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Tag: software

Truck Driver Expense Software

Posted on by David Priestman

Life on the road can be unpredictable. For thousands of professional drivers crossing Europe daily, access to the right tools, driver expenses and support can make all the difference. From unexpected road tolls to last-minute repairs, managing trip-related expenses has long been challenging – often involving out-of-pocket payments, time-consuming reimbursements, and administrative bottlenecks.

In response to these ongoing challenges, Girteka has implemented a new digital payment system – Payhawk, that transforms how drivers handle work-related expenses. The solution provides both virtual and physical cards, activated specifically for the duration of each trip, allowing drivers to easily cover all pre-approved costs like parking, hotel stays, some of road tolls, washing stations, minor vehicle maintenance, and unpredicted expenses.

Driving Forward with Simplicity and Security

For drivers, the change means less hassle and more confidence. Each transaction is logged via a mobile app, where receipts are uploaded instantly and reviewed by managers in real-time. In case of more significant or unforeseen expenses, drivers can request a limit increase directly through the app – often receiving approval within minutes.

“At first, it took some getting used to it, like with any new thing,” shared Roman, a professional truck driver. “But now, it’s comfortable. I can easily separate business and personal expenses, and it’s resolved much faster when something unexpected happens. I feel more supported by the company.”

This structured process increases security – ensuring all expenses are pre-approved or monitored – and prevents misuse. Limits are set per trip, and approvals are tied to the amount requested, reinforcing accountability without delaying operations.

Impact Beyond the Wheel

The benefits extend well beyond the cab. The new system reduces administrative overhead for Girteka’s operations, HR, and accounting teams by eliminating manual reimbursements and paper-based workflows. With expenses visible online in real-time, financial oversight is tighter, and response times are faster. But first and foremost, it is beneficial for drivers, who now can stop worrying about unpredicted payments.

This approach enables better planning and data-driven decision-making. Trip expense data can now be analyzed to optimize routes, budget forecasts, and service offerings, proving Girteka’s long-term commitment to digital innovation.

Setting a New Standard in Logistics

With over 500 drivers already using Payhawk, the new payment system and usage expanding weekly. By June, more than half of all drivers (6,000) are expected to rely on the digital payment solution daily as the system becomes fully embedded into the company’s operational model.

The initiative is part of a broader strategy to create a digitalized, efficient, and human-centered logistics environment, from improved driver support to more intelligent cost control.

“Technology in logistics should empower people – not complicate their work,” noted Mindaugas Paulauskas, CEO of Girteka Transport Girteka. “This project reflects our commitment to making everyday tasks easier for our drivers while building a smarter and more transparent system for the company.”

In an industry where time, trust, and efficiency are everything, Girteka continues to lead with innovation, care, and a clear vision for the future of transport.

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DHL Suspends High-Value US Deliveries

All-in-one electric fleet management platform

Posted on by David Priestman

 Hitachi ZeroCarbon today unveils a holistic suite of EV fleet solutions designed to simplify every step of fleet electrification, from planning and strategy support, facilitating EV financing, through to a technology platform delivering charging management and battery optimisation – driving decarbonisation across the fleet ecosystem.

With various legal directives across Europe mandating that all new vehicles must be zero-emission by 2035, fleet managers have only a decade to decarbonise. Recognising that many fleets are at different stages of their electrification journey, from building the business case, to looking for affordable financing, to trialling EVs, Hitachi now provides a one-stop-shop service that supports all aspects of the EV fleet ecosystem. The comprehensive solution suite empowers fleet operators to accelerate the runway to electrified transport.

New solutions that are now available include:

• ZeroCarbon Fleet: The combination of Hitachi’s charging and battery management capabilities, Fleet ensures vehicles are safely charged to meet daily operations, manages batteries to protect their long-term performance, and enables organisations to unlock new energy revenue streams from EV fleets.

• ZeroCarbon Charge: Charge is a 24/7 managed service and technology platform, providing real-time alerts, live vehicle monitoring, load balancing and advanced tariff optimisation for reliable charging operations and lower electricity costs.

• ZeroCarbon BatteryManager: The battery is the most valuable component of an electric vehicle. BatteryManager provides a managed service and advanced asset analytics technology platform to help protect performance, extend battery life and maximise its residual value.

• ZeroCarbon Strategy: Hitachi’s energy expertise supports fleet managers through every step of the electrification process, through designing bespoke decarbonisation strategies, conducting site assessments, calculating total cost of ownership, facilitating access to financing through its partners and identifying new energy and asset utilisation revenue opportunities.

These solutions were born out of Hitachi ZeroCarbon’s involvement in Optimise Prime, the world’s largest commercial trial of over 8000 EVs. Hitachi worked closely with major UK fleets, leading technology providers and local distribution network operators to develop and test impactful EV fleet solutions.

Alongside its ability to support fleets through a variety of funding solutions, from providing access to low-cost finance, co-invested equity and debt-based finance, Hitachi ZeroCarbon now has a market-leading end-to-end proposition for fleets. Solutions can all be tailored to the specific needs of public transport operators, utilities and facilities fleets, hauliers and last mile delivery businesses.

