin to destination exists, so why wouldn’t you put it to good use? Challenged to meet smaller and smaller delivery windows, shippers need a global supply chain transparency platform that tracks the information and distributors in real-time, and with little or no human intervention.

    2) Utilizes actionable information. Today’s shippers have to be able to map out their supply chains, and collect information on practices and performance that provides insights about potential risks, opportunities for improvement, and information gaps. They can then turn around and use that actionable information to make incremental customer service improvements. “A company may need to track and profile units, batches, or lots of finished goods moving through the supply chain to ensure source of origin and chain of custody,” HBR points out.

    3) Helps identify problems quickly. Global supply chain transparency helps managers quickly recognize operational inefficiencies and work to rectify these problems. So, rather than waiting for a report to come out at the end of the month, supply chain managers can detect and react to issues immediately. This helps enhance B2B customer loyalty and establishes the shipper as a proactive organization that gets things done (versus waiting for things to get done).

    4) Saves on transportation costs. It’s not unusual for bulk and break-bulk cargo users to run out of product and not realize it until it’s too late. Shippers wind up having to jump through hoops to expedite shipments and get products into their customers’ hands as soon as possible. With good supply chain transparency, the same shipper would have fair warning about the outage and been able to ship it earlier, use the lowest-cost mode/carrier, and save significant money on transportation costs.

    5) Helps your customers rest easier at night. Your customers want to know that they are procuring high-quality, authentic, safe goods that will meet or exceed their expectations. Good supply chain transparency helps them understand that their suppliers, materials, and products will meet all of those expectations (and more). It also shows that your company complies with the rules and regulations, and that its raw materials can be readily traced back through the production and acquisition process.

    Supply Chain Transparency Pays Off

    IntelliTrans’ Global Control Tower provides high levels of supply chain transparency; aggregates, completes, and enhances data from a variety of sources; offers visibility into and execution of different aspects of the supply chain; and generates data-driven alerts and analytics that ask deeper questions and deliver meaningful insights.

    By leveraging tracking information, the Global Control Tower provides analytics that measures key performance indicators (KPIs) like fleet cycle time, origin/destination dwell time, lane and hauler performance, back orders, freight spend, load optimization, and more. With their rate, equipment, lease, tracking, and invoice data in a central repository that’s accessible 24/7, companies can position themselves for success in any market conditions.

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