This document discusses reasons why a company's supply chain may be broken, including placing more attention on domestic versus international supply chains, products not getting to market on time due to lack of visibility and delays, and handling supply chain logistics in-house rather than partnering with a third-party logistics provider. It recommends investing more in international supply chain solutions and gaining end-to-end visibility across the global supply chain in order to improve timeliness, reduce risks and costs, and enhance decision making.
Organizational alignment matters. There are 3 key techniques to improve alignment and combat supply and demand volatility: clear agility definition, sales and operations planning, and supply chain center of excellence.
Supply Chain Metrics That Matter: Improving Supply Chain Resiliency - 18 MAR ...Lora Cecere
Executive Overview
Ask any supply chain leader which metrics are the most important to deliver, and the most common answers are operating margin, inventory turns, and revenue growth. In our plotting of industry results for the Supply Chain Metrics That Matter reports, we could see that certain industries had greater variation at the intersection of operating margin and inventory turns than others. We wanted to know why.
The supply chain is a complex system. It is growing even more so. Supply chain leaders are charged to deliver reliable results on The Effective Frontier for costs and inventory cycles. Failure to do so can result in termination. The Effective Frontier is depicted in Figure 1.
It is a juggling act. There are finite trade-offs and the metrics are interrelated. Each company is operating at a different potential. A new technology can elevate the frontier and improve the company’s ability to operate at a higher level of performance. Often when companies attempt to drive down costs they will elevate inventory. When complexity increases, it can have an adverse effect on both operating margin and inventory turns. It is a continuous balancing act which has been made easier through the evolution of Advanced Planning Systems (APS).
Progress happens in small increments. It happens over the period of many years (three to five). We believe that reliability of results at the intersection of operating margin and inventory turns is a characteristic of supply chain excellence.
We are trying to understand who’s done it best. It is for this reason that we have been studying these patterns for the last two years. What can we see? Over the last decade, industry progress has been quite different. In Table 1, we list the performance of five industries (The industries are listed from the most to the least profitable as measured by operating margin). Companies have become more efficient, but not necessarily more effective. Note in this table that all manufacturing industries have significantly improved revenue per employee, but only one of the industries has improved both operating margins and inventory turns.
Improving Supplier Reliability -15 June 2016 - ReportLora Cecere
Executive Summary
Trust, but verify. During the recession of 2007, trust in the extended supply chain was broken. As companies throttled-back production to adjust to falling demand, many suppliers who thought that they were strategic were left “holding the bag.” Risk was pushed backwards in the supply chain violating the tenants of many strategic relationships.
As a result, shipments were refused and orders canceled. Payments were delayed and trust was violated. Many supplier companies never recovered, tightening the supply of materials in discrete value chains like automotive and high-tech.
As growth slowed over last five years, the supply chain focused on an agenda to reduce costs. Commodity price volatility increased and procurement pressures to reduce costs resulted in transactional buying (a focus to minimize price variance). In many companies, strategic sourcing and commodity management through category buying programs took a “back seat.” Supplier programs become more reactive.
In this environment, as shown in Figure 2, supplier viability—an environment for a supplier to manage a successful business—became a pressing risk issue. Sitting four and five levels back in the value network, suppliers experienced a double-whammy—pressure to reduce price along with the lengthening of Days of Payables.
Ironically, while technology in supply chain finance progressively improved to enable a quick transfer of funds across industries, Days of Payables increased 30 and 60 days. The second irony is the cost of capital. While brand owners have a lower cost of capital than their suppliers, few companies extend their brand capabilities in supply chain finance to their suppliers. While companies talk supply chain finance, squeezing suppliers is the market reality.
In parallel, economic uncertainty and demand volatility increased, also putting pressure on the supplier base. While the adoption of demand-driven processes could improve supplier alignment, demand-driven process adoption is slow. Few companies are taking ownership of demand signals to their supply base.
Traditional processes dominate. Companies are strongly wedded to supply-centric processes based on traditional forecasting processes using order patterns. With the lengthening of order latency, and the lengthening of the long tail of the supply chain, the synchronization of suppliers into the value network is out-of-step, creating waste and obsolescence.
Tsunamis, terrorist attacks, hurricanes, and volcanic eruptions have impacted the global economy in the last 10 years. The effects of a “discontinuity event” such as a natural disaster, geopolitical shifts, economic uncertainty and demand/supply volatility to your business can be significant, impacting suppliers, vendors and customers. In our new report, Supply Chain Risk Management, we address the need for companies to proactively prepare for the worst to protect their business operations and weather the storm of unforeseen events.
The Global Supply Chain Ups the Ante for Risk ManagementLora Cecere
Executive Summary
Unfortunately, supply chain disruptions are a fact of life for today’s global multinational company. The reasons are many. A risk management event can be triggered by natural events, geopolitical shifts, economic uncertainty and demand/supply volatility.
Historically, the roots and genesis of risk management programs were based on attempts to reduce insurance costs. Today it is much, much more. The focus is on prevention, early sensing, and the execution of well-orchestrated plans to mitigate the impact of a disruption. Global supply chain leaders understand that designing and implementing a robust risk management practice is essential and fundamental to running a global business. The size of the bubble in Figure 2 indicates the relative level of risk today, and the colors correspond to the level of risk.
Figure 2. Comparison of Risk Drivers for the Past Five Years and Future Five Years
While product quality and supply chain visibility are declining but still important, the areas of operations complexity and the definition of globalization infrastructure is increasing. The areas of economic uncertainty, supplier reliability, along with demand volatility, are continued risk factors.
Over time, as supply chains morphed from regional to global multinational organizations, globalization and regulatory compliance increased. As a result, procurement has shifted from traditional programs focused solely on contract management, price and term negotiations, and supplier scorecards to include the evolution of supplier development, to manage product quality and multi-tier supplier relationships, in and across value chain relationships.
Today is a less certain world than a decade ago. Geopolitical shifts, economic uncertainty and demand/supply volatility are rising. In addition, to spur growth companies are quick to add products to the item master, but slow to rationalize the portfolio. The rising complexity of items sold decreases the organization’s ability to forecast, and the longer lead times across multiple tiers of sourcing and supply increases the Bullwhip Effect’s impact (distortion of the demand signal across multiple tiers of the value network). As a result, there is a greater need for supplier development and supplier sensing to reduce supply risk. Inventory management and supplier financial sensing grow in importance with the increase in uncertainty.
