How to Solve the System-Level Problems in Today’s Supply Chains
Summary
The global manufacturing supply chain is a single, integrated ecosystem of trade that requires an all-hands approach if it’s to operate efficiently and fluidly. This has served to shrink the length of supply chains not just physically (e.g., the North American automobile industry expanding aggressively in Mexico) but socio-politically (e.g., with some Western companies relocating facilities away from political hotbeds to countries with reliably democratic systems of government). Without an effective view of where your shipments are in the world, which carrier they’re with, what delays they’re facing, their expected arrival times, and what it all means for your inventory, it makes it next to impossible to address all the other common challenges. Freight is routed and re-routed millions of times around the globe every single day due to equipment availability issues, mechanical problems, bottlenecks at ports and on roads and rail, weather-related events, political unrest and dozens of other all-too-common challenges. The sheer scope of a typical manufacturer’s supply chain – even one that’s been near-shored and optimized with the latest technology – creates significant opportunities for something to go wrong.