1. Commentary,RobertL.Bianco,Jr.,President,MenloWorldwideLogistics
Journal of Commerce Review andOutlook2014
There are a hostof businesstrendsthatwill influencethe logisticsindustryinthe comingyear,yettwo
trendsinparticularstand outto me as the mostcompellingfor3PLs. The firstis the pushtoward
regional logisticssolutionsdrivenbynear-shoring. The secondisthe impactof BigData onhow we
manage the businessanddeliverinformationtothe customer.
The economicsthatonce made sourcing to Asiaattractive are changing. Wages rates inAsiancountries
have risen 350 percentoverthe past 11 years,makingotherpartsof the worldmore competitive. Fuel
costs and energy volatilityhave increased. Andmanaginginventory thatmoveshalfwayaroundthe
worldhas more riskand cost thanbefore.
Facingall these factors,more companies are seekinglogisticssolutionsbuiltonsupplyand
manufacturingbases thatare closerto end-users.For3PLs,thisbecomesanengineeringexercise,using
Lean toolsandmethodologieslike Value StreamMappingtoredesignandoptimize supplychainsfor
shortercycleswithinaregion,suchas NorthAmericaor Europe.Thistrendwill onlyaccelerate as
customersregionalize operationstogainfasterresponse times,lowerdistributioncostsandlessrisk.
Data has alwaysbeenthe lifebloodof logistics.Itusedtobe that providing“visibility”togoodsintransit,
matchinga purchase orderto a shipmentnumber,wasgoodenough. Notanymore. The capacityof
computingsystemstostore data hasdoubledevery40monthssince 1980. In today’sBigData world,
acquiring,storing, siftingthroughand presentinguseful andtimely datahasbecome a monumental
challenge –and a keydifferentiator. Analyticsare nolongernice tohave,theyare table stakes.
Collectingthe rightdata,thenknowingwhattodowithit,how to synchronize itandpackage itfor the
customerintoactionable businessintelligence isthe new differentiator. Shipperswantthe abilityto
performsophisticated analyticstomake betterandfasterreal-time businessdecisions. Andtheywant
the data and the toolsfromtheir3PL.
Both of these areaspresentopportunityforlogisticscompaniestocreate new value streamsfor
customers.Unlockingthatvalue isthe keytosuccess for bothour customersand ourindustry.