Commenting on the launch, Mike Nugent, Chief Revenue Officer, Hitachi ZeroCarbon said: “We understand that every business is unique, and has its own set of decarbonisation challenges, so we’re proud to have curated a service that threads the entire process together in one seamless offering. Our customers are telling us they don’t know where to start, and need support through every step of the journey. That’s why we combine bespoke strategies with a people-first approach to transformation, showing how close management of charge infrastructure and battery assets can deliver real business value. We are experts at taking the complexity out of electrification, and removing capital constraints, so operators can enjoy greater benefits, sooner.”

Stig Tvergrov at Posten Bring, one of Hitachi ZeroCarbon’s key customers, added: “We operate in a challenging environment where the conditions can change dramatically based on season. We needed a resilient and proven electrification partner that had the solutions to anticipate challenges and address them before they materialised.

“Hitachi’s ZeroCarbon’s end-to-end service ticked a lot of boxes, and through our deployment of ZeroCarbon Charge, we achieved complete visibility into the health and performance of our key battery assets, so we can optimise our vehicles based on route, journey, or condition. The service plugged seamlessly into our existing site hardware and software too, which meant no disruption during installation. It led to us having complete visibility over both vehicles and chargers, allowing us to rely on new technology and help us towards achieving our climate goals early.”

Hitachi ZeroCarbon already manages over a thousand electric vehicle assets across Europe, North America and Asia, supporting the global shift to electrified transport. Across its portfolio, Hitachi provides an around-the-clock managed service, with swift incident resolution and expert support to prevent operational risk or disruption. Its services are technology agnostic, so can integrate with any existing fleet hardware or software systems, while its expertise in data science provides market-leading charging and battery optimisation to maximise the value from electric vehicle fleets. 

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Private Sovereign AI for Logistics Businesses

Posted on by David Priestman

OneAdvanced, a UK-headquartered software provider, has announced the launch of OneAdvanced AI – a secure Large Language Model (LLM) made with logistics businesses in mind delivering AI for role, organisation, and sector-specific work.

With 75% of knowledge workers using AI and half reportedly ‘smuggling’ unapproved generative AI into the workplace daily – often without notifying their employers or adhering to IT policies – the sensitive data of logistics businesses is increasingly at risk.

The secure environment that OneAdvanced AI provides directly addresses this concern, operating as a private, closed, and fully encrypted service. Designed to protect organisation-confidential data while empowering logistics businesses to harness the power of AI, the new AI service brings sector-specific intelligence and automation to life embedded into the workflows within its software platform.

It is designed to help its customers leverage the power of AI, monitor and control usage, improve productivity and realise efficiency gains.

As part of the OneAdvanced software platform, the service allows users to leverage the analytical capabilities of AI and solve complex problems, using their own business data in a private, secure way. Customers can create private team or organisation spaces for sharing and collaborating around the use of AI specific to them, their team or the wider business.

Ultimately, OneAdvanced AI offers complete UK data sovereignty, unleashing the power of data held in its mission-critical sector-focused software applications without fear of it being shared outside their organisation.

OneAdvanced AI offers:

• Retrieval-Augmented Generation using organisation specific documents and data to tailor responses from the LLM, connecting to external sector-specific data sources via APIs to understand and answer questions e.g. search legal databases, retrieving case law.

• AI Assistants automating tasks within our software workflows to free up time from admin-heavy tasks e.g. comparing a procurement policy with supplier contracts for compliance checking.

• Agentic AI combining the power of the private LLM and AI systems, OneAdvanced AI can learn and make recommendations for better ways of working – saving money and time while improving productivity e.g. horizon scanning for risks and automating the creation of risks on the risk register with recommended actions.

Amanda Grant (pictured top), Chief Product Officer at OneAdvanced, said: “Business leaders across the world are grappling with how to use AI tools to improve their organisations, speed up processes and unlock data. Relying on tools that learn from the information uploaded is too risky. They need confidence that their data remains safe. OneAdvanced AI does that.

“We believe this innovation will fundamentally reshape how UK businesses safely and effectively integrate AI into their daily operations creating those highly sought after productivity gains. OneAdvanced AI was created to help our customers, who operate in some of the most critical sectors of society, to take advantage of cutting-edge AI tools without compromise.”

Simon Walsh (pictured above), CEO at OneAdvanced added: “Today’s organisations face the dual challenge of managing a rapidly evolving technology landscape while ensuring strategic growth and operational efficiency.

“By coupling innovation with robust security standards, we can drive economic growth while protecting sensitive data. OneAdvanced AI represents a crucial step forward in ensuring that organisations can seize these opportunities without risk. Our mission is powering the world of work, and that is exactly what OneAdvanced AI will support our customers in achieving.”

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AI “Opens Up New World For Logistics” Says Global Integrator

 

AI Accelerates Service Performance

Posted on by Keith McKinley

Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) software provider IFS Ultimo has integrated AI functionality into its next-generation EAM platform to enhance troubleshooting, and enable organisations to reduce the mean time to repair (M5TTR) of their assets. By leveraging AI, EAM toolsets will be more intuitive, accessible and predictive, therefore driving unprecedented efficiency and effectiveness in asset management practices. The new AI features were unveiled on Wednesday, October 16th at the IFS Unleashed event in Orlando, Florida, USA.

