Posts Tagged ‘comprehensive visibility’

Geolocation Integration the Next Frontier for Supply Chain Entities

November 5th, 2010
Geolocation_in_the_Supply_Chain

Geolocation_in_the_Supply_Chain

As the old saying goes, “change is a coming”. These winds of change are multi-variant and are carrying a wonderfully potent mixture of geolocation, analytics, and SaaS to today’s businesses. In fact, the supply chain stands to be one of the biggest benefactors of this sweeping change.

For many years, supply chain practitioners have discussed and envisioned a future whereby geolocation data could be seamlessly linked with order execution, warehouse management systems (WMS) and or transporation management systems (TMS).  The benefits of being able to assemble this location data in real-time for the supply chain and effectively disseminate out to enterprise decision support systems and business users includes:

  1. Better Planning – understanding inventory flows at a pallet or case level and being able to understand the velocity of movement, in transit product and the position of inventory could have significant impact for corporate planners trying to appropriately allocate manufacturing capability, purchasing decisions and procurement of input materials.
  2. Optimization of Network - today the supply chain network of companies large and small is constantly in flux.  Things such as seasonality, promotions, rain fall, weather, fuel costs and other variables can significantly alter product flows from traditional patterns.  This constant flux makes it difficult for supply chain tacticians to understand their operating environment in real time.  What typically happens in today’s world is that supply chain leadership is always looking at a dated snapshot of the network and resulting product flows.  If supply chain tacticians had the ability to visually understand their environment in real time then the possibilities become quite endless and very interesting.
  3. Audit Precision & Compliance Initiatives – Another benefit of maintaining geolocation data that may not be so obvious is the financial benefit that could be realized.  In transportation, a common variable used in calculation of costs for over the road type movements is mileage.  With geolocation capability tied to various gates in a shipment’s lifecycle such as order confirmed, pick confirmed, in-transit, and POD, a procurement team could use time stamp data correlated with latitutde and longitude information to deduce actual mileage transited, cost estimates, route traveled, and velocity at various checkpoints.  With the same geolocation information described companies could reference rules and ensure compliance with either internal policies or insurance mandates.  An example of this could be the idea that a tractor-trailer cannot exceed some average speed.i>
  4. Green Initiatives – As green initiatives continue to take over old-school industries geolocation data can help  supply chain departments to gather the critical intelligence they need to undertake carbon footprint measurements and other green related initiatives.  Other capabilities provided by having precise location information
  5. Customer Service – An excellent use for geolocation data could include the ability to more accurately measure transit times from frequented origins to destinations.  For example, consider the case where a large distribution facility in a metro area restocks materials to numerous homes, stores or smaller warehouses in the state.  By maintaining geolocation data the distribution facility could more accurately assess transit times to each end destination, by time, by day, etc.
  6. New Service Offerings & Market Differentiation – The market for transportation services and third party logistics services continues to grow and become more competitive each year.  With geolocation capabilities transportation entities can offer new services to their customers and help differentiate their offerings from a sea of competitors and look-alikes.
  7. Safety – As the recent bomb incidents on board UPS planes indicated, we live in an increasingly dangerous world where cargo operations are being used as a mask for potentially nefarious activities by terrorists and wrong-doers.  Geolocation and its integration into asset management systems, inventory control and transport management could help provide corporations with clear visibility into key personnel, assets and product flows at all times.

So the question beyond what benefits will geolocation bring is one of how does it become a reality, what are the steps and what may be some of the most present obstacles today.

To usher in the type of benefits that can be realized from geolocation organizations need to have a few basic building blocks in place.

  • Centralized Data w/ Well Defined Schemas
  • Integration with Key Order Management, Inventory Management and Transportation Systems
  • Modern Applications Frameworks  (SOAP, REST, etc.)
  • Deployment of Applications to Diverse Devices (Web, SmartPhones, iPads)
  • Capability to Assimilate and Make Sense of Data (i.e. Business Intelligence Platforms)

The last point may be one of the more important points to make.  The premise of geolocation by default also means a literal avalanche of data.  In the example that was given above imagine a distribution facility normally has 100 orders a day to local destination points. With geolocation enabled these 100 orders could potentially produce tens of thousands of records with juicy tidbits like latitude, longitude, time, vehicle ID, driver ID, temperature, etc.  Without proper business intelligence platforms this data is somewhat useless.

