Information Meets Transportation Logistics: The Need for Real-Time Supply Chain Visibility

By Bobby Darroll, Cheetah President and CEO

As we approach 2010, most Americans recognize how dramatically the world is changing for all of us. These changes impact our personal freedom and safety, the existence and importance of international democracy, and the ability of our political and economic policies to influence the global marketplace. At the same time, the world is connected in real-time 24 hours a day via instant global communications, amplifying the disruptive impact of change.

Nowhere is this change more evident than in global commerce. Thirty years ago, $10 billion dollars in foreign exchange transactions occurred every day. Today, over $15 billion dollars in foreign exchange transactions occur every second. Buyers and sellers are connected globally in real-time over the Internet, which has provided a low-cost and instantaneous conduit for exchanging rich information about products and services between potential business partners. This has allowed all businesses, but more specifically medium and small businesses, to expand their markets to include almost any part of the globe.

The ability to connect trading partners next door or around the world with instantaneous information (voice, data, and video) anywhere, anytime has empowered the consumer and revolutionized the choice of products, suppliers, and the associated supply chains forever. Information is thus at the core of 21^st century commerce, and 21^st century logistics companies must treat and value information access as important as traditional transportation networks.

What’s needed in response to the growing need for information are real-time, smart, predictive, and interactive logistics systems that facilitate an efficient information workflow between staff in the field and the office, among trading partners, and with customers. By providing information throughout the supply chain, or complete supply chain visibility, such systems can result in needing fewer operational staff, superior customer service in the form of more relevant and timely information, and improved operational efficiency for both fleet and driver resources.

It’s no longer enough to answer the question, “Where has my package been?” Rather, logistics systems need to answer the question, “When will my package arrive?” While some of the largest transportation companies can answer this question today, at significant cost, small and medium businesses must implement new systems to remain competitive.

Furthermore, modern commerce has made it harder to compete on price and product features alone. Businesses must now also compete on how quickly, accurately, and creatively they can fulfill orders while simultaneously maintaining optimum inventory levels. Logistics systems must now provide better, more accurate, more reliable, content-rich information on goods while they’re in the logistics chain, along with faster delivery of those goods. 

These new economy logistics networks will likely be owned and operated by a select group of providers who understand and embrace the new economy while successfully functioning in the current economy. These logistics providers will service both small and large businesses by a fusion of products and information networks that respond to market conditions in real-time. They will also be able to act as logistics consolidators by using sophisticated information systems.

Typical customer-service challenges like transportation order taking, order tracking, pickup and delivery arrival time estimates (ETA), problem delivery notification and resolution, and return processes are actually demand and supply chain issues. Managing these issues effectively requires a shift from information visibility within individual companies to visibility across all companies in the delivery chain.

This visibility will empower customer service representatives to provide accurate, timely information quickly in response to customer inquiries; to enable production managers to forecast changes in delivery schedules allowing them to plan their operations more effectively; and, to enable companies to respond proactively to delivery issues.  This level of information access will ultimately permit companies, customers and supply-chain partners to collectively interact with each other up and down the supply-chain via their computer systems.

However, visibility is incomplete if it does not include changes that inevitably occur during the business day. In contrast to almost all systems currently in existent, 21^st century logistics systems must be designed to automatically adapt to changing conditions along the supply chain between trading partners. These systems must make accurate initial predictions and then make accurate adjustments based on current field conditions. They must proactively notify the relevant trading partners of meaningful changes when they occur.

In summary, Cheetah believes that real-time, accurate information managed by smart, proactive logistics systems is pivotal for success in the new global economy. Logistics workflow systems must be designed to facilitate a smooth and efficient communication and information flow between company staff in the field and in the office, and between trading partners. Such systems can simultaneously optimize the physical and information logistics networks, resulting in fewer operational staff doing the same work while concurrently delivering superior customer service and improving fleet and driver efficiency.