“AI will take EAM to the next level. Our vision for AI is to focus on real world use cases,” says Chris van den Belt, Head of Product Management, IFS Ultimo. “When considering what AI to integrate into our platform, we are only embedding features which will add significant value for our customers and improve their user experience. Infusing our EAM platform with AI functionalities will radically improve employee productivity and maximise asset availability.”

Many AI technologies are geared towards predicting and preventing failures and incidents. However, for the majority of organisations, these technologies are more of a long-term goal than a short-term reality. Reactive maintenance will continue to feature prominently in most organisation’s maintenance strategies. With this in mind, IFS Ultimo has made the conscious decision to harness the powers of AI to significantly reduce time spent on reactive maintenance. Realising these short-term benefits starting today puts long-term objectives within arm’s reach.

Minimising Downtime

It is estimated that 80% of time in MTTR is spent on diagnosing a problem. The biggest chunk of time wasted is due to a lack of communication and detail in failure reports. With Ultimo’s built-in AI capabilities, organisations can realise tremendous value with each percentage point reduction in MTTR. This is not ‘chump change’: the average cost of downtime in manufacturing often exceeds $100K per hour. Beyond the clear financial stakes, the productivity impact is also profound, especially in an industry where skilled labour is already hard to come by. Furthermore, the immense increase in overall data quality unlocks a wide array of new and exciting possibilities for achieving operational excellence.

The newly integrated AI functionality provides better quality of failure reporting. Having to spend less time on diagnosing a problem means skilled employees will benefit from increased wrench time, increased asset availability, reduced admin time, improved collaboration and improved employee satisfaction.

More Accurate Failure Reports

Front line workers spend the majority of their working day close to the assets they know so well. Any changes to the way these assets look, sound, smell or feel will not pass them by. Using a large language model (LLM), Ultimo detects the asset in question and provides a series of tailored suggestions that the reporter can easily add to the failure report without having to type. In doing so, all of the sensory observations are captured on the report accurately, providing maintenance teams with complete and accurate information to quickly solve the issue and increase asset availability and reliability.

This same approach will be used elsewhere in Ultimo to empower the faster resolution of diagnosed issues and enhance the accuracy of completed work activities registered in the system. The overall benefits include a substantial reduction of time spent on administration, severe improvements to data quality and a boost to employee satisfaction. Furthermore, Ultimo is working on integrated AI features that will greatly improve user experience, such as photo-based meter readings, auto-generated image and document captions and auto-translated multi-lingual data.

Van den Belt concludes: “We are dedicated to developing our products to help users do their jobs more easily with our best-of-breed EAM software. AI has the capability to enhance EAM in future-ready and efficient ways – empowering employees, improving asset performance, and reducing costs. We are very excited to bring these new AI functionalities to our customers while making sure all relevant data protection is in place.”

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Podcast: How AI is Revolutionising Transport & Logistics

Logistics Software Webinar

Posted on by David Priestman

Selecting the right logistics software is crucial for optimising supply chain operations, but the process goes beyond just issuing an RFI or RFP. Watch our logistics software webinar, entitled ‘Logistics Software: Beyond the RFI & the RFP. Achieve Supply Chain Excellence’, where industry experts will guide you through mastering the logistics software selection and procurement process.

Requesting quotes, proposals and further information from vendors of ERP, TMS, WMS, SCM, SCE and other supply chain software solutions, is just the beginning of thte process. Are you planning to buy new logistics software in the next 12 months?

In this logistics software Webinar you’ll learn how to:

  • Define clear requirements for effective RFI and RFP processes.
  • Evaluate and compare solutions beyond surface-level features.
  • Engage stakeholders for alignment and buy-in.
  • Avoid common pitfalls in software selection.

Logistics Software Webinar

Editor Peter MacLeod is joined by Gary Rosier-Taylor, VP of Fleet Sales for Descartes, and Phil Turton of Viewpoint Analysis (pictured below), an independent technology expert on evaluating and purchasing the right IT systems for your logistics operations. He argues that software and IT procurement is broken right now, with the vendor selection process taking too long. Buyers should spend time on their short list and streamline everything. Avoid getting what you asked for, rather than what you need. Try selling to the salesperson and using a ‘rapid RFP’. Score vendors appropriately after every interaction. Do you trust them to deliver?

What sort of additional knowledge does a buyer need to extract from a vendor to trim the shortlist?

  • Whether you’re in transport and distribution management or IT procurement, this logistics software webinar will equip you with the strategies to make informed decisions. Watch now

Descartes (Nasdaq:DSGX) (TSX:DSG) is a global leader in providing on-demand, software-as-a-service solutions focused on improving the productivity, security and sustainability of logistics-intensive businesses. Customers use its modular, software-as-a-service solutions to route, track and help improve the safety, performance and compliance of delivery resources; plan, allocate and execute shipments; rate, audit and pay transportation invoices; access global trade data; file customs and security documents for imports and exports; and complete numerous other logistics processes by participating in the world’s largest, collaborative multimodal logistics community.

Viewpoint Analysis are Technology Matchmakers – helping business leaders find and select enterprise technology, and IT vendors to be found. There are thousands of software vendors in the enterprise arena. As a business with a technology need, how do you know what’s available and which solution is right for you? Viewpoint takes business leaders from problem to vendor selection with our Technology Reference Guides, Technology Innovation Series, Matchmaker Service, and Rapid RFI and RFPs.