Risk management is no longer narrowly focused: a technology, a response to a natural disaster, or improving supply chain visibility. Instead, it is more holistic with a focus on managing demand and supply variability cross-functionally and improving outcomes in an uncertain world.
In this report, we share insights on the current state of risk management programs while providing recommendations on what defines excellence.
State of Business Networks in Process Industries 2014 - Summary ChartsLora Cecere
Executive Summary
Today, the performance of an organization hinges more than ever on the effectiveness of flows between, and amongst, trading partners. It is not easy. The supply chain is not linear, and the relationships extend across geographic borders and industry sectors.
Outsourcing relationships have grown in the last decade; however, the automation of these networks has not kept pace. In the words of one respondent interviewed for this report in a facilitated workshop to review the data, “Today, we connect trading partners through spreadsheets, email, phone and fax. It is antiquated. I liken it to baling wire, chewing gum and duct tape. I need solutions that can synchronize and harmonize data across trading partners in real-time. My operating committee does not think that it is sexy to invest in B2B solutions, but it is needed. Today, it is almost impossible for us to understand the manufacturing status of purchase orders, and have accurate information readily on supply chain visibility of in-transit shipments. As a result, we make the wrong decisions, and have unnecessary wait times to get information.”
These comments echo the findings in this study. Respondents operate value networks, but they struggle to get to the data they need. The outsourcing of logistics is greater than manufacturing. Eighty-one percent of companies outsource logistics. The volume of outsourced logistics is 48% on average. In contrast, 66% of companies outsource manufacturing. The outsourced volume manufacturing volume varies, but averages 15%.
While the networks are complex, and the goals are many, progress is hard to track. This leads many supply chain leaders to ask, “What is the current state? What is the opportunity?” Answering these questions is the goal of this report.
Let’s start with the current state. As seen in Figure 2, the average respondent in this report believes that the supply chain today is more controlled and global than compared to two years ago. While they have made improvements in agility and proactivity, there is much more left to do. The largest challenges are in the use of outside-in data to improve channel sensing and reduce risk. While the supply chain today has made progress in transactional efficiency, companies are less competent at sensing opportunities and mitigating risks.
Supply Chain Metrics That Matter - A Focus on Pharmaceutical Companies - 27 A...Lora Cecere
Executive Overview
When we compiled the Supply Chains to Admire Report in August 2014, no pharmaceutical company made the list. To make the list, a company had to deliver performance (above average results for the period of 2009-2013 than their peer group on a portfolio of metrics including operating margin, inventory turns and Return on Invested Capital) and drive supply chain improvement (based on the Supply Chain Index) faster than their peer group. We believe both performance and improvement matter.
In the pharmaceutical industry, we find most companies to be stuck. They have either regressed in supply chain performance or they are at the same point as they were a decade ago. For many supply chain leaders that attend conferences, this may seem unfathomable. There is an industry belief that companies have implemented new technologies, and evolved processes, and driven improved balance sheet results.
As we will show in this report, as seen in Figure 4, this is not necessarily the case. On average, AstraZeneca has outperformed Bristol-Myers Squibb, and the industry as a whole, but they are not resilient. They have gone backwards in margin and not sustained inventory turn improvements. In contrast, Bristol-Meyers Squibb has not made progress in either performance or improvement and has remained at the same level of performance, without improvement, throughout the period.
How Do We Heal the Healthcare Value Chain?
Over the last decade, as shown in figure 1, the hospital supply chain has been one of the few that has improved operating margin, reduced inventory and improved revenue/employee. In contrast, the manufacturing suppliers to the hospital organization have grown inventories and struggled to preserve margins. Across the value chain from the patient to the raw material suppliers, total inventories have grown and costs have escalated. With pending regulations, hospitals are being forced to rethink processes, redefine value and work more holistically to improve sourcing practices. The suppliers to the hospital systems are having to rethink their systems to rethink the customer (from selling to the physician to selling to a more formal buying organization based on patient outcomes) and adapt to the new processes within the hospital for value analysis.
Supply chain processes within the hospitals have matured. Hospitals have made more progress on improving cash-to-cash cycles than their upstream manufacturing trading partners. They have reduced inventories and attempted to work with suppliers. As shown in figure 2, it is notable to see that this industry is one of the few where downstream trading partners have actually improved payable terms for their suppliers.
The future lies before the healthcare provider. As the provider of patient care, they have the greatest potential to lead in the healthcare value chain’s redesign to improve value. They have come a long way, but the changes have been incremental. They have focused primarily on traditional sourcing techniques; not a redesign of the healthcare value chain from the outside in, and the redefinition of complex and antiquated processes.
Organizational alignment matters. There are 3 key techniques to improve alignment and combat supply and demand volatility: clear agility definition, sales and operations planning, and supply chain center of excellence.
Supply Chain Metrics That Matter: Improving Supply Chain Resiliency - 18 MAR ...Lora Cecere
Executive Overview
Ask any supply chain leader which metrics are the most important to deliver, and the most common answers are operating margin, inventory turns, and revenue growth. In our plotting of industry results for the Supply Chain Metrics That Matter reports, we could see that certain industries had greater variation at the intersection of operating margin and inventory turns than others. We wanted to know why.
The supply chain is a complex system. It is growing even more so. Supply chain leaders are charged to deliver reliable results on The Effective Frontier for costs and inventory cycles. Failure to do so can result in termination. The Effective Frontier is depicted in Figure 1.
It is a juggling act. There are finite trade-offs and the metrics are interrelated. Each company is operating at a different potential. A new technology can elevate the frontier and improve the company’s ability to operate at a higher level of performance. Often when companies attempt to drive down costs they will elevate inventory. When complexity increases, it can have an adverse effect on both operating margin and inventory turns. It is a continuous balancing act which has been made easier through the evolution of Advanced Planning Systems (APS).
Progress happens in small increments. It happens over the period of many years (three to five). We believe that reliability of results at the intersection of operating margin and inventory turns is a characteristic of supply chain excellence.
We are trying to understand who’s done it best. It is for this reason that we have been studying these patterns for the last two years. What can we see? Over the last decade, industry progress has been quite different. In Table 1, we list the performance of five industries (The industries are listed from the most to the least profitable as measured by operating margin). Companies have become more efficient, but not necessarily more effective. Note in this table that all manufacturing industries have significantly improved revenue per employee, but only one of the industries has improved both operating margins and inventory turns.
