In an era where streamlined operations are the backbone of competitive business, understanding and mitigating supply chain friction is paramount.
In a recent webinar, “Ditch the Drag: Strategies for Overcoming Supply Chain Friction,” project44’s Eric Fullerton, Elizabeth Labuzienski, and Mads Porsborg offered an extensive exploration of how businesses can transform their supply chains from costly bottlenecks into streamlined systems of efficiency and reliability.
They uncovered three key areas where friction negatively affects your supply chain and how to reduce it to achieve a high-velocity supply chain.
1. Decreasing Costs: Minimizing fines, fees, and overall expenditures is essential in optimizing supply chain operations. Real-time insights and automated systems are key to reducing detention and demurrage fees, as well as avoiding costly expedited shipments. Leveraging technologies like demurrage dashboards that offer predictive ETAs and consolidate data from various sources can significantly enhance decision-making processes. By carefully monitoring and managing transportation schedules, companies can avoid unnecessary fines and improve their negotiation capabilities with carriers, leading to more cost-effective operations.
2. Improving Customer Experience: The customer’s satisfaction hinges on the reliability and transparency of deliveries. Improving on-time deliveries and reducing “where is my order” (WISMO) calls are critical for enhancing customer experience and thereby increasing a company’s revenue. Utilizing end-to-end visibility tools and predictive ETAs at an order or SKU level, coupled with improved communication workflows, can proactively manage customer expectations. Implementing real-time tracking systems not only provides customers with accurate, branded updates but also significantly reduces the need for service calls. This proactive approach to managing customer expectations and delivery accuracy cultivates trust and loyalty, fostering a positive brand image.
3. Increasing Operational Efficiency: Streamlining operations and eliminating manual, error-prone processes is fundamental for increasing efficiency within the supply chain. Automating yard operations, improving appointment scheduling, and optimizing the workload of logistics personnel are effective strategies. Integrating data from various sources and employing advanced tracking systems can significantly enhance the accuracy of shipment predictions and planning. This leads to more efficient management of shipments, inventory, and appointments, reducing delays, and ensuring that resources are utilized optimally. Additionally, employing predictive analytics can help anticipate and mitigate potential disruptions, further enhancing operational efficiency and responsiveness in an increasingly dynamic market environment.
Interested in learning more about Movement, the high-velocity supply chain platform? Reach out to us for a demo.