Subscribe

Tag: supply chain

Supply chain reform “can save economy from depression”

Posted on by Keith McKinley

The boss of a supply chain specialist has warned of further economic turmoil but says supply chain reform can turn the economy around.

“The supply chain crisis isn’t going away any time soon,” says Oliver Chapman, CEO and founder of supply chain specialist and the UK’s No.1 fastest-growing company, OCI, “but it isn’t all doom and gloom.”

Chapman says: “Supply chain issues are already causing major problems across the global economy, and they will get worse before they get better. The causes are multiple, including the Ukrainian crisis, lockdowns in China, climate change affecting food output in India, and the after-effects of the global lockdowns during the height of the pandemic.

“But many of the negative consequences could have been mitigated if companies had previously reformed their supply chains. The need for these reforms is now more important than ever, and there are steps organisations can take to alleviate supply chain bottlenecks, boosting their profits while simultaneously easing the global cost of living crisis.

“The first step is supply chain auditing. The supply chain is complex, with multiple inter-weaving parts. Few companies have a comprehensive understanding of all the parts, and this is something they need to change.

“Once they have this greater understanding, there are further steps they can take, including:

“Country and region hedging – reducing reliance on supply from particular regions. Companies can also examine the supply chain, ascertaining distances between suppliers and whether there is an advantage in instigating local supply even though unit costs before transport might be higher. For example, a US corporation might buy more cargoes from Latin America instead of relying on Asian supplies. The media costs for products may be a little higher than from Asia, but transit time is a lower and control of the supply chain is very much in hand. Likewise a corporation from Western Europe might find there are similar advantages in sourcing supply from an Eastern European country.

“Recycling –  ensure the companies and other organisations that make up their supply chain are geared towards recycling commodities and components in their production process that could become in short supply. For example, in the motor industry, electric vehicle companies are looking at ways to recycle lithium and other components in batteries.

“Look for alternative products  –  for example, if there is a region in the world that is dominant in the supply of a certain commodity, such as sunflower oil, look for alternatives.

“Ensure suppliers use sustainable practices – the supply chain audit needs to highlight suppliers that are too reliant on components for which future supply is either unreliable or subject to price volatility. But suppliers who themselves have more reliable and sustainable sources of supply are likely to be more dependable. An example of this might be to favour suppliers who use energy primarily generated from local renewables or recycle the plastics they use in manufacturing or packaging.

“One very practical step that companies need to consider is the size of ships used to transport goods. Until recently, the trend was towards ever-larger ships because scale saves money. But this trend had the unforeseen consequence of favouriting the concentration of supply of certain commodities in specific regions. The trend toward bigger ships may have saved money in the short term but created fragility in the supply chain. The consequences are much higher costs today.

“Reform of the supply chain can’t save the economy from its current slump overnight. As a result, a recession in many countries and perhaps even a global recession is possible. But supply chain reform can stop the current economic crisis from deteriorating into something even more serious. Without such reforms, an economic depression is a real danger.”

 

“There is no alternative to globalisation”

Posted on by Keith McKinley

There is no alternative to globalisation for the economy – despite crises and the resulting disruptions to supply chains. This was the tenor of a business conference held at the Jahrhunderthaus in Bochum on May 18. The SCM software provider Setlog, and the Ruhr regional group of the Bundesvereinigung Logistik (BVL) e. V. invited representatives from business, science, and politics in cooperation with the Kompetenznetz Logistik.NRW and the Verband Verkehrswirtschaft und Logistik NRW (VVWL).

The experts agreed that companies must learn their lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic and the Ukraine crisis. “Companies should take a close look at their sourcing markets and, if necessary, adjust supplier networks and transport routes,” said Ralf Duester (pictured), a member of Setlog’s board of directors. In his opinion, India, as well as other Asian countries, but also Central and South America, could come into focus more than before for supply chain managers and buyers.

“Whatever the decision, the important thing is that companies need to build resilient supply chains,” says SCM expert Duester. To do this, companies must bring transparency to their supply chains, rely on digital solutions, and take advantage of opportunities to work more closely with their suppliers and logistics partners than before, he said.

Prof. Dr. Andreas Pinkwart (FDP), Minister for Economic Affairs, Innovation, Digitalisation and Energy of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, emphasised: “Open global trade and unobstructed access to international markets offer numerous opportunities that we must recognise and seize. Only when doing this can we take full advantage of digitisation.”

In addition, the minister said, “For North Rhine-Westphalia in particular, with its outstanding international competitive position, the interplay of foreign trade, digitisation and innovation strategies is of particular importance. This involves adapting to new developments, opening new markets and exploiting the potential for the performance and future viability of the economy even better through international innovation partnerships. A modern energy policy also plays a special role.”

Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Michael ten Hompel explained why separating Germany from other countries would also be the wrong move from a scientific point of view. According to the Managing Director of the Fraunhofer IML in Dortmund, this decision would, among other things, lead to sustainability goals not being achieved. According to the researcher, companies must move away from looking for simple solutions to “increasingly complex challenges.” Without the use of digital tools, he says, successful business is no longer possible. In addition to many IT solutions from abroad, also powerful software “Made in Germany” is available. The economy also needs to get used to the fact that many tools are used simultaneously within a company – from AI-based platforms to blockchain and cognitive computing.