Improving Supplier Reliability -15 June 2016 - ReportLora Cecere
Executive Summary
Trust, but verify. During the recession of 2007, trust in the extended supply chain was broken. As companies throttled-back production to adjust to falling demand, many suppliers who thought that they were strategic were left “holding the bag.” Risk was pushed backwards in the supply chain violating the tenants of many strategic relationships.
As a result, shipments were refused and orders canceled. Payments were delayed and trust was violated. Many supplier companies never recovered, tightening the supply of materials in discrete value chains like automotive and high-tech.
As growth slowed over last five years, the supply chain focused on an agenda to reduce costs. Commodity price volatility increased and procurement pressures to reduce costs resulted in transactional buying (a focus to minimize price variance). In many companies, strategic sourcing and commodity management through category buying programs took a “back seat.” Supplier programs become more reactive.
In this environment, as shown in Figure 2, supplier viability—an environment for a supplier to manage a successful business—became a pressing risk issue. Sitting four and five levels back in the value network, suppliers experienced a double-whammy—pressure to reduce price along with the lengthening of Days of Payables.
Ironically, while technology in supply chain finance progressively improved to enable a quick transfer of funds across industries, Days of Payables increased 30 and 60 days. The second irony is the cost of capital. While brand owners have a lower cost of capital than their suppliers, few companies extend their brand capabilities in supply chain finance to their suppliers. While companies talk supply chain finance, squeezing suppliers is the market reality.
In parallel, economic uncertainty and demand volatility increased, also putting pressure on the supplier base. While the adoption of demand-driven processes could improve supplier alignment, demand-driven process adoption is slow. Few companies are taking ownership of demand signals to their supply base.
Traditional processes dominate. Companies are strongly wedded to supply-centric processes based on traditional forecasting processes using order patterns. With the lengthening of order latency, and the lengthening of the long tail of the supply chain, the synchronization of suppliers into the value network is out-of-step, creating waste and obsolescence.
Tsunamis, terrorist attacks, hurricanes, and volcanic eruptions have impacted the global economy in the last 10 years. The effects of a “discontinuity event” such as a natural disaster, geopolitical shifts, economic uncertainty and demand/supply volatility to your business can be significant, impacting suppliers, vendors and customers. In our new report, Supply Chain Risk Management, we address the need for companies to proactively prepare for the worst to protect their business operations and weather the storm of unforeseen events.
The Global Supply Chain Ups the Ante for Risk ManagementLora Cecere
Executive Summary
Unfortunately, supply chain disruptions are a fact of life for today’s global multinational company. The reasons are many. A risk management event can be triggered by natural events, geopolitical shifts, economic uncertainty and demand/supply volatility.
Historically, the roots and genesis of risk management programs were based on attempts to reduce insurance costs. Today it is much, much more. The focus is on prevention, early sensing, and the execution of well-orchestrated plans to mitigate the impact of a disruption. Global supply chain leaders understand that designing and implementing a robust risk management practice is essential and fundamental to running a global business. The size of the bubble in Figure 2 indicates the relative level of risk today, and the colors correspond to the level of risk.
Figure 2. Comparison of Risk Drivers for the Past Five Years and Future Five Years
While product quality and supply chain visibility are declining but still important, the areas of operations complexity and the definition of globalization infrastructure is increasing. The areas of economic uncertainty, supplier reliability, along with demand volatility, are continued risk factors.
Over time, as supply chains morphed from regional to global multinational organizations, globalization and regulatory compliance increased. As a result, procurement has shifted from traditional programs focused solely on contract management, price and term negotiations, and supplier scorecards to include the evolution of supplier development, to manage product quality and multi-tier supplier relationships, in and across value chain relationships.
Today is a less certain world than a decade ago. Geopolitical shifts, economic uncertainty and demand/supply volatility are rising. In addition, to spur growth companies are quick to add products to the item master, but slow to rationalize the portfolio. The rising complexity of items sold decreases the organization’s ability to forecast, and the longer lead times across multiple tiers of sourcing and supply increases the Bullwhip Effect’s impact (distortion of the demand signal across multiple tiers of the value network). As a result, there is a greater need for supplier development and supplier sensing to reduce supply risk. Inventory management and supplier financial sensing grow in importance with the increase in uncertainty.
Risk management is no longer narrowly focused: a technology, a response to a natural disaster, or improving supply chain visibility. Instead, it is more holistic with a focus on managing demand and supply variability cross-functionally and improving outcomes in an uncertain world.
In this report, we share insights on the current state of risk management programs while providing recommendations on what defines excellence.
State of Business Networks in Process Industries 2014 - Summary ChartsLora Cecere
Executive Summary
Today, the performance of an organization hinges more than ever on the effectiveness of flows between, and amongst, trading partners. It is not easy. The supply chain is not linear, and the relationships extend across geographic borders and industry sectors.
Outsourcing relationships have grown in the last decade; however, the automation of these networks has not kept pace. In the words of one respondent interviewed for this report in a facilitated workshop to review the data, “Today, we connect trading partners through spreadsheets, email, phone and fax. It is antiquated. I liken it to baling wire, chewing gum and duct tape. I need solutions that can synchronize and harmonize data across trading partners in real-time. My operating committee does not think that it is sexy to invest in B2B solutions, but it is needed. Today, it is almost impossible for us to understand the manufacturing status of purchase orders, and have accurate information readily on supply chain visibility of in-transit shipments. As a result, we make the wrong decisions, and have unnecessary wait times to get information.”
These comments echo the findings in this study. Respondents operate value networks, but they struggle to get to the data they need. The outsourcing of logistics is greater than manufacturing. Eighty-one percent of companies outsource logistics. The volume of outsourced logistics is 48% on average. In contrast, 66% of companies outsource manufacturing. The outsourced volume manufacturing volume varies, but averages 15%.
While the networks are complex, and the goals are many, progress is hard to track. This leads many supply chain leaders to ask, “What is the current state? What is the opportunity?” Answering these questions is the goal of this report.
Let’s start with the current state. As seen in Figure 2, the average respondent in this report believes that the supply chain today is more controlled and global than compared to two years ago. While they have made improvements in agility and proactivity, there is much more left to do. The largest challenges are in the use of outside-in data to improve channel sensing and reduce risk. While the supply chain today has made progress in transactional efficiency, companies are less competent at sensing opportunities and mitigating risks.