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Webinar: Digital Transformation to Optimise Transport Operations

 

Partnership for global supply chain network solutions

Posted on by Will Priestman

Nulogy and Kinaxis have unveiled a strategic partnership aimed at developing innovative solutions for global supply chain networks within brand manufacturing. This collaboration is set to accelerate the performance of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and life science brands by enhancing digital transformation across their supply chains, leading to optimized costs, service, and revenue.

By integrating Kinaxis’ supply chain orchestration expertise with Nulogy’s external manufacturing collaboration platform, the partnership will empower customers to seamlessly share forecasts and order details with suppliers while accessing real-time inventory and capacity information. This fusion of technologies is designed to increase supply chain agility and responsiveness.

Nulogy’s platform, already trusted by global brands like L’Oréal, Colgate-Palmolive, and Church & Dwight, extends its capabilities to support a wide network of suppliers and manufacturing sites across the globe. “In today’s fast-changing market, digital synchronization between brands and suppliers is more crucial than ever,” said Jason Tham, CEO of Nulogy. “We are excited to collaborate with Kinaxis to enhance the efficiency of supply chain networks worldwide.”

Kinaxis Maestro, an AI-powered supply chain orchestration platform, plays a pivotal role in the partnership by providing enhanced visibility, control, and collaboration with key suppliers. “Our collaboration with Nulogy integrates critical supplier data into Maestro, allowing customers to improve simulations, digitize planning, and connect with their supplier networks more effectively,” said Bill Walker, Senior Director of Partner Solutions Extensions at Kinaxis.

This partnership is set to drive significant improvements in supply chain efficiency, empowering brands and their suppliers to operate more cohesively and effectively in a volatile global market.

A Recent Example of Similar Innovation: P&G and Microsoft Collaboration

In a related development, Procter & Gamble (P&G) recently partnered with Microsoft to enhance its supply chain operations using artificial intelligence and cloud computing. This partnership aims to revolutionize P&G’s manufacturing lines by enabling predictive maintenance, increasing production efficiency, and reducing waste. By integrating Microsoft’s AI and cloud solutions into their operations, P&G seeks to optimize their supply chain responsiveness and sustainability, echoing the broader trend of digital transformation in the manufacturing and supply chain industries.

Such collaborations highlight the increasing importance of technology-driven solutions to navigate the complexities of modern supply chains, a trend further demonstrated by the Nulogy-Kinaxis partnership.

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https://www.logisticsbusiness.com/uncategorised/webinar-mastering-logistics-software/

Ensuring Compliance & Safety With Fleet Maintenance Technology 

Posted on by David Priestman

Fleet maintenance technology is reshaping the logistics and supply chain industry, offering cutting-edge support for businesses striving to meet safety regulations and operate efficiently. As vehicle systems grow more complex and regulations tighten, fleet managers face increasing pressure to track maintenance, repairs, and inspections with precision. 

This is where advanced maintenance software comes into play. Offering a streamlined approach, this technological solution is making great strides in simplifying fleet management tasks, reducing human error and providing real-time insights into vehicle health. 

Key Features of Fleet Maintenance Software 

To truly understand the value of fleet maintenance tech, it’s important to explore the features that make these systems indispensable for fleet managers. 

Preventive maintenance scheduling

One of the biggest benefits of fleet maintenance software is the ability to automate preventive maintenance. This feature helps avoid costly breakdowns by scheduling repairs before issues escalate. Regular upkeep also extends vehicle lifespan, improving fleet reliability. 

Real-time diagnostics

As fleet software connects directly to a vehicle’s system, it delivers real-time updates on engine performance, fuel efficiency, and even potential issues. Such immediate insights allow managers to act swiftly and prevent larger, costlier problems. 

Compliance management

Staying compliant with industry regulations is critical, and fleet maintenance technology helps manage this effortlessly. Automatic tracking of inspections, certifications, and driver compliance reduces the risk of fines and keeps fleets operating within legal guidelines. 

Fleet inspection software

Conducting regular inspections is essential for safety, and fleet inspection software simplifies the process. With digital checklists and instant submission of reports, managers can review problems faster and maintain efficient operations. 

Inventory & parts management

Managing vehicle parts is easier with fleet software, which tracks inventory and sends notifications when new parts are needed. This helps prevent delays in repairs and keeps the fleet running without unnecessary downtime. 

Data integration & analytics

Fleet maintenance technology integrates with other systems, offering a holistic view of operations. With analytics, managers can monitor performance trends, optimize maintenance schedules, and make data-driven decisions to enhance fleet efficiency. 

Benefits of Fleet Maintenance Technology 

Beyond its powerful features, fleet maintenance software offers tangible benefits that transform operations from the ground up. 