The scientist also emphasised the need for more collaboration in the economy. His example: the joint use of open source offerings in logistics. In this regard, he highlighted the initial successes of the Open Logistics Foundation. “The first components are ready,” ten Hompel reported. As examples, he cited solutions for the VDA 5050 communication interface and the “intelligent garbage can” that reports back when it is full. The latter is a project of logistics service provider Rhenus, which is now making components available to other companies.

According to IT expert Ann-Christine Lehmann of Lufthansa Industry Solutions, the use of modern IT tools is also essential if companies plan to address the requirements of the German Due Diligence Law, which will apply to companies with more than 3,000 employees from 2023 on. She emphasised that SMEs should also deal with the topic promptly, because trade and industry groups are currently drawing up new contracts and the EU is at the same time working on a law that will already apply to companies with 250 or more employees in resource-intensive industries, such as textiles. She pointed out that pioneers in implementing the regulations can successfully differentiate themselves from the competition. This is also the opinion of Niklas Koellner, Managing Director at household goods supplier Wenko. The family-owned company was already working on the topic with its 200 suppliers and developed its own code for its major customers so that it would not have to “reinvent the wheel” for every request.

Whether pandemic, flood, or military conflict: Christine Mezger-Behan, Vice President Logistics System at intralogistics provider KION Group, assumes that economic and political uncertainties will continue to accompany us in the future. That is why the Group is developing solutions to deal with different situations. In addition to creating transparency in the supply chain, the strategies include driving innovations for global supply chains, using special indicators and active planning in various scenarios. Turning the global economic world upside down because of the current crises is not an option for Mezger-Behan: “Globalisation is set.”

The global flow of goods is also without alternative for fashion supplier Gerry Weber International. To prepare for the future, the company has taken several measures, according to Gökay Bostanci, authorised signatory of the Halle/Westphalia-based company. One is to use Setlog’s software OSCA to achieve transparency in the supply chain, to dispatch shipments for third countries directly from suppliers (direct shipments) and to transfer manual processes from the warehouses to the stores. On the other hand, high-margin fashion products are usually delivered to the warehouse first to prevent a backlog of goods. To shorten delivery times, more items than before are now also delivered to the stores flat packed rather than as hanging garments. Gerry Weber International equipped the stores with special equipment for this purpose, so that the products can be processed and finished there accordingly.

Asda transforms omni-channel with Blue Yonder

Posted on by Keith McKinley

Having selected Blue Yonder last year to digitally transform its end-to-end supply chain and retail operations, Asda, one of Britain’s leading retailers with a unique position in the market, is continuing its retail transformation journey with Blue Yonder by selecting Luminate Commerce solutions to modernise its order management capabilities. Asda will also partner with Bringg, a Blue Yonder technology alliance partner and the leading delivery and fulfilment cloud platform, to make each element of the supply chain seamless, connected and orchestrated.

Asda consists of supercentres, superstores, and smaller supermarkets. The retailer also runs petrol filling stations and Asda Living stores, which offer its popular George clothing and home merchandise lines. The company employs more than 140,000 colleagues serving more than 16 million customers who shop in its stores and online weekly.

With Blue Yonder’s order management (OMS) microservices, Asda will be able to:

  • Process orders faster to improve the customer experience.
  • Provide customers with real-time inventory visibility from the beginning of the shopping experience, as well as pre-sourcing fulfilment options.
  • Connect with the entire supply chain, considering the capacity to fulfil demand across any channel, at any time.
  • Provide dynamic slotting options to the end customer for both home deliveries and pickup in-store.

“Omni-channel is at the heart of our strategy and customer proposition, where we want to provide a great customer experience and a seamless user journey. We have been extremely impressed by Blue Yonder’s OMS microservices, which we will deploy across our grocery, clothing and general merchandise segments,” said Carl Dawson, chief information officer, Asda.

Blue Yonder’s flexible OMS microservices, powered by machine learning and artificial intelligence, will help Asda optimise the entire click-to-deliver journey, starting with an engaging customer experience through efficient order fulfilment. With Bringg, Asda will be able to optimize its last-mile operations to deliver on-time to meet customer expectations. The combination will support Asda’s home delivery service, click and collect proposition, as well as new channels such as express commerce platforms.

“Asda is leading a game-changing retail transformation focused on customer centricity, from first to last mile,” said Gael Ramaen, vice president, commerce, Blue Yonder. “We are very excited to extend our relationship with Asda into an area where we are connecting e-commerce with a true omni-channel landscape. Our modern OMS microservices are engineered to scale, perform and operate under the highest volumes seen on the market. Our OMS microservices, SaaS native, API-first components leverage the latest technology and engineering to speed up our clients’ transformations. We believe that this will help Asda to continue to modernize its business and invest in customer proposition.”

“The challenges and complexities of faster, more convenient and on-demand order orchestration, delivery and fulfilment are grand,” said Nikolai Avrutov, vice president Alliances, Bringg. “In order to achieve game-changing capabilities on these fronts, retailers need their technology vendors to work closely together and to relentlessly raise the bar for its mutual customers through tight collaboration and strategic co-innovation. We are proud to be doing just that with Blue Yonder for Asda.”

Has globalisation had its day?

Posted on by Keith McKinley

David Bruce, senior business development manager at Elanders UK, explores supply chain agility and delivering the customer promise and outlines how the changing landscape is forcing many companies to see their supply chain in a new light.