Supply Chain Metrics That Matter - A Focus on Pharmaceutical Companies - 27 A...Lora Cecere
Executive Overview
When we compiled the Supply Chains to Admire Report in August 2014, no pharmaceutical company made the list. To make the list, a company had to deliver performance (above average results for the period of 2009-2013 than their peer group on a portfolio of metrics including operating margin, inventory turns and Return on Invested Capital) and drive supply chain improvement (based on the Supply Chain Index) faster than their peer group. We believe both performance and improvement matter.
In the pharmaceutical industry, we find most companies to be stuck. They have either regressed in supply chain performance or they are at the same point as they were a decade ago. For many supply chain leaders that attend conferences, this may seem unfathomable. There is an industry belief that companies have implemented new technologies, and evolved processes, and driven improved balance sheet results.
As we will show in this report, as seen in Figure 4, this is not necessarily the case. On average, AstraZeneca has outperformed Bristol-Myers Squibb, and the industry as a whole, but they are not resilient. They have gone backwards in margin and not sustained inventory turn improvements. In contrast, Bristol-Meyers Squibb has not made progress in either performance or improvement and has remained at the same level of performance, without improvement, throughout the period.
How Do We Heal the Healthcare Value Chain?
Over the last decade, as shown in figure 1, the hospital supply chain has been one of the few that has improved operating margin, reduced inventory and improved revenue/employee. In contrast, the manufacturing suppliers to the hospital organization have grown inventories and struggled to preserve margins. Across the value chain from the patient to the raw material suppliers, total inventories have grown and costs have escalated. With pending regulations, hospitals are being forced to rethink processes, redefine value and work more holistically to improve sourcing practices. The suppliers to the hospital systems are having to rethink their systems to rethink the customer (from selling to the physician to selling to a more formal buying organization based on patient outcomes) and adapt to the new processes within the hospital for value analysis.
Supply chain processes within the hospitals have matured. Hospitals have made more progress on improving cash-to-cash cycles than their upstream manufacturing trading partners. They have reduced inventories and attempted to work with suppliers. As shown in figure 2, it is notable to see that this industry is one of the few where downstream trading partners have actually improved payable terms for their suppliers.
The future lies before the healthcare provider. As the provider of patient care, they have the greatest potential to lead in the healthcare value chain’s redesign to improve value. They have come a long way, but the changes have been incremental. They have focused primarily on traditional sourcing techniques; not a redesign of the healthcare value chain from the outside in, and the redefinition of complex and antiquated processes.
The Power of Voice Study: The Value Proposition of Voice-directed Warehousing...Lora Cecere
A warehouse is not a warehouse and a supply chain is not a supply chain. They come in various sizes, varieties and with different requirements. They vary by industry and product requirements. It is hard to generalize. They need to be designed and fit for purpose, but there is no question that they are growing more complex. As complexity increases, manufacturers and distributors are seeking new ways to optimize customer service requirements with rising labor costs.
One of these options is voice-directed warehousing. Voice-directed warehousing—where a warehouse worker is directed to perform tasks based on voice automation using a headset—is now over twenty years old. It enables a worker to process orders “hands-free and eyes-free” improving safety, quality and productivity. The processes are maturing and the technologies are increasing in capability. We have moved from early adopter, or early experimentation with the technology, to main market adoption where mainstream manufacturers and distributors are trying to rationalize the value proposition. This report is designed to answer the question, “What is the value of voice?” for the supply chain leader. The top reason that supply chain leaders use the technology is to improve the quality of loads to the customer. Here we tell this story.
Today’s warehouses are more complex than ten years ago. Products and channels have proliferated, late-stage customization requirements have increased, the number of temperature environments has multiplied (e.g., cold chain, frozen etc.), and warehouse employee turnover is greater than ever before. Customer service requirements have increased and as a result, a greater percentage of products are picked by either the “each,” the “case,” or the “layer” in the modern warehouse.
Today, there are higher demands for customer service in the organization. The cadence of customer requests and new requirements increases each year. Accurate transmission of these requests into action is problematic. The environment has grown more dynamic. Order cycle time is shrinking. There is continuous pressure to reduce costs and improve customer service. Demand volatility reigns. Product variants and master data issues abound. Voice-directed warehousing offers promise, but how do companies rationalize the capital costs?
Additionally, compliance regulations loom. How will the warehouse adapt to product serialization in pharmaceutical companies? What will field to fork legislation mean for food and beverage manufacturers? How will product tracking and customization for REACH impact flows? There are more questions than answers. The only thing that is known is the warehouse will be rife with change.
Supply Chain Metrics That Matter: A Critical Look at Operating Margin -10 DEC...Lora Cecere
Executive Overview
If a supply chain leader cannot demonstrate improvement in operating margin, they are often fired. Consequences are severe. However, as complexity in global supply chains has increased, it has become increasingly difficult to improve profitability metrics. Among supply chain leaders, operating margin is one of the preferred measures of profitability.
Successful supply chain management is about balance and particularly the balancing of growth, profitability, cycle and complexity. This is what we call The Effective Frontier. Supply chain management is getting tougher as commodity markets get more volatile, wage prices increase, and product life cycles shorten. It is up to the supply chain leader to design the network and processes to protect margin and balance the supply chain. This is becoming an increasingly difficult task.
The challenges are many and they vary by industry. Commodity pressure is higher than at any previous point in time as shown in Figure 2. There is a limited toolkit for how to offset margin pressure. They include better planning, transportation optimization, rethinking network design, improved Sales & Operations (S&OP) execution, and Kanban events with suppliers and customers. None are easy or quick fixes.
Additionally, while many think that calculating cost and monitoring profitability should be easy, this is not true. In our research, we find that only 24% of companies surveyed can easily access total supply chain cost information. The ability to get to the data and connect the dots on cost to operating margin performance remains difficult for most. In fact, as shown in Figure 3, for 53% of survey respondents, getting to total supply chain cost is difficult.
Operating margin is a straightforward calculation with serious implications. Of the ten industries profiled in Table 1, only two have increased operating margin over the period: consumer electronics and consumer packaged goods. Furthermore, of the 18 companies profiled individually in this report, less than 40% (7/18 = 39%) have made progress on margin in 2012 compared to their result in 2000. As shown in Table 1, it is becoming more and more difficult for companies to maintain balance on their portfolio of supply chain metrics. This trend is true across all industry subgroups.
Companies with the highest operating margin tend to be the least mature in their understanding of supply chain principles. As a result, they demonstrate the worst performance in balancing competing priorities on the Supply Chain Effective Frontier and are stuck on the Supply Chain Plateau. The positions of companies, and their relative successes over the last decade, are shown in figure 4.
