A new head of supply chain at Pfizer asked a simple question, “If Amazon can provide end to end shipment status of my orders, why can’t Pfizer.” That was the impetus for a supply chain visibility project. “The company had to change their mindset and embrace a global orchestrated supply network.
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Archive for Supply Chain Visibility
It is rare at Logistics Viewpoints (LV) that we would do more than reference a few sentences from another publication. However, I believe that Bloomberg Businessweek’s recently published article titled The Big Hack: How China Used a Tiny Chip to Infiltrate U.S. Companies is thought provoking and (potentially) consequential enough to warrant an entire post. I recommend that LV readers set aside some time to read the entire article for themselves. But in the meantime, I […]
Read More →Devon Energy generates huge volumes of data. The company’s real-time data system monitors 6.5 million data points from multiple sites, with more than 10,000 updates per second. Devon Energy has worked to change real-time visibility into actionable insights for better truck scheduling.
Read More →BASF uses real-time visibility to improve their service capabilities. They implemented a solution from MacroPoint, a Descartes company, to improve their delivery reliability as well as improve the productivity of the transportation providers they use to service the North American market. But implementing great technology is not enough. Getting the most out of software also requires dealing with both internal and partner cultural issues and improving processes. According to Bill Wehrle, the Director of Supply Chain for isocyanates and inorganics in BASF’s Monomers strategic business unit, the journey that BASF has been on to improve their supply chain’s reliability started eight years ago.
Read More →There has been an explosion of new sensor data available to be used to create digital supply chains. While we use the term “digitization”, Bill Gates had a better label close to 20 years ago, “the digital nervous system.”
Read More →Supply chain visibility hinges upon knowing the location, quantity and availability of raw materials and inventory at any moment in time. This information needs to be acted upon and applied across all touch points in the supply chain — from supplier, to end customer — in order to maximize supply chain performance. The Challenges of Diverse Partners and Disparate Systems Achieving this clarity within the four walls of an enterprise is difficult enough, but it […]
Read More →Modern logistics is data-driven, and this concept is becoming essential to success in 2017. Take a look at the increasing geographic, political and price barriers to shipping in different parts of the world and the U.S., and you will notice an increased data-collecting presence For manufacturers, this means having more detailed, accurate forecasting models ready in real time. Consequently, for shippers the task of tracking product and information data across global supply chains, while balancing […]
Read More →For 3M, a digital supply chain is about reducing friction, both internally and with partners and customers. And according to their Sr. VP of SCM, “Friction occurs at the connection points.” Digitization provides the information that allows different parties to get to a point where they can more efficiently work with each other.
Read More →JDA is working toward providing off the shelf solutions that allow companies to use SNEW data – social media, news, event, and weather data – to improve their supply chain capabilities. In short, they are working to leverage Internet of Things (IoT) to improve supply chain management.
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Supply Chain Brief
The “New” Digital Control Tower: Modern, Resilient, Intuitive
Control towers emerged in the 1990s as the logistics industry—specifically 3PLs—needed a mechanism to provide visibility to their clients. Successfully addressing the challenge of accounting for inventory in motion/at rest was a differentiator for all players (3PLs, distributors, retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers). Thus, the foundation was laid for what is known today as digital control towers (DCTs). While the last three decades of supply chain innovation were transformative in many ways, progress has been slow […]
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