Supply chains that rely on international sourcing of raw materials are always going to be susceptible to global politics, economics, climate change and cultural shifts. Globalisation was initially, primarily driven by the need for cost saving, with organisations looking for lower labour and operating costs in different regions.  Whole mega infrastructure investments have been made in these lower-cost countries over the years to support the global export of products and our worlds as consumers have become very interconnected and reliant on this solution. However, recent global events have placed significant pressure on these extended supply chains and we are beginning to see a change in focus and attention on the globalisation strategy.

Traditionally, many supply chains were cost focused, the flow of goods was overall predictable and many managerial strategies were about becoming leaner. Then, along came several significant events – the COVID 19 pandemic, blockage of the Suez Canal, Brexit and, most recently, the war in Ukraine, all of which have had a huge impact on both our lives and, in this context, the role and significance of a global supply chain strategy.

As a result, organisations have had to change and adapt and this includes, for some, the role and solution of their supply chains. There has been a shift in some sectors and verticals, towards an emphasis on value, pivoting the strategy and operational solutions towards a more regionalised supply chain solution. There also has been a significant shift and acceleration towards the customer experience – what does the consumer now value and how does the operational solution now need to change to reflect this?

Blockages, delays, shortages of labour, have made the need for far greater supply chain resilience – effective supply chain communication and data sharing to aid better planning and operational sustainability. Creating the ‘supply chain line of sight’ perspective between all parties, is now a fundamental necessity to maintain service, financial management and longer-term business value.

However, this is not just about business agility, it is also about supply chain solution agility. The solutions, business relationships, number of partners that organisations used pre-COVID to deliver their customer promise, is changing and quickly. The increase in importance today of partnerships, collaboration and longer-term relationships that all underpin the use of niche players and partners, is gaining significant momentum. Has the era of single partners, standard solutions and structured contractual relationships now changed into multiple partners all collaborating in a shared environment and eco-system physical operational solution?

Technology and investment will be a pre-requisite of a supply chain strategy and solution in the future. There are multiple examples in the public domain of the digitalisation of the supply chain to aid the customer promise, whilst also helping to deliver greater supply chain resilience and risk management from any new global effect. However, what I see far less of is the training and investment in people to understand these new technologies and how to see them as complementary to a role (as opposed to a replacement of a role). We are all having to adapt and learn new skills and processes, something the good supply chain businesses have already adopted and changed in their business strategies.

The global economy is changing and supply chain managers are constantly having to adopt new solutions to deliver a customer promise and service level. Have we now seen the peak in globalisation? Have the recent global events made organisations think differently or even forced them to act differently? For some products or sub-sectors, probably the answer is, yes.

For example, there is a need to run sustainable supply chains, focusing more now on carbon cost as well as financial cost and the risk associated with labour shortages (which solving is not a quick fix solution), as well as developing a legacy and a workforce of the future.

Many organisations are assessing what now constitutes a low-cost country for sourcing, plus the constant pressure on warehouse space and logistics infrastructure.

With all these factors, are we now in a period of greater regionalisation and reduced length supply chains for some products – again, I believe the answer is, yes!

Supply chain organisations historically have changed and adapted over the years as new technologies and products come to the market. However, I believe we are now in a period where that need to adapt and constantly update your offer and engagement with the customer is significantly accelerated. The speed and velocity of the change, today, means supply chains and their managers must act to learn and evolve in live situations far more, rather than assess, evaluate and trial a new solution as typically happened in the past. New skills, new technologies, new partnerships, new data and new roles, this is a live, change management process in operation.

So, with all this change and uncertainty that exists today, where does that leave the globalisation strategy and supply chain solutions for tomorrow?  What I think we will see is a shift to a decision to reduce the length of supply chains to provide greater certainty and predictability for a customer promise – one size does not now fit all situations:

  • More regionalisation in sourcing, less globalisation in movement.
  • More partnerships and collaboration with less standardisation of solutions and reliance on a few partners.
  • More focus on people investment and redevelopment of skills to mitigate the labour shortfall.

The customer service outcome will be the priority of the supply chain operation – cost will still be there but will not be as important. Consumers are far more value-focused in what they want and how they buy – and aligning the supply chain solution and strategy to this – together with the external challenges that the world has been through in recent years will be the route to the longer-term supply chain sustainable success.

Globalisation is very much in the spotlight and in transition. Businesses need to continuously monitor where value is moving in their industry and adapt, or accelerate the adaptation, accordingly.

Wiliot launches battery-assisted version of IoT tag

Posted on by Keith McKinley

Wiliot, the Internet of Things pioneer whose IoT platform is enabling trillions of everyday “things” to gain intelligence and harness the power of the cloud, has announced a milestone expansion of its product portfolio with the introduction of a Battery-Assisted IoT Pixel, developed in partnership with leading smart tag manufacturer Identiv.

The new Battery-Assisted IoT Pixel joins the company’s flagship Battery-Free IoT Pixel to address specific IoT applications that are best served by battery power.  It is a major step forward for the company as it scales its vision for a future of the IoT, where all products are connected to the internet and embedded with cloud intelligence.

This introduction marks a rapid innovation cycle for Wiliot, following the company’s March 2022 launch of its Version 2 Battery-Free IoT Pixel – a stamp-sized computer that costs pennies and powers itself by harvesting and recycling energy from radio waves.  This solution, recently recognized by the SXSW 2022 Innovation Awards, is currently being adopted by many of the world’s leading retail, food, beverage, and pharmaceutical brands.