Geolocation has some awesome capabilities for the supply chain and I am hopeful that with recent announcements and initiatives from government entities and startups alike that the promise of geolocation will soon be supplanted by a more widespread reality and many real-life implementations.

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Posted in Business Intelligence, Event Management, Geolocation, Reporting & Analytics, Sensor Technologies, Smart Phones, Software as a Service (SaaS), Supply Chain Thoughts, Supply Chain Visibility

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In the Cloud We Trust…Supply Chain Moves to SaaS

April 5th, 2010
Supply Chain SaaS

Supply Chain SaaS

Anyone who has been involved in business for any length of time knows that today’s winning formula can quickly turn sour. Certainly, the job of a leader of any organization is to closely monitor the environment in which they compete to “read the tea leaves”.  Reading the tea leaves involves picking up on nearly imperceptible movements in the market, monitoring casual organizational chatter, watching competitors activities, and in general staying plugged in.  Part art and part science, these combined activities require “Sherlock-Holmes-esque” investigative abilities combined with a knack for piecing it all together.

I’ve been pulling the pieces together for a bit in the broader supply chain industry and have been observing some very interesting trends that appear to be converging in a more rapid fashion that most in our industry are accustomed to.  This convergence centers on the adoption of cloud-based solutions (aka Software as a Service (SaaS)) within the supply chain industry to facilitate challenges to common problems.  The reasons for SaaS adoption are numerous and I will spell them out further in the post.  However, let me first point to some of the anecdotal data which starts to draw the first brush strokes of this very interesting picture:

NOTE: In case you have been living under a rock for a few years follow this link to get a better understanding of SaaS.

Anecdotal Data Relating to SaaS & Supply Chain Adoption

  • Trade publications & industry followers, leaders and authors are commenting and talking more frequently about impact of SaaS specifically in the supply chain
  • Major consulting shops are augmenting and setting up departments devoted to advising & helping to roll-out SaaS solutions
  • Major supply chain oriented publications begin displaying larger & more frequent advertisements for SaaS solutions in WMS (Warehouse Management Systems) and TMS (Transportation Management Systems) areas.
  • Traditional software vendors are beginning to release “cloud-based” versions of their standard offerings
  • Emergence of more case studies focused on SaaS type deployments and the resulting efficiencies gained by coalescing processes, data, and analytics

Technologists would look at the above points and most likely reply with a giant…”Duh”…or, “Your point is what exactly?”.  To them I would say this.  For supply chain operators and hard-core logistics guys the migration to the cloud and impact of SaaS is just now starting to be more broadly discussed.  These discussions are being driven because of the economics associated with Saas, economics that I have seen first hard in my business dealings.  Ultimately, some of the big advantages of SaaS for the supply chain industry are:

  • Ease of Roll Out: Instead of getting bogged down with install disks, scripts, instructions for loading, etc. – many of the SaaS tools are as easy as a web link, a user name & password and you’re up and running.  For highly diverse environments like the supply chain this is a definite advantage.
  • Immediate Upgrades: Worried about the latest patches and the most recent version? With SaaS solutions the versioning, patches, etc. becomes transparent to the user.
  • Right-Sized Infrastructure: Another benefit of the SaaS model is that companies can start enjoying the benefits of a system that might otherwise require too much up front capital to deploy.  For example, if the fixed cost of deploying a traditional software package is $100,000, a company might choose to not deploy because the fixed cost hurdle is too extreme to warrant a payback in a reasonable period of time.  However, in the SaaS environment, a company is generally able to get started for a considerably lower fixed fee and then pay a more manageable subscription or transaction fees.
  • Centralization of Data: In today’s environment, data and the resulting insights for an enterprise are critical.  Through SaaS related deployments enterprises are able to start moving their organizations towards a common environment.  In the supply chain world that is full of sub-contractors and third-parties that are located in different geographies with different technical backgrounds the SaaS model becomes a unique tool to help enterprises coalesce operations, processes and data.
  • Process Compliance: In the supply chain adherence to process is critical.  This process adherence becomes very difficult as product moves across the globe and is shuttled from warehouse to carrier to customs entities and back again.  With SaaS oriented modalities, large 3PLs and others can start to orchestrate systems and applications that facilitate compliance to standardized organizational processes.

