Logistics

Like a Formula 1 race car, supply chain trends move at breakneck speed. Every week, it seems like there are new regulations, geopolitical crises, climate events, or sanctions zooming by that keep you on the edge of your seat. If you blink, you’ll miss it and be left in the dust. Which is why it pays to keep up with supply chain and global trade events and understand how they can impact your business.

The term “Golden Quarter” refers to the final three months of the year, between October and December, and is a critical period for retailers due to the major back-to-back shopping events like Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the holiday season. This peak buying season typically sees a surge in consumer spending, making it vital for retailers and logistics providers to do what they can months ahead of time to prepare to maximize profits. However, this surge in demand presents a significant challenge for transportation and logistics providers, who must manage increased volumes, tight delivery deadlines, and heightened customer expectations.

For retailers and producers of consumer packaged goods (CPG), transportation management software is the lifeblood of their business. It's how they navigate the complex, step-by-step process of moving their products from the manufacturing phase into the hands of their end customers. Like everything else in the supply chain world, logistics have become much more complex – and that is due to the changing behaviors and habits of consumers.

Summer is right around the corner, and that means weekends and holidays filled with social activities. A trio of federal holidays in the U.S. (Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Labor Day) allows us to host or attend parties with our friends and family. Parents pile the kids into the car to take road trips, invite people over for cookouts in the warm weather, or head to a nearby beach or campground with coolers in hand. Maybe more so than any other season, it seems like summer is the time for food and beverages to be the stars of the show.

Why can a successful team accomplish more together than its members can achieve independently? While many complex dynamics are involved with teamwork, the answer to this fundamental question is simple. Successful teams accomplish more than individuals because their members develop synergy. In other words, they can work together in a manner where their combined output is greater than the sum of their individual efforts. Synergy is the secret sauce separating great teams from good teams and is a key ingredient differentiating e2open’s Logistics as a Service (LaaS) offering from others in the managed transportation services (MTS) space.

The petrochemical industry is highly regulated and has an extreme focus on safety. Having a trusted partner with expertise in moving these essential materials can help the companies that produce and provide these products while helping their customers gain a competitive advantage through domestic and global expansion.

The ongoing conflict in Israel that began in October has caused terrible destruction and loss of life in that region. Still, its influence reaches far beyond the Middle East, affecting global commerce and trade. This isn’t the first time uncontrollable disruptions have impacted ocean shipping in the last few years.

For many supply chain leaders, planning for peak season logistics started six to twelve months ago, or more for some specialized companies. Now those orders are beginning to move. Logistics is the workhorse for shipping peak season orders from the origin port to the destination port, from the port to the distribution center, and from the distribution center to the store/consumer. Through this period of increased demand and potential capacity constraints, shippers need to deliver orders on time while maintaining exceptional customer service and, at the same time, optimizing transportation spend. Peak season happens every year. Some years are more intense, demand is very high, and capacity is minimal, but that wasn’t the case in the past year. Logistics executives are predicting another muted peak season for 2023. But even with those predictions, shippers must be ready for the uptick in demand, even if it is less than in past years.

For companies that rely on logistics and fulfillment infrastructure, even a slight dip in performance is a serious matter. If unchecked, those variations can affect financial performance, increase costs, damage customer satisfaction ratings, and even harm a business's reputation. This is why On Time-In Full (OTIF), calculated by multiplying fill rate by “on time” status, is an important supply chain metric for these companies to track. It provides the data necessary to understand the efficiency of their fulfillment and delivery process and can be used as an overall performance driver. While each company measures OTIF differently, the fundamentals and goals of OTIF are still the same – to ensure items are in stock when the consumer wants them.

TMS software simplifies complex logistics processes and helps companies reduce transportation spending by optimizing freight shipments across multiple carriers and different transport modes (ocean, air, road, rail). The systems also help companies reduce their carbon footprint, improve on-time delivery, and provide visibility of goods in transit.

According to KPMG, getting goods into the hands of consumers in 2023 will not be easy nor cheap. Consumption mechanisms and channels continue to increase, costs are on the rise, there is a prevalence of last mile delivery challenges, and a reliance on suppliers that are often experiencing difficulties also—all of which means retailers may need to assess their inventory distribution network and determine how best to create a seamless delivery experience around a unified commerce approach.

When shippers describe what success looks like in their jobs they use words like “satisfied,” “accomplished,” and “relieved.” It’s not surprising. With driver shortages, price fluctuations, weather events, and other macro-level factors at play, being a shipper in today’s dynamic supply chain world can be a challenge.

For businesses whose shipping needs have evolved, making the decision to invest in a more robust shipping solution can be an important one. Many sophisticated parcel shipping solutions offer a range of capabilities that plug gaps or provide upgrades to the complex framework of a global enterprise organization.

With increased pressure placed on supply chains over the past few years, transportation technology solutions for railroads, shippers, logistics providers, and railcar lessors present an attractive opportunity for supply chain innovation. On any given day, more than 40% of all goods in North America travel on a freight railroad.

Whether it’s a hurricane, flood, wildfire, tsunami, or another type of severe weather or disaster, if you work in transportation or logistics, you are undoubtedly aware of the supply chain challenges that arise in the aftermath of such events.

Planning for peak holiday seasons is an all-consuming task for major e-commerce shippers. While there are expectations for 2022 to be less disruptive than in recent years, e-commerce shippers must still be prepared. Organizations should have airtight plans for the stress that will come from demand on Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the days that follow.