Boost supply chain resilience through visibility
Utilising a sophisticated end-to-end visibility solution is the foundation for many other strategies that can make your supply chain more resilient to disruptions. Ocean shipping is typically not the only mode utilised by manufacturers but part of a multimodal journey. It is important to use a visibility solution that uses door-to-door tracking, not port-to-port — more specifically, having a single pane of glass for your tracking, real-time connectivity for each leg of the multimodal journey and predictive ETAs that are more accurate than carrier ETAs are critical. In turn, manufacturers can know exactly where their raw materials are in the shipping journey and when they will arrive, allowing them to fulfill their orders faster and more efficiently.
Reduce time to recover
One metric key for manufacturers is time to recover. “The ability to measure the days it takes to return to normal after a disruption is a big deal,” said Todd Simms, VP of Industry Solutions at FourKites, “How do I continue to narrow that variation? It could be a competitive advantage, it can enhance customer experience. With greater transparency, you can do that.”
One way is by proactively addressing delays, not reactively. End-to-end visibility solutions provide a vast amount of data and information and using the data to act quickly is extremely important. In the case of ocean freight shipping, managing ocean exceptions proactively allows you to minimise the impact of delays or disruptions to your overall supply chain, increasing your product availability and customer satisfaction as well as decreasing your dwell time and time to recover. Reducing time to recover by days or weeks increases the time available to market the product and gain competitive advantages.
Optimise carriers, lanes or ports
With the number of disruptions happening on a regular basis, there is no way to avoid them completely. Another best practice for manufacturers is optimising your existing network — carriers, lanes and ports. Shippers can look at the network’s historical performance, especially during times of disruptions to see the impact of these disruptions. For example, FourKites looked at the Australia and Montreal-based labour strikes and the potential impact on shippers in the Western US ports if another strike would occur. In the case of the Montreal labour strikes, during the strike, the average dwell time in days at that port increased by 50%. By understanding and analysing this performance, shippers can see poor performing or risky areas and make changes accordingly. Another thing to consider is the number of suppliers you are using. While diversification is important, especially during disruptions, it also leads to weaknesses in your supply chain network. By analysing the historical performance of these suppliers, you are able to optimise the best ones for your unique supply chain.
Simms also recently spoke about a new trend in the manufacturing space, going regional. This hub-and-spoke model consists of a headquarters supporting multiple regional manufacturing facilities located closer to buyers and workers. When ocean chaos occurs, the time for recovery and costs are minimised with the regional approach as opposed to having increased dwell and ocean journey length by going to separate global facilities.
Optimise labor and operations planning
Labor shortages have been – and continue to be – a key challenge for manufacturers. With ocean visibility, shippers can reduce the guesswork of when inbound materials will arrive by tracking down the PO level, the most accurate predictive ETAs and real-time notification and alerts for the full end-to-end journey. Instead of scrambling when deliveries are early or very late, with this real-time information, operations teams can be more efficient in their labour headcount and operations planning.
What is clear is that supply chain disruptions will occur and reduce the agility of supply chain networks. With these best practices and by utilising a sophisticated end-to-end visibility solution, manufacturers can limit their exposure to these weaknesses and improve their supply chain’s resiliency, agility and time to recover.