Table 1 is sorted by average operating margin with pharmaceutical companies returning the highest average value at 0.25 over the period. With the patent cliff, and significant changes in the healthcare environment including ongoing implementation of the Affordable Care Act, ...
What Is the Value Proposition of Sales and Operations Planning?Lora Cecere
Survey Details: The research for this report was conducted online from January 6 - September 14, 2015 by Supply Chain Insights. Surveys were conducted among Manufacturers and Wholesalers/Distributors/Co-operatives with $250M+ in revenue and who have at least one S&OP process (n=73). For the purpose of analysis, respondents were split between those with a self-reported "effective" S&OP (n=31) and those without (n=42).
Objective: To understand the value proposition of an effective S&OP (Sales and Operations Planning) process. NOTE: An S&OP process was defined as a "tactical planning process to forecast sales and plan operations."
Highlight: Companies with a more effective S&OP process are more aligned, agile and balanced, which leads to greater control and improved response.
The Power of Voice Study: The Value Proposition of Voice-directed Warehousing...Lora Cecere
A warehouse is not a warehouse and a supply chain is not a supply chain. They come in various sizes, varieties and with different requirements. They vary by industry and product requirements. It is hard to generalize. They need to be designed and fit for purpose, but there is no question that they are growing more complex. As complexity increases, manufacturers and distributors are seeking new ways to optimize customer service requirements with rising labor costs.
One of these options is voice-directed warehousing. Voice-directed warehousing—where a warehouse worker is directed to perform tasks based on voice automation using a headset—is now over twenty years old. It enables a worker to process orders “hands-free and eyes-free” improving safety, quality and productivity. The processes are maturing and the technologies are increasing in capability. We have moved from early adopter, or early experimentation with the technology, to main market adoption where mainstream manufacturers and distributors are trying to rationalize the value proposition. This report is designed to answer the question, “What is the value of voice?” for the supply chain leader. The top reason that supply chain leaders use the technology is to improve the quality of loads to the customer. Here we tell this story.
Today’s warehouses are more complex than ten years ago. Products and channels have proliferated, late-stage customization requirements have increased, the number of temperature environments has multiplied (e.g., cold chain, frozen etc.), and warehouse employee turnover is greater than ever before. Customer service requirements have increased and as a result, a greater percentage of products are picked by either the “each,” the “case,” or the “layer” in the modern warehouse.
Today, there are higher demands for customer service in the organization. The cadence of customer requests and new requirements increases each year. Accurate transmission of these requests into action is problematic. The environment has grown more dynamic. Order cycle time is shrinking. There is continuous pressure to reduce costs and improve customer service. Demand volatility reigns. Product variants and master data issues abound. Voice-directed warehousing offers promise, but how do companies rationalize the capital costs?
Additionally, compliance regulations loom. How will the warehouse adapt to product serialization in pharmaceutical companies? What will field to fork legislation mean for food and beverage manufacturers? How will product tracking and customization for REACH impact flows? There are more questions than answers. The only thing that is known is the warehouse will be rife with change.
Supply Chain Metrics That Matter: A Critical Look at Operating Margin -10 DEC...Lora Cecere
Executive Overview
If a supply chain leader cannot demonstrate improvement in operating margin, they are often fired. Consequences are severe. However, as complexity in global supply chains has increased, it has become increasingly difficult to improve profitability metrics. Among supply chain leaders, operating margin is one of the preferred measures of profitability.
Successful supply chain management is about balance and particularly the balancing of growth, profitability, cycle and complexity. This is what we call The Effective Frontier. Supply chain management is getting tougher as commodity markets get more volatile, wage prices increase, and product life cycles shorten. It is up to the supply chain leader to design the network and processes to protect margin and balance the supply chain. This is becoming an increasingly difficult task.
The challenges are many and they vary by industry. Commodity pressure is higher than at any previous point in time as shown in Figure 2. There is a limited toolkit for how to offset margin pressure. They include better planning, transportation optimization, rethinking network design, improved Sales & Operations (S&OP) execution, and Kanban events with suppliers and customers. None are easy or quick fixes.
Additionally, while many think that calculating cost and monitoring profitability should be easy, this is not true. In our research, we find that only 24% of companies surveyed can easily access total supply chain cost information. The ability to get to the data and connect the dots on cost to operating margin performance remains difficult for most. In fact, as shown in Figure 3, for 53% of survey respondents, getting to total supply chain cost is difficult.
Operating margin is a straightforward calculation with serious implications. Of the ten industries profiled in Table 1, only two have increased operating margin over the period: consumer electronics and consumer packaged goods. Furthermore, of the 18 companies profiled individually in this report, less than 40% (7/18 = 39%) have made progress on margin in 2012 compared to their result in 2000. As shown in Table 1, it is becoming more and more difficult for companies to maintain balance on their portfolio of supply chain metrics. This trend is true across all industry subgroups.
Companies with the highest operating margin tend to be the least mature in their understanding of supply chain principles. As a result, they demonstrate the worst performance in balancing competing priorities on the Supply Chain Effective Frontier and are stuck on the Supply Chain Plateau. The positions of companies, and their relative successes over the last decade, are shown in figure 4.
Table 1 is sorted by average operating margin with pharmaceutical companies returning the highest average value at 0.25 over the period. With the patent cliff, and significant changes in the healthcare environment including ongoing implementation of the Affordable Care Act, ...
What Is the Value Proposition of Sales and Operations Planning?Lora Cecere
Survey Details: The research for this report was conducted online from January 6 - September 14, 2015 by Supply Chain Insights. Surveys were conducted among Manufacturers and Wholesalers/Distributors/Co-operatives with $250M+ in revenue and who have at least one S&OP process (n=73). For the purpose of analysis, respondents were split between those with a self-reported "effective" S&OP (n=31) and those without (n=42).
Objective: To understand the value proposition of an effective S&OP (Sales and Operations Planning) process. NOTE: An S&OP process was defined as a "tactical planning process to forecast sales and plan operations."
Highlight: Companies with a more effective S&OP process are more aligned, agile and balanced, which leads to greater control and improved response.
3 key advantages of e2 e supply chain visibilitySameerShaik43
It is vital for logistics providers and their customers to stay updated with current events. Collecting and analyzing real-world data enables the forecasting of the unknown. Strong leadership is founded on an open and honest basis.
https://www.tycoonstory.com/business/3-key-advantages-of-end-to-end-supply-chain-visibility/
The State of Logistics Outsourcing; 2010 Third Party Logistics StudyDennis Wereldsma
This 2010 15th Annual Third-Party Logistics Study, based
on research conducted in mid-2010, examines the
current state of the global market for 3PL services, and
explores in depth issues surrounding total landed cost
calculation. The report also considers supply chain
issues, including the role of 3PL s in two vertical markets,
Life Sciences and Fast-Moving Consumer Goods.