The Wiliot Battery-Assisted IoT Pixel uses the same exceptionally-efficient chip as the Battery-Free IoT Pixel, but it augments it with a tiny printed battery. The tags are smaller than a business card and broadcast the same standard Bluetooth beacon as the company’s Battery-Free IoT Pixel.

“Wiliot was founded on the mission to transform industries by embedding everything with cloud intelligence using our IoT pixel tagging technology,” stated Roee Zeiler, Wiliot’s CFO. “We began by tackling this challenge with battery-free technology, which significantly reduced barriers to IoT adoption and will scale the IoT from billions to trillions.”

This new battery-assisted tag reduces the cost of bringing Bluetooth standards-based continuous connectivity and intelligence to things by 10X, whereas the battery-free product cuts the cost of Bluetooth standard integration by 100X.

Continued Zeiler, “We’ve always understood that certain applications are best addressed with battery-assisted technology – which is why this launch is a milestone for Wiliot, Identiv, and the industry. Now, with a portfolio that includes battery-free and battery-assisted pixels, we’re one step closer to achieving our goal of creating an Internet of Trillions of Things (IoT2).”

Unlike the battery-free version, the Battery-Assisted IoT Pixel doesn’t require bridges or any other source of radio waves to harvest energy from. All they require is a device with a Bluetooth radio to read their transmission – any phone, Bluetooth gateway, or Wi-Fi access point. As such, since any BLE reader can be configured to read a Battery-Assisted IoT Pixel, and no additional infrastructure is required, the entry price and complexity of tagging things is close to zero.

The product promises to bridge between the worlds of battery-free and battery powered tags, allowing solution providers to start using the Wiliot Cloud to deploy solutions more easily to new places that may not have been accessible before.

While Battery-Free IoT Pixels address the tracking of low-priced products – clothing, food, medicine, and more – this launch enables tracking of medium value to higher value assets such as temporary promotional signage, certain returnable transport items, IT assets, and retail assets – which benefit from the boosted connectivity yet can also better absorb the battery-assisted pixel’s higher price-point.

Compared with conventional Bluetooth tags, Wiliot’s Battery-Assisted IoT Pixel is thinner (1.3mm at its thickest), lower cost, and more physically flexible – so they can easily attach to products on a production line at speed and in volume using a label applicator. Compared with conventional Bluetooth beacons, Wiliot’s new battery-assisted beacon features extremely low power consumption that enables longer lifetime in a smaller form factor.

The first Battery-Assisted IoT Pixel will be mass-produced by leading smart tag manufacturer Identiv, which is known for focusing on more sophisticated and specialist tag designs. Limited availability of the Battery-Assisted IoT Pixels will begin next month, while larger quantities will be ready for roll-out by the end of year.

“Identiv always strives to innovate, and our contribution to this new era of Bluetooth-based IoT is an outcome of the scalable manufacturing standards, unique processes, and expertise we have mastered in the NFC and RFID ecosystem. Bluetooth is pervasive, and this new product offers the advantages of providing infrastructure-free temperature sensing, tracking, and traceability. We are proud to collaborate with Wiliot and scale solutions into many Internet of Things deployments,” said Amir Khoshniyati, VP and GM Transponders, Identiv.

The Wiliot Battery-Assisted IoT Pixel tag will be available directly from Identiv and will use the same Wiliot cloud services to manage scale, privacy and sensing, that brings intelligence to products and packaging that were previously offline.

 

 

 

FourKites appoints supply chain veteran to ocean role

Posted on by David Priestman

Philippe Salles has been appointed FourKites’ Vice President of Strategic Solutions (Ocean), bringing a wealth of experience to this booming area of the company’s business.

“I’m delighted to be joining FourKites,” says Philippe, who brings experience from CMA CGM, INTTRA and maritime research and consultancy firm Drewry. “Visibility has been ocean shippers’ top priority for decades, and today’s real-time visibility platforms have completely changed the game. In addition to its market-leading machine learning-driven platform, FourKites understands that industry mindset and professionalism are as important as the technology itself. We need to provide shippers with a long-term strategic vision for their supply chain to make them resilient and collaborative.”

Philippe is an industry veteran with a detailed understanding of current supply chain issues. In his new role at FourKites, he will work closely work with FourKites shippers and carriers to support them as they execute the change management needed to improve end-to-end supply chain visibility. Moreover, he will accelerate time to value for FourKites users by removing operational pain points and maximising the effectiveness of the systems they use.

“Philippe has a rare depth of experience, especially when it comes to evolving some of the traditional areas of ocean shipping with new technology,” says Mathew Elenjickal, FourKites Founder and CEO. “His network, the trust he’s built up in the industry and his expertise in supply chain management will be invaluable to our customers as we continue to drive innovation in ocean visibility.”

Unprecedented ocean momentum

Salles’ appointment is the latest leap forward in FourKites’ momentum in supply chain visibility for seagoing container traffic. FourKites now tracks 98% of global ocean container traffic across more than 270 lanes and 120 carriers, and covers every container port in North America and all major ports in Europe.