In the complex business environment that is supply chain, the benefits of SaaS are very compelling.  A few of the areas / functions where I believe we will start to see increased adoption in the supply chain around SaaS include:

  • Analytics
  • Warehouse Management
  • Rate Audit / Spend Management
  • Transportation Management
  • Order Management
  • Inventory Control

The next 12 months promises to be a wonderful and exciting time as more and more companies migrate key functions to the cloud.  For supply chain entities looking to stay competitive this is one emerging trend that cannot be discounted.

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Posted in Cost Efficiencies, Event Management, Process Improvement, Reporting & Analytics, Software as a Service (SaaS), Supply Chain Thoughts, Supply Chain Visibility

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Mobile Technology Provides the Opportunity for Key Differentiaton for Supply Chain Firms

November 15th, 2009
Wireless apps a key differentiator for supply chain entities

Wireless apps a key differentiator for supply chain entities

Take a stroll through your local mall, grocery store, airport or teen hang-out and you can clearly see how truly ubiquitous mobile technologies have become.  Pick up an article from Business Week or any other well know industry publication and you get statistics on mobile phone penetration, the success of the iPhone and the million dollar rags-to-riches stories of pre-pubescent children writing their own mobile phone apps and selling them like hot-cakes.  It seems everywhere you look our world is becoming one of mobile technologies and user-friendly apps designed to handle everything from to-do lists to telling you the latitude and longitude of your lost pet Rufus.

However, take a close look at the modern day critical supply chain and you see a different world.  A world juxtaposed to that of our mobile-social lives.  In this world, the large transport companies and service providers of the world invest in proprietary hardware platforms and non-uniform technologies.  This cobbled patchwork of devices, software, and communication protocols makes integration between service providers and visibility difficult and expensive.  In this world, you have a better chance of winning the lottery than receiving real-time tracking of your critical part supply chain.  This is the world where corporate IT departments and large bureaucratic organizations drive corporate standards and old-line technologies while the rising tide of cloud-computing, SaaS and ground-breaking technologies surround them.

I recently sat down with Venus Desai, a co-founder of IT Anyplace, to get his perspective on how mobile technologies can change the game for supply chain companies seeking to be more competitive and deliver better value for their customers.  Venus and his team of co-founders at IT Anyplace have seen quite a bit of change in the mobile landscape in their 50 combined years of delivering ground-breaking technology products to big businesses and he provided some great insight.

Q&A with Venus Desai, Co-Founder, IT Anyplace

Q: What are the common challenges encountered when companies try to extend their enterprise applications to mobile devices?

A: We see primarily 3 common challenges in these environments:

  • The first challenge is one concerning the lack of device standardization.  Corporations have to determine which devices they will build for.  Additionally, they have to try to make a determination about how long these devices will be on the market & what regions or particular challenges may exist across the whole geography that the company does business in.
  • The second challenge surrounds how a company will extend multiple legacy systems on the wide variety of handsets available.
  • The third challenge we most commonly find when we go into an organization concerns the lack of internal talent that is well versed in application development for the mobile market coupled with limited knowledge from vendors of the legacy systems and applications that they need to tie into.

Q: As we survey the BRIC countries and look outward to the developing world it seems that the traditional wireline communication method is being largely skipped in some areas.  Do you have any particular insights on this trend?

A: The mobile subscribers of the world are already significantly outnumbering the traditional wireline subscribers.  Infonetics Research estimates that in 2007 there were approximately 3.3 Billion mobile subscribers to 1.1 Billion wireline subscribers.  Even more interesting, in this same report they found that the wireless subscribers were growing at a rate of approximately 31% versus a decline of 5% in wireline.

From a personal standpoint, and having family in India, I believe that we are seeing in countries like India and China a phenomenon whereby some persons don’t use a PC but instead access data, the Internet, and other functions directly from their mobile phone.

Q: Given the 3 to 1 trend in mobile to wireline and the expected 4 to 1 ratio by 2011, what do you think are the key takeaways for supply chain companies?

A: The takeaway is that any company that is not yet thinking about how to deploy their businesses on mobile devices is already behind the curve.  Supply chain related entities in particular can derive great value through mobile applications and providing customers additional functionality.

Q: If I were an established supply chain firm looking to extend my presence and application(s) to a mobile device what would be your advice?

A: My first advice would be to take your existing web presence and have it formatted so it is easily accessible from a mobile device.  The next piece of advice would be to identify the features of a mobile phone that have value for your business.  For example, in a supply chain setting the GPS on a phone could be used for tracking, the camera could be used for package condition capture / bar-code type conversion, etc.  Once you’ve identified these valuable features that you would like to use from the phone you would then seek to integrate with your legacy systems.  This is where a company like IT Anyplace comes in.  We help companies do this in a fashion that is more cost effective then can typically occur internally.