Global retailers work with us to prepare for Peak Trading. In this document, we look at ways to mitigate the risks – and make the most of the opportunities – associated with extreme traffic
peaks.
Supplier financial stability and risk differentiation in turbulent times -sup...Thomas Tanel
There is a Darwinian effect occurring in the supply chain as Fortune 1000 companies cut weaker suppliers. The simple fact is that in today’s longer global supply chains, product
moves over greater distances and across more multinational borders than in the more localized supply chains of the past. In an era of wildly fluctuating commodity prices and security regulations, the coordination and execution required for international shipments has become
more of a challenge than in the past.
This white paper discuss on building a supply chain beyond risks factors surrounding organization operations. Companies today work on several supply chain strategies to improve their supply chain.
Risk factors in as-is process and how to eliminate those risks.
Security, Compliance & Loss Prevention Part 4.pptx
4 Reasons Why Your Supply Chain is Broken_090215_fc
1. REASONS
WHY YOUR
SUPPLY CHAIN
IS BROKEN
1 You Place More
Attention On Your
Domestic Supply Chain
Versus International
Supply Chain
2 Products Are Not
Getting To Market On-
Time
3 Visibility Is Lacking
Within Your Global
Supply Chain
4 You Are Handling
Your Supply Chain
Logistics In-House
4
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2. 1
You Place More Attention On Your Domestic
Supply Chain Versus International Supply Chain
When evaluating the way your organization manages your domestic supply chain do you
place that same amount of focus on your international transportation? One reason why it
is important to vamp up your international supply chain processes is because of the need to enable
more optimal responses to changing global demands. “A 1% investment in international supply
chain efficiency yields a far greater return than a 1% investment in domestic supply chain
efficiency. Most international supply chain investment is only about 1/10 of domestic investment,”
according to the Aberdeen Group.
Truth be told, there are few solely
domestic companies left today.
Businesses are either directly
sourcing overseas or their suppliers
are; fewer and fewer companies are
not selling their goods in
international markets. Competition is
arriving from every area of the globe.
“Gaps in performance and
investment are important in today’s
global market, where 88% of
companies are engaged in
international trade and global
transport,” according to the
Aberdeen Group. If you were to
gauge the time you are currently spending on your domestic supply chain versus your international
supply chain, how does it compare? International supply chains face security and compliance
challenges. Enhance your existing import and export compliance knowledge base and establish a
comprehensive track-and-trace system for real time
visibility for import and export shipments in-transit.
Avoid compliance violations and reduce duties and
fees while increasing profitability and operational
efficiency.
“The logistics costs associated with operating an
international supply chain can be 6 to 11 percent of
revenue, which is roughly three to five times more than
a domestic supply network,” according to Stephanie
Miles, Senior Vice President at Amber Road.
Placing a larger focus on international transportation
can provide a strong return-on-investment.
1
5%
36%
22%
19%
5%
13%
How Much Have You Invested in International
Supply Chain Solutions vs. Domestic Supply Chain
Solutions?
About Equal 1/2 1/3 1/5 1/10 <1/10
Source:
180 companies with over $100,000/yr. international shipments
Aberdeen and Logistics Management Magazine Survey, May 2014
3. 2
Products Are Not Getting To Market On-Time
On-time delivery directly affects the customer’s buying decision. Buying decisions affect
pricing. If your products take any extra time to arrive at their final destination how does
that impact your company’s bottom-line? The extra time in-transit is not only delaying
your customer from being able to
purchase from your stock of product
but it is also allowing your competitors
to gain a competitive advantage. Your
product will not hold the same value
when it is delayed because of capacity
constraints.
Timeliness of distribution has a direct
impact on a products distinct position
in the market. For example, if you are
a grocery store and your racks are full
of canned goods approaching their
sell-by date this directly impacts the
buying decision of your customer.
Companies plan release dates for their
products and know that they will need
to have enough shipments of stock on-
hand, along with replenishment
products, within a certain timeframe. When demand for a product is high it is vital for a company
to have enough product available to match that demand. A wide range of industries experience
periodic, non-repeatable events that carry a high demand for products during a short time frame.
With global sourcing and long lead times it is important for supply chains to be able to quickly
deal with demand and supply variability. Supply chains are viewed based on speed, risk and cost.
Often times, the value of speed is understated. Every minute a product is in a supply chain the
clock is ticking and the profit margin is dwindling.
Global logistics requires getting the right product, in the right quantity and right quality, in the
right place at the right time, for the right customer at the right cost. Data must be available instantly.
To know about supply chain interruptions and volatility sooner, companies need access to
automated data collection solutions that provide information in real-time. The more time it takes
to identify a problem, the further through the company it has spread. The data can be analyzed and
compiled to form trends so C-Level executives can exam it and determine if an interruption is
possible. Companies can also plan more effectively for crises that they cannot predict. Information
about second and third-tier suppliers can help form a plan of action so that members of the supply
chain are not scrambling when a disaster strikes.
2
4. 3
Visibility Is Lacking Within Your Global Supply Chain
Identify and eliminate delays before they become problems
and reduce unpredictability within your supply chain.
Generate a lean supply chain by managing and
controlling your in-transit inventory. You should be able
to follow cargo in real-time, know exactly where it is
from purchase order to proof-of-delivery. If a shipment
has encountered a delay you need to be able to address
the capacity problem directly. You can’t fix problems if
you do not know they exist. Online, on-demand reporting
with access to historical activity will give you the ability to
analyze trends. This will provide you with the ability to evaluate and
measure key performance indicators. Query the data you have with a
visibility tool that allows you to drill down to the granular level and generate
reports to share with key stakeholders. Gain a deeper understanding of the
drivers of cost, performance and problem areas.
Maintain, audit and control current Customs compliance processes. Mitigate
supply chain delays and fines by utilizing an online portal to electronically submit
information to Customs. Obtain the benefits of end-to-end global supply chain
visibility and control. Manage risk more effectively and improve product profitability
by using agility to help face unexpected disruptions within the supply chain.