  • Improved safety — Proactively maintaining vehicles directly impacts safety. Addressing maintenance needs early reduces the risk of accidents caused by mechanical failure. With fleet inspection tools, potential hazards are identified quickly, keeping everyone on the road safer. 
  • Cost savings — Reducing vehicle downtime is crucial for cutting costs. The right tech helps prevent unexpected breakdowns and identifies inefficiencies — such as fuel waste — that can be addressed. This ultimately lowers repair costs while prolonging vehicle lifespans.  
  • Streamlined compliance — Managing compliance manually can be overwhelming. Fleet maintenance software automates the process by tracking inspection schedules and maintaining record accuracy in case of audits. By staying ahead of regulatory requirements, businesses can avoid fines and disruptions. 
  • Enhanced performance — With access to real-time diagnostics and performance metrics, managers can make better decisions. Whether adjusting maintenance schedules or deciding when to retire underperforming vehicles, this data helps ensure optimal fleet performance. 
  • Minimized downtime — Fleet maintenance technology streamlines parts management and automating schedules so that repairs and service remain on track. This reduces the amount of time vehicles spend out of service and minimizes operational disruptions. 
  • Better resource allocation — Fleet software improves resource management by providing visibility into the health of vehicles. This allows those in charge to prioritize repairs and assign tasks to the right teams, therefore balancing workloads and making operations more efficient overall. 

Why Fleet Maintenance Technology Matters 

 Fleet maintenance technology isn’t just about keeping vehicles in shape — it’s a vital tool for improving safety, cutting costs, and staying compliant with industry standards. By embracing these technologies, logistics companies can boost efficiency, reduce risk, and maintain a reliable fleet that meets the demands of today’s fast-paced industry. 

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Interoperable Solutions for Supply Chain Resilience

Posted on by Keith McKinley

Blue Yonder, a leading supply chain solutions provider, today announced the release of its largest product update in the history of the company, launching the first set of interoperable solutions across the entire supply chain – from planning to warehouse, transportation, and commerce – delivered on the company’s Luminate® Cognitive Platform. Leaning into interoperability allows Blue Yonder to provide its customers with increased productivity, reduced waste, and more resilient supply chains.

“Today’s supply chains are operated by a fragmented ecosystem of legacy solutions, with many being stitched together over time with custom configurations and code,” said Duncan Angove, CEO, Blue Yonder. “While many supply chain solution providers claim to offer end-to-end capabilities, it is typically confined to planning or execution spaces where they’ve integrated their own product suites. Blue Yonder is changing that. With this release, we are redefining end-to-end supply chains, and establishing a new category of solutions with interoperable capabilities aligned with our vision to create the supply chain operating system for the world.”

End-to-End Interoperability

As manufacturers, logistics companies, suppliers, and retailers look to build greater resilience and mitigate market volatility in their supply chain, they are often hampered by: siloed business processes and communications breakdowns, lack of visibility, disconnected solutions, and burdensome workflows across planning, transportation, warehouse, e-commerce, and last mile fulfillment. This can lead to inventory waste, high costs, loss of sales, slow responsiveness, lack of resilience and more.

Solving these supply chain challenges requires companies to coordinate and streamline planning and execution management across the end-to-end ecosystem. This includes:
● Orchestrating sourcing, production, logistics and network strategies in a single operating system to shorten lead times, improve service levels, optimise operational efficiencies, maximise demand, and reduce cost.
● Aligning predicted customer demand, network capacity, warehouse capacity, labour capacity, and transportation scheduling prior to sourcing or allocating goods for seamless inventory flow and reduced overhead.
● Building logistics loads that factor in real-time, on-shelf inventory to balance customer demand and waste, generating maximum revenue and margin.

Blue Yonder’s interoperable solutions answer these challenges by:
● Connecting processes, systems, and data seamlessly across Blue Yonder’s Supply Chain Planning and Execution solutions, providing a smarter, more scalable, real-time digital twin to streamline and accelerate enterprise-wide decision-making.
● Offering the end-to-end visibility needed to understand how decisions or actions impact adjacent teams so businesses can work synchronously toward a unified goal.
● Deeply embedding artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) within the systems to drive decisioning, recommendations, and actions to support a future of autonomous supply chains.
● Ensuring all solutions connect through a single source of data, allowing true real-time collaboration across functions.

The result is more agile, coordinated decision-making that reduces costs, increases revenue, and improves customer loyalty.

Interoperability Enabled by Cutting-Edge Technology Innovations

Blue Yonder’s interoperable solutions are made possible as a result of three key strategic investments by the company:
1) Cloud Native Architecture on a Cognitive Platform: Blue Yonder’s Luminate ® Cognitive Platform is the industry’s premiere cloud-native supply chain platform, delivering enterprise-level speed, scale and security with upgrade-safe extensibility across workflows, data models, and functions. The platform offers infinite intelligence with unconstrained computing power, a single source of truth, and a reimagined user experience. Because Blue Yonder’s cloud-native applications all run on this centralised platform, this then allows companies to make faster, higher-quality decisions; eliminate data siloes; uplevel team performance by increasing productivity and accelerated adoption; and unlock capacity by leveraging the power of embedded AI.

2) Composable Microservices: A composable approach enables companies to augment and enhance existing technologies with Blue Yonder’s industry-leading IP and patented solutions — transforming business functions at the speed and scale that’s right for each company’s business. Blue Yonder’s composable microservices are small, deployable components that each offer a discrete set of capabilities, seamlessly integrated on connected workflows to solve specific functional needs, and interoperable with existing Blue Yonder solutions so businesses can innovate without the need to rip and replace existing investments. With Blue Yonder, businesses can start with the application stack they need today knowing they can easily add capabilities they want, when they’re ready. And instead of lengthy monolithic projects, Blue Yonder offers Composable Journeys, which are implementation paths tailored to the specific vision and budget of each customer and rolled out in phases that can provide expedited time to value.