From my discussions with Venus it is hard to understand why any enterprise wouldn’t be already involved in mobile application development to extend and improve the operational efficacy of their enterprise as well as their value proposition for their customers.

Today’s supply chain firms should be aware of some key trends that have the ability to leap-frog their enterprise into the future or relegate them to the long list of “use-to-be” industry players.

Key Trends & Observations:

  1. Current usage of “off-the-shelf” smart phones in supply chain environments for system integration / usage has been limited. Historically, larger firms have invested in proprietary and highly customized devices for their field networks.  This will change and we will start to see both larger & smaller entities develop and deploy applications to off-the-shelf smart-phones, both internally for operational personnel, as well as externally to customers.
  2. Smaller supply chain entities will begin venturing into markets that may once have been off limits due to the Capex requirements.  These smaller entities will be able to offer compelling, technology-forward solutions by leveraging capabilities inherit in off the shelf mobile handsets.
  3. Particular benefactors of mobile technology adoption for their operational and customer constituencies will be critical supply chain environments such as spare parts, courier services, and time sensitive flyers (NFO services).
  4. Proliferation of smart phones will pave the way for real-time tracking and alerting of package movements.

Without a doubt the next five years will feature continued steady adoption of smart phones across the world.  In fact, just in mid-September (2009), Fedex announced that they would begin migration to the MC9500, a rugged handheld device, manufactured by Motorola that is an off-the-shelf handset.

fedex makes the switch

fedex makes the switch

The true opportunity and challenge for supply chain oriented businesses will be if they can capitalize on this trend by developing compelling applications that leverage the mobile device capabilities at a price point that makes sense.

Many thanks to Venus Desai and his team at IT Anyplace for their interesting insights and industry statistics that were provided for this article.  Information on IT Anyplace and their work in the mobile community can be found at their website located at www.itanyplace.com

Statistics of Note:

  • Current mobile handsets offer as much as an 80% cost break to similar proprietary hardware platforms used by large transport entities, etc.
  • 50% of mobile Internet traffic in US comes from iPhone
  • Worldwide Smart Phone operating system share: Nokia (45%); RIM (20%); Apple (14%); Android (6%)
  • Expected number of worldwide mobile subscribers in 2011, 5.2 Billion

About IT Anyplace:

ITAnyplace is a start-up based in Atlanta, Georgia that was founded in late 2007 to build a platform that accomplishes two main goals, critical to any enterprise IT team.
1. Extend multiple, diverse legacy IT systems within an enterprise to the mobile device.
2. The second goal is to make this capability device/platform agnostics so that it can be accessed from any mobile device/app store, without having to create it individually for every device in use within the enterprise or not having to commit to any device type.

IT Anyplace have completed their core platform development, tested it and are now deploying it with major customers, some of which are in the logistics field.

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Posted in Cost Efficiencies, Process Improvement, Smart Phones, Supply Chain Visibility

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RFID Helping Companies at the Item Level

September 6th, 2009

by: Douglas Ingram

A recent case study was published by Bloomingdale’s and the University of Arkansas RFID Research Center.  The case study

RFID-on-package-in-supply-chain

RFID-on-package-in-supply-chain

detailed the use of RFID in one Bloomingdale’s store where it was used to help monitor inventory levels of approximately 10,000 jeans.

The case study found that the system helped to improve inventory accuracy 29% percent while decreasing the labor requirements for inventory significantly.  In fact, the research center has found that with traditional bar code approaches to inventory, approximately 209 items per hour can be counted, whereas with RFID techniques applied, more than 4700 items can be counted per hour.  This creates an effective 97% increases in productivity around the inventory process.

The applications for RFID in today’s modern global supply chain are exciting and could spell great efficiencies, visibility and competitive edge for those companies deploying RFID in their environments.  Today, the promise and vision of RFID is greater than the actual real-world case studies of deployment.  The broader RFID challenges to adoption in a global recessionary environment include:

  1. Education for decision makers in the supply chain
  2. Vendors and integrators demonstrating hard-dollar savings or heightened revenue through RFID adoption (i.e. more case-studies like the Bloomingdale’s one cited above)
  3. More pressure from end-consumers for features realized through RFID implementation (i.e. Wal-Mart’s challenge to its providers)
  4. Affordability of RFID components such as labels, readers, hand-held devices, and integration software for already existing enterprise systems.

