Intermodal Transportation Landscape In a 2017 American Shipper Report on global sourcing, 58% of shippers indicated that their biggest concern today is rising intermodal transportation costs. In the last few months, shipment volumes and expenditures have increased significantly year over year—an 11.9 percent increase in volume and a 17.3 percent increase in spending—according to another American […]
There is a lot of growth toward implementing new technology innovations within the supply chain, and the Internet of Things (IoT)—a network that connects physical objects, communications, software, and sensors to allow machines to transfer data over a network without human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction—has garnered a high level of interest and hype, largely driven from […]
The pharmaceutical industry is a huge global business with an intricate supply chain that demands visibility and transparency. The top drug-makers are conglomerates, with divisions and research arms located across multiple geographic regions operating across complex partner ecosystems. Adding to the complexity, partners may own entire segments of the value chain, making effective supply chain […]
The DoD runs the largest active Radio Frequency Identification (aRFID) enabled in-transit visibility tracking system in the world. The Radio Frequency In-Transit Visibility (ITV) network has points of presence in 2,000 locations in over 50 countries and tracks and over 57,000 shipments of mission-critical supplies and sensitive equipment weekly destined for warfighters across the globe. The need […]
You’ve heard the technology hype by now: sensors, Big Data, IoT, machine learning, analytics. Everyone’s been talking about how these technologies will transform your supply chain. Most articles are lengthy and technical, so I’ll keep it short here and provide four essential benefits to investing in smart sensors, which is what you really need to […]
As businesses become more customer-focused, there is even more pressure to solve for supply chain challenges and reach 100% supply chain visibility. “You are only as strong as your weakest link.” Therefore, it’s necessary to look at every section of the journey – not just at internal systems but also to collaborate with carriers and […]
The world’s largest online marketplace has set their sights on a new goal — becoming a huge global 4PL. Heads up UPS and FedEx, Amazon is piloting package delivery in Los Angeles for marketplace customers. By amassing worldwide logistics assets, Amazon can provide better delivery performance to its online marketplace customers. From there, it can move horizontally to […]
Obstacles To Visibility Can Be Overcome “Transparency” and “interoperability” are at the top of the global supply chain industry wish list, as they have been for decades. A 2017 survey by Business Process Innovation Network, found that importers, exporters, carriers, terminal operators, vessel owners and other stakeholders suffer from poor visibility and predictability around shipments. […]
Ten years ago, EDI was real-time. Not now. For more than a decade, supply chain professionals have used sophisticated software and hardware to manage inventory levels, optimize labor and reduce transportation costs yet all these systems use a technology that is 50 years old that was not designed for use with any of these systems. […]
Weathering supply chain disruptions is a challenging and complex task. Hurricane Harvey may well be one of the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history, with a projected price tag of $160M. As Hurricane Irma continues its journey, human costs of this natural disaster are still being tallied. Close to seven million Florida residents are without […]
An analysis of collision avoidance data from over three dozen ships sheds some light on the collision between the MV ACX Crystal and the USS Fitzgerald.
Every supply chain has blind spots — between the supplier and the plant, from a truck to a cargo ship or from a plane to your customers’ store. And while there are sophisticated inventory, warehouse, and transportation management systems, the reality is they are insufficient. Why? Because they only show where materials or finished goods […]
At Savi, we track shipments and products through the supply chain. We take data from sensors, telematics, GPS, RFID, AIS, mobile apps, EDI, weather, and traffic to track exact shipment locations. For fun, we decided to take a look at the locations that truckers frequently stop for lunch. We grabbed the specific latitude and longitude […]
Last week we talked about why companies that are outsourcing their logistics operations cannot rely on milestone-based systems. Using the Internet of Thing (IoT) technologies to know the real-time location and condition of all shipments and products is the first step to gaining in-transit visibility. The next step is to gain control of the supply […]
Outsourcing = silos + data integration problems According to Supply Chain Insights, 90 percent of shippers are now outsourcing at least part of their supply chain operations. Outsourcing is a no-brainer because it gives a company flexibility, scalability, and saves both time and money. But it also exposes companies to other risks that should be […]