3) Platform Data Cloud, Powered by Snowflake: Blue Yonder is among the first enterprise supply chain solutions companies building applications to natively run on the Snowflake Data Cloud. Blue Yonder’s Platform Data Cloud, Powered by Snowflake, makes it easy to deliver the right data, at the right location, at the right time by bringing together all the required data to run your supply chain in a centralised location. By combining Blue Yonder’s market-leading supply chain technology and IP with the Snowflake Data Cloud’s powerful capabilities, Blue Yonder is changing the game for its customers by reducing the cost, complexity and time required to transform data while enabling interoperability between applications and collaboration across clouds. Learn more here.

“For years, the supply chain industry has had a data problem – there’s too much of it, it’s scattered across disparate solutions, and sharing has become so risky that some organisations have simply come to avoid it. By partnering with Blue Yonder, Snowflake is helping joint customers address these challenges by centralising data into a single source of truth, reducing the latency in decision-making, and making sharing secure, fast and easy,” said Tim Long, Global Head of Manufacturing, Snowflake. “Together, we’re enabling data, system and business process interoperability by connecting Blue Yonder’s entire end-to-end supply chain portfolio to a Blue Yonder’s Platform Data Cloud, Powered by Snowflake. Now, Blue Yonder’s solutions can deliver scale and performance that allow customers to significantly accelerate time to value, unlock team productivity, and drive greater resilience.”

Next Generation Planning

The first set of microservice-based solutions that bring together all of these interoperable features is Blue Yonder’s cognitive planning solutions. This holistic offering natively runs on the Luminate Cognitive Platform to deliver all the cognitive capabilities needed to support supply chain leaders in achieving higher forecast accuracy, accelerating decision making, and building a more resilient supply chain with fewer resources. Cognitive planning solutions are cloud-native and combine the latest data management technology with Blue Yonder’s proven supply chain planning IP.

Blue Yonder’s cognitive planning solutions also leverage the power of Blue Yonder Orchestrator, the company’s generative AI capability that allows businesses to fuel more intelligent decision-making and faster supply chain orchestration. Learn more about this capability here.

“Cognitive planning takes business planning accuracy and speed to the next level by empowering companies to realise their performance objectives. It does this by allowing them to be aware of critical events and prescribing solutions to manage risks and opportunities in both demand and supply, improving planner productivity and supply chain resilience,” said Angove.

Notably, these advanced solutions empower users to apply hundreds of demand-driving variables and patented ML models to provide unique demand projections, while factoring in business impact and risk. This allows planners to map out various scenarios, set boundaries and objectives, then fire-and-forget. The advanced algorithms autonomously reduce the problem scope to a logical set of scenarios that are realistic and most applicable. Embedded predictive AI evaluates this feasible set of scenarios and recommends the top scenarios that optimise pre-set objectives. This AI/ML-powered scenario planning reduces the average time taken from hours or even days down to minutes and allows planners to focus on more strategic decision-making and actions rather than just collating data.

Synchronised Execution

Blue Yonder is revolutionising supply chain execution by enabling seamless, autonomous collaboration across the execution network to drive unprecedented efficiency, resiliency, agility, and better customer experiences. Synchronised Execution strengthens supply chain resiliency with end-to-end execution interoperability and helps businesses manage disruptions in an optimal and automated fashion by synchronising the data and business process workflows across the order, warehouse, transportation, and resource domains. Customers will achieve operational resiliency through real-time situational awareness, real-time decision making, and the ability to predict and prevent disruptions. As an example, business process interoperability allows a business to seamlessly reallocate orders in the case of an inbound supply shortage, or create iterative optimisation loads to handle warehouse disruptions, or determine the optimal way to fulfill an order, even if it is sourced from multiple nodes.

“Retailers, manufacturers, suppliers and logistics service providers will achieve superior performance with intelligent insight and informed decisions to ensure they are ahead of every disruption with complete visibility at every point of execution. With advanced customer insights about buying behaviour and preferences, businesses can make informed decisions about inventory allocation, optimised fulfillment, transportation planning and warehouse operations,” shared Angove.

Solutions launched in this space include:
● Analyst Workbench delivers a new, user-friendly experience to explore data, visualise metrics and generate insights. These new, innovative capabilities deliver end-to-end visibility across the network and the ability to mix, match, and analyse data from any digital touch point driving more informed decisions and actions.
● Unified Commerce Simulator empowers businesses to create, analyse, and refine fulfillment sourcing strategies driving more predictable fulfillment results with less risk to the business. This digital twin environment means businesses can manipulate optimisation levers for various scenarios and run simulations against production data to enable comparisons between actual output versus output using the changed levers.

Optimise Existing Capacity to Save Costs

Posted on by Keith McKinley

Growing businesses will sooner or later need more capacity in their supply chain to fulfil larger sales volumes. Adding capacity to an existing facility by introducing automation, reconfiguring current handling and storage equipment, or building an extension all offer a potential solution but can be expensive and disruptive to ongoing operations.

Another possibility is to relocate to a new and larger warehouse but leaving aside the costs and complexity involved the current lack of available new-build sites can make any such move impractical. Before making any decisions, growing businesses would do well to consider how to make the most of their existing facilities by utilising the power of warehouse management software (WMS) to maximise the efficiency of their current operations.