Increased visibility of inventory across the supply chain allows for in-transit inventory to be
counted as on-hand, which lowers the amount of safeguard stock your company will need to hold
in case of capacity constraints. With this visibility, you can make strategic fulfillment decisions
and can more accurately identify estimated time of arrival of shipment of goods and can respond
to changing availability and consumer demand in real-time.
“To comprehensively manage global trade, supply chain teams need real-time visibility into the
status of orders and shipments. With today's international shipments costing twice as much, taking
five times as long and having five times more variability than a domestic shipment, global supply
chain visibility is an imperative,” according to the Aberdeen Group.
Disruptions can happen with little or no notice. There is very little time to react once a disruption
has taken place, so shippers have to concentrate on making quick and effective decisions to
mitigate the impacts and control the costs incurred. It is critically important that the shipper has
accurate, timely information on the status of their freight and the nature of the disruption. End-to-
end visibility of freight in-transit is a must, as is readily available information on alternative
inventory sources and freight options, so the shipper can collaborate with suppliers to deal with
freight delays.
3
5. 4
In today’s uncertain world, supply chains are more sensitive than ever to unplanned risks. At the
same time, tools like supply chain visibility are available to prepare shippers for unexpected supply
chain disruptions.
The top four supply chain capabilities that Deloitte University has found for big data and
advanced analytics from a recent study titled, “Supply Chain Talent of the Future” are: 1)
optimization tools, 2) demand forecasting, 3) integrated business planning and 4) supplier
collaboration and risk analytics. Control tower analytics and visualization are also on the road
maps of supply chain teams currently running big data pilots.
Sixty-four percent of supply chain executives consider big data analytics a disruptive and
important technology, setting the foundation for long-term change management in their
organizations. SCM World's latest Chief Supply Chain Officer Report provides a prioritization of
the most disruptive technologies for supply chains as defined by the organizations’ members.
56%
53%
48%
46%
37%
37%
37%
27%
26%
24%
23%
17%
12%
39%
43%
45%
47%
52%
49%
50%
53%
51%
48%
50%
56%
47%
OP T IMIZA T ION T OOLS
DE MA ND F ORE C A S T ING
INT E GRA T E D BUS INE S S P LA NNING
S UP P LIE R C OLLA BORA T ION A ND RIS K A NA LY T IC S
I N- ME MORY C OMP UT ING
GP S A ND/OR RF ID
RE A L - T IME S H IP ME NT T RA C K ING
C ONT ROL T OW E R A NA LY T IC S A ND VIS UA LIZA T ION
A DVA NC E D ROBOT IC S IN MA NUF A C T URING
3D P RINT ING
W E A RA BLE T E C H NOLOGY
A RT IF IC IA L INT E LLIGE NC E
A DVA NC E D DE LIVE RY S Y S T E MS
USE OF SUPPLY CHAIN CAPABILITIES
Currently use Expect to use
Source: Deloitte
6. 5
The following graphic from the report provides insights into how senior supply chain executives
are prioritizing big data analytics over other technologies.
Companies that follow a clear strategy are likely to have a larger return on their big data
analytics investment because they are better able to navigate the challenges they encounter in
collecting and storing data, selecting the right analytics tools, generating usable insights from
their data and ultimately being able to act on those insights to achieve positive business
outcomes.
7. 6
Strategy development is not a minor undertaking. Developing a partnership with a 3PL will help
you define your strategy for applying big data analytics into your operations and will help assist
with how to understand the benefits of end-to-end visibility that provides the data intelligence
that you need from your global supply chain. This partnership will be key in understanding the
true potential of big data analytics while helping you avoid making a significant investment in
the tools or visibility software required. Having an understanding of how your industry is
evolving or being disrupted—and then translating those insights into a clear business road map is
critical.
Big data is having an impact on organizations’ reaction time to supply chain issues (41%),
increased supply chain efficiency of 10% or greater (36%), and greater integration across the
supply chain (36%). The Big Data Analytics in Supply Chain: Hype or Here to Stay? Accenture
Global Operations Megatrends Study found that companies are achieving significant results
using big data analytics to improve supply chain performance and gain greater contextual
intelligence.
46%
41%
36%
36%
33%
32%
28%
28%
27%
26%
20%
14%
Improvement in customer service and demand fulfillment of
10% or greater
Faster and more effective reaction time to supply chain
issues
Increase in supply chain efficiency of 10% or greater
Greater integration across the supply chain
Optimization of inventory and asset productivity
More effective S&OP process and decision making
Improved cost-to-serve
Better customer and supplier relationships
Improvement in customer service and demand fulfillment of
less than 10%
Increase in supply chain efficiency of less than 10%
Improvement in demand driven operations
Shortened order-to-delivery cycle times
Results Companies Have Achieved Using Big Data
Source: Accenture
8. 7
Leaders make developing a robust big data analytics enterprise-wide strategy a high priority. An
enterprise-wide strategy of which the supply chain is an integral part enables a company to use
big data to drive business value. Companies with an enterprise-wide strategy are more likely than
those with a process focused strategy to have shortened order-to-delivery cycle times (61 percent
versus 14 percent), a more effective sales and operations (S&OP) process and decision making
(55 percent versus 12 percent), and improved cost-to-serve (55 percent versus 10 percent).
Embedding big data analytics in operations leads to a 4.25x improvement in order-to-cycle
delivery times and a 2.6x improvement in supply chain efficiency of 10% or greater. Accenture
found that embedding big data into supply chain operations accelerates supply chain processes a
minimum of 1.3x over using big data on an ad hoc basis.
Source: Big Data Analytics in Supply Chain: Hype or Here to Stay? Accenture Study.
11%
12%
13%
11%
10%
12%
13%
14%
10%
14%
47%
48%
50%
52%
55%
55%
55%
55%
60%
61%
Improvement in customer service and demand fulfillment of
10% or greater
Greater integration across the supply chain
Optimization of inventory and asset productivity
Faster and more effective reaction time to supply chain
issues
Improved cost-to-serve
More effective S&OP process and decision making
Improvement in demand driven operations
Better customer and supplier relationships
Increase in supply chain efficiency of 10% or greater
Shortened order-to-delivery cycle times
Companies with an enterprise-wide strategy generate a range of
important supply chain benefits from big data analytics
Enterprise-wide strategy Process-focused strategy
Source: Accenture
9. 8
Leaders emphasize embedding big data analytics into operations to improve decision making. A
second key to generating more substantial returns is ensuring that big data analytics is
operationalized. Companies that embed analytics in their day-to-day supply chain operations
generate more significant and far-reaching benefits than those that use big data analytics on an ad
hoc basis in limited areas of focus. These benefits include shortened order-to-delivery cycle
times (63 percent versus 12 percent), improvement in demand-driven operations (58 percent
versus 15 percent), better customer and supplier relationships (52 percent versus 19 percent),
more effective S&OP and decision making (51 percent versus 13 percent), faster and more
effective reaction time to supply chain issues (47 percent versus 18 percent), and optimized
inventory and asset productivity (45 percent versus 19 percent). Operationalizing analytics in this
way requires deploying the right tools to support the right processes in the right way.
