In the August/September issue of Smartphone and Pocket PC Magazine (Vol 10 No. 4) I read the article, "Mobility Trends in the Supply Chain Industry" by Jim Willems with great interest. I work for a Third-Party Logistics (3PL) company that also specializes in technology offering along with standard supply chain management. I can certainly say that Mr. Willems is dead on in his assessment.
One of the primary services expected by our customers is current status data within the supply chain. One must be diligent and cautious when dealing with the fragile nature of modern business models. Little, if no, leeway is offered for mistakes or missteps.
The biggest advantage to mobility solutions comes from the current state of the logistics industry. Unlike supply chains of the past, heavy inventory is discouraged. A warehouse full of product merely waiting to be sold or deployed, is wasteful in terms of capital utilization. From the moment a company decides to offer a product, it costs them money. Research and development, testing, equipment set-up, employees to manufacture the product, the factory and the standard utilities within the factory, all cost money. So too does moving the product, as well as product that sits idly in a warehouse or even a store shelf. The ONLY time the product makes money is when the end user purchases it.
Due to the lean business ideology of today, many companies keep a flowing supply chain that moves product to stores via Just-in-Time (JIT) shipping. Some products are placed on the shelf almost as fast as it is removed from the truck. This does create some major problems.
One of the biggest issues that shippers face is the chance that there will be a breakdown somewhere in the supply chain. This may merely be a late drop off, delays due to incliment weather or could be as disastrous as several trucks filled with product that are involved in serious accidents. Needless to say, in the JIT world, delays can be very costly.
Due to the tumultuous nature of JIT shipping, it is essential that shipping customers be able to get current status data as soon as possible. Finding out that a shipment is late AFTER it is due to arrive, can spell doom for some companies. Imagine if AT&T, with all the recent hype, had been unable to deliver the much anticipated iPhone to a major metropolitan area? Rolling out new product usually equates to a healthy growth in profit. Failing to roll it out in time can equate to marketing suicide.
Mobile solutions offer the shipping customer the ability to stay connected to their supply chain wherever and whenever they need it most. There are few executives or upper management in the business world that do not have some form of mobile connectivity, whether via handheld devices or laptop computers. Of course, there are disadvantages to either device when selecting one over the other, but most feel it is impractical to carry a laptop everywhere they go. Handheld mobile devices offer the ability to stay connected without feeling shackled to a desktop or laptop computer. Face it, even the smallest of laptops is not likely to fit into a suit pocket.
I look forward to seeing the industry change with modern technology. We have come a long way from tracking shipments via a dry erase board and rotary telephone. The supply chains of the future will depend upon technology that is as mobile as the inventory. In business today, if you are not moving forward, you are moving backward.
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