Over the last 12 months, the company has seen:

  • 79% growth in the number of customers using supply chain visibility for international shipments, with a 23% jump in Q1 2022 alone
  • 215% growth in the volume of seagoing freight that it tracks, with a 190% increase in ocean shipments in EMEA
  • 16% growth in the number of ports tracked in EMEA, now totalling coverage of 239 ports in the region and 804 ports globally

In the last quarter, FourKites signed a number of new ocean customers, including Cardinal Health, Arizona Tile, LyondellBasell, McCain Foods, Roehm, Rove Concepts and Yamaha Motors, among many others.

LyondellBasell, to take one example, is a top-10 global chemicals producer with operations around the world. The company has been a FourKites customer since 2018, when it began tracking shipments across all modes of transport in North America. Based on its success to date with the FourKites platform, the company extended its contract with FourKites in Q1 2022 to track multimodal shipments in Europe.

“Global shippers love FourKites’ Dynamic Ocean platform because it addresses the full spectrum of shipping issues,” says Philippe. “And the company’s proprietary Dynamic ETA technology provides estimated times of arrival that are 20% to 40% more accurate than carrier-generated figures. That’s important because timing errors can add significantly to costs.”

FourKites’ Dynamic Ocean addresses the full spectrum of ocean shipping issues through advanced document management and collaboration features; state-of-the-art real-time tracking capabilities, including highly accurate predictive ETAs; and comprehensive multimodal visibility from port to door, including the yard, so shippers can identify and manage the root causes of escalating fees.

GateHouse forms data tracking partnership with Sony

Posted on by Keith McKinley

GateHouse Maritime, a leading provider of ocean supply chain visibility and predictability services, has agreed with Sony Network Communications Europe for its cargo tracking solution, Visilion, to utilise its new data platform, OceanIO to extend the range of tracking for oceangoing cargo. OceanIO by GateHouse Maritime is designed to be easily integrated with existing applications and is scalable with more services to come.

Martin Dommerby Kristiansen, CEO at GateHouse Maritime, said: “We’re delighted to have made this agreement with Sony Network Communications Europe to support their world-class tracking solution, Visilion, with data on oceangoing cargo. Utilising OceanIO, Sony improves visibility of goods in transit from port to port. IoT technology and data analytics are key to the digital transformation of logistics.”

Based on re-usable smart trackers with sensors and a cloud service, Sony’s cargo tracking solution, Visilion, continuously gathers and uploads data which can be viewed on an intuitive web interface. It provides notifications about arrival and departure, positioning, temperature, shock, tilt and humidity detection, providing assurance to goods owners and freight forwarders of the whereabouts of goods in real time, whether they have been handled correctly or suffered route deviations, and if they will be delivered on time. OceanIO is easily connected to existing applications and Transport Management Systems through APIs.

Erik Lund, Head of the Tracking Division, Visilion at Sony Network Communications Europe, said: “GateHouse Maritime’s OceanIO platform combines extensive and comprehensive data sources to provide a robust and scalable foundation to extend the range and functionality of ocean visibility for the Visilion tracking solution. Working with GateHouse Maritime, we will continue the journey to provide customers with unparalleled visibility of their goods for all modes of transport.”

Sustainability benefits

Sony’s cargo tracking solution, Visilion, brings connectivity to the supply chain and paves the way for more environmentally sensitive decision making about choices of transport. With the incorporation of data services from the OceanIO platform, the capabilities of the Visilion solution have been extended. Using the OceanIO platform, Visilion can help its customers to improve efficiency in the supply chain with more detailed real-time visibility on sea.

Recently introduced by GateHouse Maritime, OceanIO daily receives up to 150 million new data points from diverse sources which includes nearly 300,000 oceangoing vessels as they report information regarding their geographical position, heading, speed and depth; together with inputs from 160 satellites and 2,500 terrestrial stations, 110 container freight carriers, 4,000 container ports and terminals, and meteorological activity reports.

Uniquely, OceanIO integrates GateHouse historical and trend data to allow for a more powerful and predictive end service. Using machine learning, predictive services can be developed for greater granularity and accuracy, allowing service providers to better report the progress of freight and meet customer’s expectations in an age when the supply chain has become greatly degraded and disrupted.

 

 

Next-generation track-and-trace

Posted on by David Priestman

When every shipment matters, it adds real value to have critical real-time location and environment information at immediate hand. Logistics Business Magazine’s editor Paul Hamblin meets a track-and-trace solution with a vital extra dimension.

Track and Trace technology is now firmly moving to the next level with the increasing adoption of applications that offer much more than basic location guidance. US-founded Tive is a good example, promising real-time shipment updates including such in-depth information as location, temperature, light and shock readings. That makes it a very useful resource for fresh food and beverage, pharma and critical-shipment logistics providers, where correct regulated temperature and physical stability are vital to a successful passage. The Tive logic is that with this data immediately available to carrier and shipper alike, a cargo under threat can be saved, to the benefit of all parties.

Tive’s model seems to be finding plenty of traction, with over 100 global customers including logistics giants such as DSV, and Hellmann Worldwide Logistics. It raised $12m in series A capital funding at the back end of 2020 with a second round recently raising a further $54m.

Even London’s world-renowned National Gallery uses Tive to give reassurance when dispatching and receiving priceless artworks.