Using WMS to increase factors such as occupancy, throughput, and data and task accuracy can all help to increase the capacity of an existing warehouse. In doing so these businesses will avoid disruption and eliminate – or at least delay – the need for additional capital investment.

Any growing business involved with the supply of products will need to store and deliver more and more items. Building a bigger warehouse is one answer but can take time and generally requires a large investment. Industry data suggests there is over 51 million sq m of warehouse space available. Most of this is in-use and leading commercial agency Savills reported earlier this year that vacancy rates are below four per cent – a historic low. Another recent report suggested that the number of new build warehouses in the USA and Europe has decreased by a quarter over the past two years.

That means less available space is being chased by more potential occupiers, and no doubt the growth in e-commerce and home delivery is one of the causes. Another report from warehouse developer ProLogis estimates every extra £1bn spent online will require another 72,000 sq m of warehouse space. The rate of building barely keeps up with demand. Space is not cheap but there is hardly a motorway or major truck road intersection without a warehouse already there or awaiting planning approval.

Some businesses find that creating a new warehouse is the best option. For example, Ireland’s leading furniture importer and wholesaler reduced complexity and increased its stock volumes in 40% less overall space by investing in a new facility and implementing a state-of-the art WMS. While this approach suits some, many businesses have found they can use their existing storage facilities more efficiently. One way is to invest in new technologies and equipment that allows denser storage and/or faster throughput which can both increase overall capacity.

This might be as simple as replacing block stacking with pallet racking or wide aisle with narrow aisle configurations. Big changes often represent significant investment which, leaving aside the potential disruptions to ongoing business, may be beyond many businesses. For these a better approach is to use what they have more efficiently and this is the role of the WMS and related technologies.

Another change over the past decade is the type of warehouse operator. Ten years ago, most large facilities were operated by, or at least on behalf of, retailers. Today the largest proportion is operated by 3PLs, some as dedicated facilities but many others holding stock for multiple clients. Everyone is cost-conscious but 3PLs sell their services and base their costs on factors which include the number and size of pallet locations, overall storage capacity, picking capabilities and so on. For these businesses in particular, maximising efficiency and profitability with support from a WMS is vital.

There are only two realistic ways to increase capacity without a total reconfiguration. The first is to ensure maximum utilisation of every available space. The second is to increase throughput to get stock in and out more quickly. Efficiency gains like these are often possible because existing operators might not have noticed that their warehouse has changed in front of them while they have been busy focusing on their day-to-day operations.

Consider a hypothetical, but not implausible, business that setup or renovated its warehouse operation 10 years ago. At the time the operation required space for 2,500 pallets of various heights to meet customer needs, perhaps 1,000 at 1.6m high, 1,000 at 1.8m and the rest at 2.1m. That was the right configuration at the start and allowed a degree of flexibility to support the business requirement. The WMS was configured accordingly and operations have run smoothly since, or so it seems.

But over time it is not unusual for customers and their requirements to evolve. In fact, a small change here and there often means a business does not know immediately how many pallet locations, and of what type, they have. This might be because of changing the actual racking but adding equipment such as coolers or pallet wrappers might inadvertently block or restrict access to otherwise usable locations. Unless these businesses remember to keep their WMS up-to-date, and experience says that many do not, they will not be able to say how many spaces they have.

Nor for similar reasons can many businesses immediately identify the number of available free locations or their overall occupancy rates. Some free locations help with stock handling flexibility but too many can be a waste of resources and, ultimately, very costly for a business that is selling space.

Another possibility is that the profile of the stock is different, for example more larger pallets or fewer small ones, and so on. While it is of course possible to store a smaller pallet in any size location the reverse is certainly not true and that immediately leads to potential allocation issues that will restrict the performance of the overall operation. But even if it makes sense to store those smaller pallets in larger locations this is not an ideal use of the available volume in the warehouse – there could be up to 500mm of free but unusable space above a small pallet stored in the largest location. Again, unless the WMS is updated, it will be impossible to utilise all spaces with maximum efficiency.

Even in the best run warehouses there will be occasions when some pallet locations are out of commission. This might be as a result of accidental damage or to allow maintenance on the building infrastructure. This reduction in capacity will cost in terms of lost revenues but how many businesses will have a real-time view of their income generating capabilities or be able to see how much they are losing as a result of these outages. Certainly, with a properly configured WMS they would be able to tell. Another potential scenario, perhaps in extra-busy warehouses or where the stock profile has changed, is that demand for some locations exceeds capacity. This can restrict efficiency, for example preventing efficient putaway or requiring the excess stock to be stored elsewhere temporarily and potentially being unavailable for picking.

Experience suggests that almost any warehouse team experiencing problems like this will be unable to identify all of the problems, and their causes, immediately. But there is some good news and it does not necessarily require significant investment. Any decent WMS will help maximise stock management efficiencies but the best will incorporate business intelligence and analytics functionality. One example is ProWMS Advanced Warehouse Management’s business intelligence module that allows operators or managers to instantly identify where change is necessary and will have the maximum impact. This is done via easy-to-read, live, visual dashboards displaying, for example, products in each location with a detailed breakdown of relevant stock information.

