2nd Generation Ocean/Air Visibility ... Controlling the Uncontrollable

An essential value of #ocean/air #visibility is its impact on product availability and #inventoryoptimization in an unpredictable and uncontrollable global supply chain environment.??

Ensuring that a #Purchase Order is executed as planned to meet the inventory needs for which it is required is always a challenge.? The simplest supply chain is complex and made up of many parts (raw materials, components, suppliers, carriers, freight forwarders, 3PLs, #Customs, #PGAs, terminals, warehouses, drayage providers, and railroads) that occur over many nodes and vectors.? Intelligent visibility is necessary for a small/mid-size shipper with 1,000-10,000 POs and shipments annually to understand what is happening across the supply chain.? The tasks are even more daunting for large shippers with 10,001+ shipments if there is no visibility.

To be effective Ocean/Air Visibility must be more than shipment track, trace and terminal dwell time insights.? This is not to belittle the offerings of the suppliers of on-demand visibility, like project44 , FourKites, Inc. #Shipeo or VIZION and others.? The visibility that these solutions provide delivers real value for what it does.? However, these solutions aren’t broad or deep enough in their visibility capabilities to help shippers where they need it most - confidently predictable product availability.

First and Last mile visibility is critical in optimizing inventory across the supply chain.??

First-mile visibility starts with the ability to see suppliers’ PO/product-ready status, shipment booking status, load-ready status, and laded-on-board status.? Visibility into the supplier’s PO execution is the first line of defence for any global inventory optimization exercise.?

?Failure to ship on time = Failure to arrive on time.

Last-mile visibility begins when the goods arrive at the port of arrival and ends when the goods are received, and the equipment returned to the terminal yard (in the case of ocean shipments). ? Events that impact last-mile delivery are Port Congestion, Terminal release delays (Customs, Carriers, Terminals), and delivery and receiving constraints.? Any delay, for whatever reason (and there are many possible reasons), can result in inventory out-of-stocks, unexpected costs, or both.

Fact: Most visibility solutions don’t provide first-mile or complete last-mile visibility.

Visibility + Context + Alerting = Control

Control: ?When we talk about control in a Global Supply Chain we are really talking about the ability to direct and apply resources to address and affect operational issues or problems that are more directly controlled by the vendors or service providers.? From a #global #supplychain perspective this requires 3 fundamental capabilities: Visibility + Context + Alerting.

Visibility:? Transportation visibility without context is like a picture without a story. #Transportation visibility without #product/SKU visibility is like a story without details or a plot.

A picture captures a moment in time.? Without understanding what comes before or after that specific moment when the picture is captured, the observer is left to conjure up his/her own story.? Two, three, or four people observing the same picture at precisely the same time will all have a unique interpretation differing significantly from the others based on intellectual, emotional, and psychological factors.? While this may be acceptable when observing a picture, it is far from desirable when trying to optimize products across the supply chain.

Having visibility into a shipment at a point in time is like looking at a static picture.? A person with visibility to a shipment at that specific time is left to draw their own conclusions. Those conclusions may be relatively accurate or widely off the mark, depending on the volatility in the supply chain.

Context:? When we talk about context with reference to visibility, we are referring to seeing and understanding what activities preceded the event and what is likely to happen after the event.??

An example of context with respect to global transportation:?

You are asked where a specific product or container is and when will it be available.? Usually, in this scenario, the product or container in question is needed with some sense of urgency.? The inquiry could come from anyone within the organization who is affected by that product; i.e. Purchasing, Sales, Production, etc.

Typically, you go to a visibility solution and type in a “tracking number” (B/L or container number) and find out the latest position of the shipment.? That’s it.? That is your level of visibility.

If the product is important … to someone, the questions that follow the obvious answer of the positioning of the shipment is all about context.

1. Did the supplier prepare the goods on time?
2. Was the shipment booked on time?
3. Was the container delivered to the port on time?
4. Did the container load or was it rolled?
5. Was the vessel “blanked”?
6. When is the next vessel available?
7. Did the vessel arrive?? If not, when?
8. Was the container unloaded?
9. Are the goods held up by Customs, PGAs, carriers, or terminals?
10. Is the container on delivery?
11. When can we expect the container to arrive?
12. When will my product be available?
13. Do I need to make alternate shipping arrangements?
14. What is the impact on our product cost?
15. How will this affect our cash flow?

The answers to these questions (and others) provide the context that almost all visibility solutions do not.

Alerting: The final piece necessary to effectively control global shipments is intelligent alerting that highlights situations that impact the effective execution of the delivery and availability of products, to the right place, at the right time, at the appropriate budget.

Not every event disruption requires attention.? Having an alerting solution sensitive to the context of an event disruption or series of events across the shipment life-cycle is critical to filter the incredible amount of noise generated in the supply chain.?

2nd Generation Ocean/Air Visibility … Controlling the Uncontrollable

A system that can see what is supposed to happen and what has happened, understand the impact on the needs of the users within the company and alert the appropriate individuals enables the organization to respond proactively and bring the proper resources to bear to resolve any problems.

2nd generation Ocean/Air Visibility delivers control over the uncontrollable