Jim Waters, Vice President, Global Marketing, tells me an entertaining tale from his office in Boston, Massachusetts about the company’s genesis. In 2015, founder Krenar Komoni – a native of Kosovo but an American citizen also now based in Boston – was intrigued by the inordinate length of time his father-in-law spent all day, including over dinner with the family, on the phone calling colleagues to check the status or locations of his business shipments. Komoni began to muse on the enormous value that could be delivered to organisations and individuals if such crucial information could be sourced at the touch of a button. And that’s precisely what he has now delivered.

A Tive journey begins at the touch of a small green button, attached to playing-card sized (96mm x 58mm, depth 19mm) plastic backing. Attach the tracker, usually via 3M adhesive (though one global multimodal freight client uses magnets) to the last pallet to go in the container. Press the button and data is transmitted in real time to Tive’s global-based data management team.

Jim Waters: “There’s method in applying the technology to the rear pallet. The temperature-control unit – or reefer – is at the front, meaning that the reading being sent back covers the whole truck, not just the front, therefore providing more reliable readings.”

From that point, temperature, light, shock and humidity are all recorded at every stage of the multimodal journey (road, sea, air and rail). Temperature accuracy is guaranteed to within ±0.5°C within a range of -20 to 60°C. Location tracking is accurate to within 10m using WiFi, GPS or Mobile network with 2G (now largely a legacy system) to 5G all covered. Shock sensitivity can be traced up to 12G impact, but with sensitivity as low as 0.5G, the team can deduce a pothole in the road as equally as a calamitous drop from a high-bay shelf.

“It’s about collaboration,” says Jim Waters. “We are there to work with the carrier and their customer to help save the shipment in the event of an excursion. We can point out where a temperature threshold might have been exceeded, if only for a few moments. If a delivery of fresh grapes is rotten within two days of arrival, we can tell all parties if something happened on the journey to make that fruit rot faster than it should have.”

Critical journeys are another must-have. “I can tell you hair-raising stories about hearts, livers and kidneys left on the tarmac when they should have been on an aircraft that has just taken off without them,” he reveals.

Tive can be customised to suit customer needs – it’s available with a lithium/non-lithium battery according to customer preference, and while single-use are in operation with many clients, a multi-use version for circular logistics processes offers cost savings.

 

Racing to predict the future in transportation logistics

Posted on by David Priestman

Steve Beda (pictured), executive vice president of customer solutions, Trax Technologies, explores the importance of embracing analytics for best-in-class operations.

Not that long ago data analytics was the purview of political wonks, dusty academics, and financial analysts crunching numbers to beat the markets. Then things changed as business leaders felt increasing pressure to find new ways to improve performance, deliver shareholder value and meet skyrocketing consumer expectations for products and services. Marketing teams seized analytics as a new, more sophisticated tool for understanding customer sentiment and predicting buying patterns, while operations leaders found ways to use production line sensors and collated data to foresee line failures and areas for improvement. Sadly, transportation logistics has been slower to adopt analytics at scale to the point where, even today, some operators continue to make potentially enormous and impactful decisions for their business based on, in some cases, little more than custom and practice and a well-trained gut. That too has to change.

It is simply not enough anymore, in the ultra-competitive world of transportation with soaring gas prices, global and real-time trucking and shipping complexities and the long shadow of pandemic supply-chain interruptions are still creating staff, capacity, and container shortages. To understand the root causes of all of this, to identify market influencers and potential problems before they bring down an entire network, global transportation executives now need access to both comprehensive data and sophisticated analytics capabilities. Embracing both will do one crucially important thing for every business: help us see the future. Or at least make data-driven decisions today that lead to efficiencies tomorrow and success for the long haul.

As we begin the process of due diligence and adoption, let’s take a look at the four core types of data analytics and just what they do for supply chain efficiency.

1. Descriptive Analytics – a Foundational Understanding

You can’t look ahead without understanding where you came from and there’s absolutely no way to improve performance without pinpointing what’s working well or identifying where problems or weaknesses may be emerging. For both of these critical performance benchmarks, we need Descriptive Analytics. This is quite simply an assessment of current state using historical data. A collection, curation, and analysis of data that shows us what happened over a period of time. The number of deliveries. Volume of goods. The number of carriers, routes, modes, and so forth.

It’s the foundational baseline on which more complex data analytics practices build insights into performance and quality of service.

2. Diagnostic Analytics – Why did that happen? What does that mean?

So we have a list of what happened. But understanding why things occurred, pinpointing the variables and influencers for more nuanced strategic learnings – that’s the role of Diagnostic Analysis. Diagnostic looks beyond baseline operational outcomes to measure performance against goals, deadlines, by mode and geographies, and many other variables. As part of this process look for three key measurement strategies:

Carrier Scorecards

Carrier scorecards are a critical and comprehensive tool for understanding why outcomes happen. For decades scorecards were inconsistent, non-standardised paperwork that captured intelligence but made it incredibly time-consuming and inefficient to analyse or draw strategic insights. Ideally shippers today should enforce the use of electronic, standardised formats with their carrier partners to make analysis consistent and meaningful. From the collection and analysis of scorecard information you should expect to rapidly understand:

  • On-time Delivery: how many packages arrived on time versus missed deadlines – and where? Which carriers? Which markets?
  • Damage Tracking: how many packages arrived broken, damaged, or otherwise contaminated, affecting replacement costs and long-term reputation?
  • Billing Accuracy: do final invoices match estimates? What is the percentage variance? Which carriers are less accurate with their billing and why?
  • Fallouts: how many loads were delivered to warehousing or other points in the network only to be returned due to limited storage and handling capacities?
  • Tender acceptance: what is the acceptance rate among carriers for contracts? If this is low, there may be a perceived problem with stated terms, compensation, or another factor that must be worked out in future negotiations.