As these items are addressed and RFID reaches critical mass across the global supply chain the impact on all stakeholders will

Employee Using RFID in Supply Chain (Retail)

Employee Using RFID in Supply Chain (Retail)

be game-changing.  More importantly, the Bloomingdale’s example shows a case study of RFID at the Item Level versus other case studies that have been focused at the case or container level.  Benefactors of item level tracking are numerous but include any enterprise that has high-value inventory tied up in small components or parts.  For example, the service parts industry for technology manufacturers could realize much value through the deployment of RFID including better part visibility and increased service levels.

I look forward to the next 24 months because I believe the global supply chain is set for a broadened adoption of RFID that will deliver value to all supply chain stakeholders.

LINKS:

University of Arkansas – RFID Research *(has page dedicated to the Bloomingdale’s RFID case-study)

MIT – Supply Chain Forum (RFID)

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Posted in Process Improvement, Sensor Technologies, Supply Chain Visibility

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Comprehensive Analytics a Key Differentiator in the Supply Chain

August 16th, 2009

by: Douglas Ingram

Whether you are 3rd party logistics provider or managing your own in-house fleet of transportation assets, the need for comprehensive analytics has never been more crucial.  Today’s world of transportation, distribution and overall supply chain networks is a complex one  where the traditional lines between customer, partner, supplier, and competitor is sometimes hard to differentiate.  As these vital networks continue to elongate from a geographical standpoint and shrink from a time perspective, the need for comprehensive and more real-time analytics becomes even more important for companies wishing to realize cost savings, improve performance, and increase overall customer satisfaction.

There is an adage which states simply “anything that is measured will improve”.  It is a powerful concept and one that I have seen work in both personal and professional lives.  For example, imagine that you are wishing to shave some pounds and get in better overall fitness.  You decide that you need to take in 1600 calories per day.  You currently don’t keep track of your calorie count but decide that you will track every morsel of food and liquid that touches your mouth.  In your trusty notebook you begin to take detailed notes on everything and magically you realize you have a tendency to snack heavily in the evening and blow through your 1600 calorie goal.  Long example, point is this.  If you set a goal and don’t track your activities towards the goal, the goal itself is always elusive.

This old adage can be a powerful force in your supply chain practice and help your division, group or company achieve even better results than you do today.  In today’s world, most companies have some form of metrics tracking in place.  In the various positions I have held with numerous companies my general experience is that the tracking and measurement falls into 2 general categories:

  1. Abundance of Data – Dearth of Analysis > In this world, the company or group of companies have massive amounts of data through connected databases, enterprise systems, etc.   The challenge is the proper assimilation of the data and drawing meaningful relationships between the various points of information.  This environment is analogous to having a Ferrari with only 2 gears. (i.e. – all the right machinery is present to take you to 200 mph, but its not connected properly)
  2. Stove Pipe City > This environment features data, reporting and insights.  The typical problem in this environment is that the reporting is somewhat one dimensional and doesn’t properly join in the other reporting environments.  The real challenge here is that different constituencies start to draw their own conclusions so that the organization ends up with several “opinions” on the state of the business versus one de-facto, cooperative data-store.

Within each of these general environments the opportunity exists to take your corporate reporting around the supply chain function to loftier heights.  The keys for a successful and comprehensive analytics program in the supply chain starts with these key ingredients:

Supply Chain Dashboard

Supply Chain Dashboard

  • Support – from the executive office to the line manager, the company must have support for the initiative.  A key part of building support is specifically identifying the benefits of a analytics initiative.
  • Vision – a compelling view of analysis and reporting and how it will help accomplish the stated goals.
  • Inputs – ensuring that each part of data that the business needs access to is made available.
  • Accountability - key stakeholders must be accountable for results but also be empowered with varied resources and the proper mandate to achieve the stated results.

With these ingredients and the properly placed momentum any organization can start to leverage data in their businesses into meaningful and actionable insights.

Update: 9/7/2009 > Thanks to Kinaxis (www.kinaxis.com) and their discussion of this article on their Blog titled: “How do you track metrics against your supply chain?” published on September 4, 2009

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Posted in Reporting & Analytics, Supply Chain Visibility

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