Advanced analytics can generate deep and expansive value by providing real-time visibility
across the supply chain and improving forecasting, demand planning, sourcing, replenishment,
production, transportation and logistics and distribution processes.
63%
59%
58%
53%
52%
51%
47%
45%
44%
43%
12%
16%
15%
18%
19%
13%
18%
19%
19%
17%
Shortened order-to-delivery cycle times
Increase in supply chain efficiency of 10% or greater
Improvement in demand driven operations
Improved cost-to-serve
Better customer and supplier relationships
More effective S&OP process and decision making
Faster and more effective reaction time to supply chain
issues
Optimization of inventory and asset productivity
Greater integration across the supply chain
Improvement in customer service and demand fulfillment of
10% or greater
Companies that embed big data analytics in their operations are far
more likely to generate a range of important supply chain benefits
Used on ad hoc basis Embedded in day-to-day operations
Source: Accenture
10. 9
Most C-level and supply chain executives admit that they still have little idea of what is
happening throughout their extended supply chain until long after events have taken place. It is
nearly impossible for their company to sense an issue and modify or optimize its response in a
timely manner. As a result, today’s executives are frustrated—they know their companies are
sitting on extremely valuable information assets and yet they are unable to leverage it for the
benefit of their organization. While they work hard every day running operations or trying to
figure out how to best allocate their limited capital, the thought is always in the back of their
minds that there has to be a better way. The problem however is that it is very challenging to
know what tools to invest in and how to time that investment.
It is important to obtain greater contextual intelligence of how supply chain tactics, strategies and
operations are influencing financial objectives. Supply chain visibility often refers to being able
to see multiple supplier layers deep into a supply network. Being able to track financial outcomes
of supply chain decisions back to financial objectives is attainable.
Source: Turn Big Data Into Big Visibility.
Today, because of the widespread use of digital technologies, companies are collecting ever-
greater amounts of data—and, as a result, need even more powerful ways to make sense of that
data. Big data analytics fills that need.
11. 10
Big data can be looked at almost as a bully, and the problem is its victim is typically your Excel
spreadsheet. Spreadsheets can be a huge headache for executives trying to maintain or build an
accurate forecasting model since they call for manual entry, which will slow down operational
efficiency.
"Automated companies have moved out from behind the firewall and converted 'once manual'
processes to cloud-based solutions for trade and visibility. Top performers are delivering
superior results and are more operationally ready for globalization, building a culture that
embeds true organizational intelligence into their corporate DNA, according to Bryan Hall, Vice
President and Group Director, Supply Chain and Operations Practices at the Aberdeen Group.
In a visibility report conducted by the Aberdeen Group titled, "Supply Chain Visibility and
Segmentation: Control Tower Approach", 85% of companies indicated that they plan to increase
their current level of end-to-end supply chain visibility.
Utilizing a control tower will help manage risk in your company’s inbound supply chain. By
making the control tower a key component of your upstream supplier management function, you
can sort through a wide variety of data and model your suppliers’ capabilities to understand what
suppliers are truly able to do. Such insights will help you avoid costly interruptions in supply and
will allow for you to meet your commitments to customers.
Today, new secure, cloud-based global trade solutions have been adopted by top performing
companies to embed balanced metrics at the executive level and foster organizational
intelligence. Organizational intelligence is enabled by automation.
"We are seeing that the complexity and global nature of today's trade/transport landscape drives
a need to collaborate with partners and share data and intelligence from the original source to
final delivery,” according to Bob Heaney, Research Director, Supply Chain and Retail Practices
at the Aberdeen Group.
12. 11
Cloud-based solutions pave the way for standardized data entry and sharing. A data network is
only as strong as the quality of information that is being exchanged. Real-time analysis of
information is a key driver in efficient forecasting and improved visibility for supply chain
executives.
84%
84%
78%
77%
76%
72%
48%
38%
41%
32%
40%
32%
Safeguards are in place with screening for key
risk factors embedded into daily process -
1.75x
Online visibility into in-transit shipment
status - 2.21x
Online visibility into the status of global
supply chain events (e.g. customs clearance
events, trade document status) - 1.90x
GTM Risk Management metrics or KPIs are
included in management objectives and
compensation - 2.41x
Online visibility into international order and
supplier event status - 1.90x
Event Management with better Key
Performance Indicators (KPI) - 2.25x
Companies with an enterprise-wide strategy generate a range of
important supply chain benefits from big data analytics
Mostly Manual, n=35 Some to High Automation, n=40
Source: Aberdeen Group, October 2014
Percent of Respondents, n =75
13. 12
You Are Handling Your Supply Chain Logistics In-House
Outsourcing simply for the sake of outsourcing is not best practice. Identifying a
single end-to-end logistics provider that can provide flexibility, reliability, and visibility
with communication will save you time, risk and cost from your operations.
If your company does not have product available today this significantly impacts your profit
margin and eliminates future sales with these same customers tomorrow. Technology has
made the world smaller and with that the marketplace has become ultra-competitive.
Companies in all industries need the right product, at the right place, at the right time to be
successful. If the product is not on-hand when needed the end result is a lost customer. This
has a direct impact on the quality and reputation of your brand.
Customer loyalty will be lost due to the product being out-of-stock. An inefficient and
mismanaged supply chain will create an environment that dampers growth. The internet has
raised expectations of product availability. The global marketplace attributes to longer lead
times and layers of complexity from a transportation distribution standpoint. Outsourcing your
international transportation to a freight forwarder and customs and logistics provider can
improve your flexibility, speed and accountability.
Avoid ongoing capital investments in transportation spend and see a strong return-on-
investment. Ensure that your customers receive what they ordered when they need it. The
difference between having a good logistics process and a great logistics process could mean
the difference between making a sale and
giving the sale away to your competition.
Where does your supply chain stand?
Is your supply chain broken?
What is the biggest issue that your supply chain is facing?
4
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