Generate and Communicate

Actionable Visibility Data
for Shippers & Receivers

Today’s shippers and receivers are being challenged to navigate increasingly complex supply chains more efficiently. To succeed, they need the ability to view, analyze, predict and communicate the status of shipments in real time. As a result, supply chain visibility functionality has emerged as an industry requirement.

Introduction

The business impact of transportation management now extends beyond the fundamentals of buying and managing capacity, and physically moving products. Asset utilization, inventory management, transportation costs, customer service and speed to market can all be improved when visibility is acknowledged as a cornerstone of meaningful network collaboration.

Shippers and carriers working together more efficiently and effectively can drive collaborative transportation management to produce continuous planning, forecasting and replenishment process improvements. Collaborative visibility creates the trust required to make it happen.

An increasing number of shippers are embracing the capabilities and benefits of visibility solutions. However, the data and business intelligence provided by visibility functionality is not useful when presented in a vacuum. What shippers do with the resulting data is where the proverbial rubber meets the road. Many best-in-class companies are using robust data collected from visibility tools to gain a competitive advantage.

In this eBook, we’ll cover:

1. How to make more proactive, collaborative decisions with inbound visibility solutions
2. Impact of Predictive ETAs
3. How to leverage outbound visibility to evaluate and improve business processes
4. Why visibility solutions are a must for competitive shippers
5. How Descartes MacroPoint can help

Benefits of Inbound Visibility Functionality

• Provides location and ETA of every shipment simultaneously
• Identifies and navigates potential bottlenecks impacting production

Results

• Enables virtual inventory management
• Captures dwell data to manage carrier performance
• Enables more proactive collaborative decisions across the network
• Reduced labor for tracking inbound loads/inventory
• Less manufacturing downtime, fewer disruptions
• Increased revenue through extended virtual inventory
• Reduced detention at supplier pick-up and delivery locations
• Improved supplier and carrier relationships

Improve Inventory Management with Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA)

Creating virtual inventory for greater speed to market. Implementing multimodal, real-time visibility into in-transit inventory from manufacturers is a game changer. It allows shippers to view the location and updated ETA of every shipment simultaneously in real-time. Anticipating the arrival time of products and navigating potential bottlenecks more effectively can positively influence production planning, and ultimately the bottom line.

So while ETA can clearly help dock operations become more efficient, shippers should think in terms of how Supply Chain Visibility (SCV) creates a “virtual inventory management platform.” ETA data is now being used to inform higher-profile business processes by supporting simulations, contingency planning and/or scenario analysis.

Manage Carrier Performance with Real-Time Data

Creating a supply chain that can dynamically react to real-time market forces while still meeting the lead times required to sustain network performance requires real-time network visibility. There’s no other way to acquire the necessary data. The more information that can be shared the greater the benefits. Having the ability to make quick, informed decisions can save a shipper up to 40% on logistics costs.

Share Accurate Data to Foster Trust and Optimize Operations

If the network can’t rely on the accuracy of information that’s being shared, even modest levels of collaboration can’t happen. It’s imperative that shippers, suppliers and carriers are all on the same page to optimize supply chain performance. Collaborating and sharing data are even more critical when an unexpected disruption occurs that could impact production.

For example, if a major winter storm brings transportation to a standstill, shippers need to work closely with suppliers and carriers to determine the extent and consequences of possible inbound delays, develop appropriate contingency plans and communicate regular updates to customers. With robust visibility platforms, constant review of road conditions, weather data and carrier status changes will happen automatically behind the scenes so that shippers can be notified of any at-risk loads.

Leverage Outbound Visibility to Evaluate and Improve Customer Service

64% of study respondents view improved customer service as the top business driver for the expansion of Transportation Management Solutions.

Shippers that implement strategies to optimize inventory management and enable integrated planning and execution technologies will be positioned to more accurately gauge and meet consumer expectations in the new competitive landscape.

Benefits of Outbound Visibility

• Enables proactive customer notification of shipment progress and potential delays
• Proactively manages in-transit disruptions by automatically resetting appointment windows
• Generates data to evaluate and improve business processes
• Quickly matches the right carrier to the right lanes to optimize performance management

Manage Exceptions Through an Integrated Solution

Dealing with the unpredictable is difficult. Segmentation strategies and event categorization are recognized as practical approaches to exception management. However, a centralized, cross-functional team-based approach empowered to identify root causes, analyze them and coordinate appropriate responses can be a better way to address exceptions more consistently and effectively.

Transform Performance Management into a Risk-Awareness Practice

Leading-edge shippers are evaluating carrier performance using reporting constructs far more dependable and nuanced than traditional methods. Instead of relying on retrospective, periodic reviews that may not reflect the whole truth, they are identifying problems and opportunities when they happen and are reported in context.

Carriers are often rated on a composite performance score. Therefore, high-performing carriers may be inappropriately penalized. The shipper needs a way to understand load-level data so that it cannot only solve the problem, but solve it effectively.

Visibility solutions that allow nuances to be understood quickly and more thoroughly would make a significant difference to the business. Ideally, shippers should consider implementing a solution that serves as a natural “host” for all the KPIs that matter, transforming a scoring exercise into a risk-awareness practice.

Visibility Solutions are a Must for Competitive Shippers

As supply networks become increasingly lean and demand-driven scenarios become increasingly real, supply chains are becoming increasingly brittle. Successful shippers understand that ship-to-cash visibility is not a goal, but a real-world, competitive requirement.