Five Incremental Changes to Improve Supply Chain Performance

Supply chain businesses have seen their profits erode in recent years by cost pressures, shipping bottlenecks and labor issues. Companies can drive efficiencies and reduce costs by making several small changes across their supply chains. Here are five incremental steps in the quest to achieve significant supply chain performance improvements.?

1. Automated fleet planning and en-route optimization for delivery networks?

Many companies still do route planning and optimization with static data, which are, of course, prone to error and do not avail themselves of the wealth of enterprise data. Digital tools support these complex tasks, in the first place, by providing accurate address data. In the case of last-mile deliveries, for example, ensuring that databases include latest street address information is a great first step toward making accurate and timely deliveries on the first attempt.?

Route optimization often involves generating a backup plan so that the best route can be executed on the fly. For example, Route A theoretically might be the shortest distance to get from the point of origin to a particular delivery destination. But today’s optimization technologies allow for the layering of additional data such as hazards, road and weight restrictions and real-time traffic conditions to find the fastest route. Sometimes what was originally Plan B turns out to be the best and fastest option to execute in the moment. The ability to bring in real-time data and make that data available quickly to enable speedy decision-making, all contribute incrementally to achieving better supply chain results.?

2. Truck-specific routing and navigation to improve safety and compliance?

Run-of-the-mill GPS systems can map out the fastest route from Point A to Point B, but that’s not going to get a truck to where it’s supposed to be in optimal fashion. Truck-specific navigation systems, on the other hand, contribute incremental improvements to supply chain performance by taking into account important truck-related attributes such as weight, height, and cargo restrictions.?

Location-powered truck navigation solutions accept input on the attributes of the specific truck, such as dimensions, cargo type and weight, to create routes that are compliant with trucking regulations, that are safe for that particular truck and load, and that are the shortest and fastest under all of those conditions. These attributes shield companies from the potential costs of routing errors, including harm to drivers, vehicles, cargoes and third-party property, as well as fines for non-compliance with transport regulations.?

Trucking fleets need to ensure that their navigation systems won't lead their trucks onto a road, bridge, or other area where they aren't permitted due to height or weight restrictions. Using truck-specific navigation ensures that trucks get to their destinations safely and on time, providing superior customer service.?

3. Predictive and dynamic estimated times of arrival?

Incorporating awareness of real-time conditions enables the proactive mitigation of delays and other supply chain issues, leading to more accurate estimated times of arrival (ETAs). Better ETAs promote certainty, inspire customer confidence and boost transportation efficiency, saving time and fuel costs and contributing to sustainability goals.?

Analyzing historical data enhances the probability of accurate ETAs. If the data show there will likely be a delay at a certain place and time, that information can be incorporated into future planning to better inform customers of their shipments’ arrival times. Analyzing historical shipments fuels the predictive analytics capabilities of modern logistics systems, facilitating automated, optimized and improved planning — all of which contribute to improved supply chain execution.?

4. Multimodal shipment visibility?

International shipments are almost invariably multimodal shipments — typically reaching across ocean, rail and over-the-road transportation. The several handoffs involved with these shipments often challenge shippers and carriers alike when it comes to providing accurate ETAs, tempting them to buffer arrival times by building in extra time to compensate for potential delays.?

Location intelligence provides precise tools to locate and monitor cargo and vehicles, enabling shippers to create leaner and more cost-efficient shipment flows and to provide ETAs that reflect the ground truth of asset and product locations. Supply chain managers can proactively mitigate shipment problems, allowing them to take action as early as possible once a potential delay is detected.?

Multimodal visibility fundamentally involves replacing information silos with end-to-end visibility, allowing companies to become more resilient in the face of supply chain disruption. Location intelligence acts as the unifying link, bringing disparate datasets together to gain insights that save time, money and fuel.?

5. Leveraging private datasets?

Companies often possess data that can impact their supply chain efficiency. It’s important to be able to integrate that data into logistics and navigation platforms. Being able to create, validate and maintain private maps within a secure cloud location environment on a dedicated platform – one that offers global maps, map-making automation capabilities, and a private toolkit – allows companies to ingest and use their own business logic.??

They can customize a private foundational map to best serve their business needs and

?publish it to create custom experiences, accelerate time to value, and scale their business solutions. For example, a company can add private points of interest (POIs) such as EV charging points for their EV fleet and search them on the map.?

It is also possible to optimize fleet operations by customizing truck attributes and personalizing the routing outcomes – by restricting trucks from routing through certain urban areas due to noise or environmental concerns or limiting the allowed speed through these same areas. Or a company may have knowledge of, and access to, a private road that creates a shortcut from a manufacturing facility to a distribution center. The ability to layer in this private data on a navigation platform – which would not be available to other users – allows a company to map out a shorter and more efficient route.?

Companies might also layer in information on loading docks at specific facilities so that a navigation system can direct a truck to a specific loading dock based on dock availability and delivery planning. When it comes to last-mile deliveries, specific delivery instructions can be incorporated into the route planning, such as whether a shipment needs to be delivered to a back door at a specific address.??