Experienced application vendors will challenge warehouse teams about these and similar issues when they start to discuss the business and operational requirements for new implementations. They will have various tools to help them ensure the configuration is correct and always up-to-date to reflect structural changes, evolving stock profiles, and new business demands to help maximise operational efficiency and profits.

For over 30 years, Principal Logistics Technologies has been a leader in the design and delivery of innovative warehouse management software (WMS) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. Its technology and services, which include the design of new revenue-generating services for 3PLs, optimise operational performance, reduce OpEx and increase revenue for 3PL, distribution, wholesale, manufacturing, and retail warehouse businesses.

The company supports enterprise-level and multinational businesses with complex single and multisite operations spanning 3PL, chemicals & hazardous goods, hard & soft commodities, chill picking, cold storage, cross-docking, eCommerce & eFulfilment , FMCG, pharmaceuticals & healthcare and more. It operates from offices in Dublin in Ireland and Manchester and Birmingham in the UK.

 

How to Win During Peak Shipping Season

Posted on by David Priestman

Freight procurement processes have always been noted for their high levels of complexity which increases exponentially during peak shipping season. These busy months demand operational efficiency, agile collaboration, proactive rate management, and a sharp focus on sustainability throughout the transportation management process.

This article by SHIPSTA addresses six of the most common challenges that can surface in peak shipping season, while providing solutions on how to best address them.

1. Pressure to Save Costs

Transportation accounts for a significant amount of total operational costs, consequently becoming a huge target for potential cost savings. However, constantly changing freight market rates can make it difficult for procurement teams to secure the best deals and maintain predictable costs.

To prevent this, it is recommended to move away from standalone data sources and look at leveraging centralised rate management solutions which bring together all your data and provide one sole source of truth. This allows you to turn your data into insights and action and surface the best opportunities by giving you visibility across different pricing options vs the best combination of lanes, modes of transport or other business requirements.

Leveraging the power of an eAuction feature can help you with dynamic negotiations, bringing your qualified carriers or other LSPs into a bidding process, securing your access to the best price and increasing your efficiency.

2. Capacity Shortages & Time Constraints

As demand surges during peak season, the limited capacity of LSPs or unforeseen disruptions can lead to difficulties in providing the needed transportation services in time, causing delays, increased costs or even higher risks or loss. Capacity constraints can turn into missed delivery deadlines and force the company to seek last-minute transportation solutions at higher rates, significantly impacting transportation budgets and overall supply chain costs.

Having fast access to a larger database of LSPs, the ability to pivot to real-time (spot) requests in case of emergencies, as well as instantly connecting with carriers through a centralised and automated platform, while having better visibility on their availability, can be your greatest allies in such situations where time becomes of the essence.

3. Increased Workload and Limited Resources

Even outside peak seasons, transportation procurement is a very heavy process that requires teams to spend countless hours between spreadsheets, emails, and phone calls to ensure smooth sailing. With an even higher growth in demand and workload during peak season, the need for automation and speed has been highlighted more than ever by logistics and procurement teams.

Technology in the logistics sector has evolved to provide tailored solutions for these needs. Such an example is leveraging a specialised freight procurement platform that helps with data-heavy & time-consuming operations, increasing work efficiency and accuracy, while streamlining all communications with your LSPs.

Using such platforms can save up to 70% of the time you would have spent on repetitive and manual tasks. Running tenders, launching RFQs, analysing the outcomes and going through a truly data-driven decision process, can now become a matter of minutes instead of weeks.

4. Complex Freight Landscape

Working with a wide range of carriers, brokers, and other LSPs can complicate the freight procurement process, making it difficult to evaluate and select the most optimal ones as per your business requirements.

However, combinatorics allows you to set your own business rules, flexibly integrate all the relevant criteria based on organisational priorities, like speed, cost, sustainability KPIs, etc. and automatically calculate optimised award scenarios. This will enable you to compare and evaluate at scale multiple suppliers, build detailed reports, and surface the best alternative, especially from a cost perspective, with much less effort.

5. Governance of Sustainability KPIs

With such a large volume of CO2 emissions coming from transportation, governmental and business requirements around sustainability have increased significantly across the years. Even more when we talk about such high shipping volumes like the ones during peak season, meeting these complex regulations and KPIs can be difficult, time-consuming, and costly, in the absence of a proper setup.

The foundation for success is to integrate sustainability criteria from the beginning into your freight procurement strategy and monitor it using dedicated green procurement dashboards.  It is important to ensure that your carriers, LSPs or other type of partners are aligned with your expectations in terms of such business requirements, so you can select the best option accordingly.

6. Compliance and Risk Management

Even in a regular, day-to-day context, handling compliance and risk management in freight procurement becomes an exceedingly difficult and sensitive task. With all complexity increasing exponentially in peak shipping seasons, meeting transportation & other government regulations, as well as business compliance standards, can become difficult and leave room for exposures.

Integrating your end-to-end freight procurement processes, managing LSPs, contracts, award of business and relevant documents within a dedicated platform helps you ensure that compliance is well up to company standards and will prepare a solid base for auditing when the time comes.

In uncertain times, allocating money to technology cannot always seem like an easy decision, but it quickly becomes one when ROI and further cost savings top by more than 10x the price.

Take a closer look at SHIPSTA to see how its platform and services can help you both during and outside the peak shipping seasons. To uncover more ways to win this peak shipping season, read the complete e-book here.

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