Functional Performance Metrics

Quite simply this is the process of data collection and analysis to provide a detailed understanding across the operation. When measuring performance in this way, key indicators typically include shipping times; order accuracy (did the right product ship to the right customer at the right price?); delivery times (are there unforeseen delays between shipping and delivery?); transportation costs; warehousing costs; number of shipments; inventory accuracy and inventory turnover. There can be many other variables too, but measure against these and you’ll build a comprehensive picture of your success in the marketplace.

Cost Analysis

Lastly, how much did everything cost? Is there a discrepancy between budget and actual cost? And where is the variance?  Understanding these factors will help identify weakness in the supply chain for renewed operational improvements in the short term.

3. Predictive Analytics – the impact of external data on planning and validation

The data race is on – with all kinds being collected, curated, and analysed across industries, organisations, and businesses. As external data, beyond our logistics operations, becomes more readily available and with real-time information becoming instantly accessible, the role of analytics is rapidly becoming even more critical to day-to-day operations. In predictive analytics, analysis combines external data with owned company data to create context for how we may operate in the moment or over a period of time within geographies, modes, channels, and even by carrier. Even more significantly, predictive analytics, when employed correctly, can predict the outcome of a strategic or operational change and help validate the change prior to execution, limiting risk as much as possible. It’s important again to ensure that data content and capture quality is high to enable accurate modelling using the available data inputs and known constraints to make the most accurate and meaningful prediction.

Major measures for predictive learning include:

GPS Tracking: GPS tracking was one of the earliest data points for operational efficiency analysis and is still important. Real-time tracking of trucks, trailers, and other equipment creates a broad baseline oversight of operations. Knowing at any time where carriers and other equipment are can lead to greater efficiencies and resource optimisation. But it also enables driver and safety performance monitoring, reduces administrative time to manually check-in and monitor locations and progress, and ultimately leads to more end-to-end quality customer service.

Weather Data: Knowing when weather constraints may affect performance, cause delay or even endanger drivers or other assets can be critical, especially when dealing with global shipments across countries and regions. But weather can also impact the supply and demand balance too so planning for it is important even in the short term. Tornadoes and hurricanes, flooding, and deep freezes create massive demand for generators, water, heaters, and lumber to protect against storm damage. A surge in demand creates supply challenges, can spike prices, and have other knock-on effects down the supply chain.

Traffic Data: Look at how major coastal storms can cut off whole towns and cities, or even a major sporting event in a downtown area can cripple a traffic system for hours. Understanding traffic problems, road or modal outages, parking availability, port congestion, or volume issues is an increasingly important factor in best-in-class operations. There’s a huge industry focus happening right now on the use of AI to provide real-time route optimisation – the local, national, and global re-routing of shipments and deliveries based on changes to traffic patterns in the moment. Rightly so, using external traffic data to map clear, efficient routes or make urgent changes can save time, money and protect reputation with customers.

Predictive analysis monitors and models against all of these factors and more to create an impact analysis – what we need to know, do and change to avoid network, shipping, or delivery problems. This enables strategies and data-driven decision-making that will ultimately help reduce the negative impact of external factors beyond our control while optimising operational efficiencies to meet deadlines and stay within budget.

4. Prescriptive Analytics – where are we headed?

The ultimate goal for any best-in-class transportation logistics operation is the transition to, and full adoption, of a Logistics Control Tower strategy. A seamless collection and analysis of high-quality external and internal data collected over time, modelled and used to provide a prescriptive analysis of actions needed and changes to be made.

When the Suez Canal – the world’s largest shipment gateway – was blocked last year, the effect on the local, national and global supply chains was immediate and lasting. Often when a crisis like this occurs, the teams managing logistics just don’t have the manual capabilities to deal with the complexities, scale, or scope of the problem – or the impending and far-reaching impact. They look at reports, shuffle paper, and do their best to make decisions, but only sophisticated data-driven modelling can rectify massive outages or high-impact events.

Or picture this. You are a manufacturer with a delayed ship in Long Beach with raw materials impacting three different finished goods. What do you do? Fortunately, your control tower can see that two of the three will be out of stock before the inbound arrives. One of the finished goods is a high-margin item and sold to one of your top ten customers. Your system assesses the cost for air freight and determines this is just enough to cover the top customer and automatically weighs the cost against the loss of margin on the sale. That is the future of transportation logistics.

Prescriptive data analysis will continue to play an increasingly pivotal role in day-to-day operations, helping make and prioritise decisions. When product inventory is severely limited, can we prioritise delivery to customers that would be most impacted by failure to deliver? Can we instantly measure, understand and rank cost to customers and then prioritise by region for fastest delivery? In this way, shippers can fulfil high-impact orders to big-box retailers like Target while managing other options to cater to smaller customers with a less urgent need. Or is it advisable to ship highest margin products first when carrier capacity is constrained? And if we are facing constraints, is it better to continue with a low-cost carrier or allocate budget to pay spot rate shipping costs? All of these questions and more can be managed and answered with prescriptive analytics using best-in-class master data management standards and AI to predict outcomes and prescribe action.

Take Steps Now To Be Ahead of the Curve

So, the ultimate question: Where is your operation in the analytics race? Are you still reporting on what already happened in the past? Are you beginning to explore the abilities to predict what will happen? Has your organisation fully embraced the transition to a data-driven, analytics-led strategy, and do you have the tools to prescribe the necessary actions or a recommended path forward? Wherever you are on the curve, four fundamental factors must be kept in mind:

  • Be honest with your current state If you are still in “hindsight.” Own it and plan for how to make the necessary changes to “insight.” Don’t try to skip a step in the progression of analytics.
  • Plan how to get access to all needed data (internal, external providers, and public data). You may have to subscribe to services, turn to logistics providers and expert partners, etc.
  • Hire a data scientist or find a good partner to help prove out a few test use cases. When you start out you should always choose the project that has the highest value (return) for the lowest effort (investment). Make sure that you are solving a real challenge that drives value.
  • Take your impact and go after more.

Making a transition to a data-analytics-based operation isn’t simple or instant, but the investment will be invaluable. Embracing data is essential to future success, particularly given the events of the past two years. If the Russia-Ukraine War, global pandemic, supply chain shortages, Suez canal, and increasing environmental events tell us anything it’s that the landscape for our industry has changed fundamentally. Cause and effect is the new norm. Expect obstacles, challenges, and a fluid future where custom and practice must give way quickly to prediction, prescription, and inarguable data-driven action to succeed tomorrow and down the road.

Steve Beda is executive vice president of customer solutions for Trax Technologies, a global leader in Transportation Spend Management solutions. Trax elevates traditional Freight Audit and Payment with a combination of industry leading cloud-based technology solutions and expert services to help enterprises with the world’s more complex supply chains better manage and control their global transportation costs and drive enterprise-wide efficiency and value.

Box Latch solution successfully trialled in Australia

Posted on by Keith McKinley

In a first for Australia, Wiring Solutions Plus (WSP) at Underdale in South Australia is trialling the use of Box Latch products with REDARC Electronics at Lonsdale in a B2B closed‐loop in metropolitan Adelaide.

WSP and REDARC have agreed to test the feasibility of these US-made Box Latches as they aim to eliminate costly, labour-intensive practices, reduce the potential for injuries and develop a system for the return of the collapsed cartons and Box Latches to WSP for re‐use.

Managing Director of WSP, Mark Pickering stated: “We’re interested to see how this goes and hopeful for success for all involved.”

Thousands of cartons with WSP wiring looms are shipped to REDARC every year. Box Latch enables these cartons to be reused up to 20 times, says its manufacturer, yielding thousands of dollars in savings for boxes, but more importantly greatly reduces the corrugated cardboard from being recycled which supports REDARC’s environmental goals and company values.

Due to the uneven spread of weight in the single‐wall cartons, WSP is trying two Box Latch Large on the bottom, and one on the top to temporarily close the cartons for shipping. Early testing at the WSP facilities by Australian associate and sales representative for Box Latch Products, Phil Southam of KHP Business Solutions, indicates two latches will hold the 11kg weight in the current boxes.

Southam says: “If WSP’s pilot programme works as expected, it is likely WSP will move to double‐wall cartons to provide more strength, longevity and security.”

Stronger cartons will cost a bit more but will prove to be cost‐effective in the long run as well as reducing the need for two Box Latches on the bottom.

Pickering recently stated: “Richard Burley [supply chain manager] from REDARC has provided positive feedback on the first trial and would like for it to continue.” A further 150 Box Latches have been supplied for the ongoing testing programme.

Packaging tape eliminated

Using a cost savings calculator provided by Eco Latch Systems, projections are that WSP will be able to pay for the Box Latches simply from the savings on tape. As cartons are temporally closed with Box Latches, they will be palletised, shrink‐wrapped and shipped to REDARC. A side benefit is that by eliminating the need for tape, this removes the risks for injuries and damage to box contents from sharp blades after arriving at REDARC. A key part of this pilot project will be working with REDARC to coordinate the return of the collapsed cartons to WSP so they can restart the closed‐loop.

In the current setting, when the cartons reach REDARC, every box has all four flaps cut off to facilitate ease of access to the components for assembly. This is labour intensive and generates serious risks for lacerations. In order to save the carton and return it to WSP for re‐use, REDARC will use another product by Eco Latch Systems, LLC ‐ the Clip & Stack (sometimes referred to as the Corner Clip & Stack).

Designed to hold carton flaps out of the way for packing or unpacking, one or two Clip & Stacks can be used to keep flaps down and open as contents are added or removed. This eliminates catching on roller systems feeding the assembler. With the use of four Clip & Stacks, boxes can be stacked two- to four-high saving considerable floorspace. This also prevents employees from being hit in their faces or bodies by box flaps on shelves, provides for neat and well managed shelf/rack space and prevents employees from tripping as a result of open flapped cartons on floors.

As with the Box Latches, the manufacturer says the Clip & Stacks can be used hundreds or thousands of times, so only a small number may be required depending on how many open cartons are required for packing or assembly at any one time. Since this innovative product allows for cartons to be stacked while open, pre‐constructing them during slow times allows for them to be ready when needed at peak times.

Subscribe

Get notified about New Episodes of our Podcast, New Magazine Issues and stay updated with our Weekly Newsletter.