Supply chain management is a vital part of logistics. It’s important to know where everything is at a given moment and to take the most efficient actions for your company. As technology increases, it is becoming easier to keep track of issues like container drayage and long distance transportation. In fact, real time management can provide you with a wide range of benefits.
Management Goes “Live”
A real time supply chain is completely connected at all times. For example, customers, employees, business partners and equipment are all part of a complete network of instant communications. This can be accomplished with direct communications via smart phone and computer applications.
Today, it’s possible to know where every delivery vehicle is at all times, thanks to GPS tracking. It’s even possible to track short term shipments like container drayage from the dock to their destination. In fact, when you have this kind of information, you can greatly increase your delivery efficiency. Here is an example:
A truck is making several deliveries in the same city. One of the main routes is closed down due to a serious accident. This has made traffic on a local highway come to a virtual standstill. With real time management, your tracking system can instantly give you all the alternative routes. This information is easily passed on to your driver and it can eliminate a very costly delay. After all, when one major delay happens, it affects all the other scheduled deliveries for the day.
Predicting Success
When you have instant access to important logistics data you can chart similarities and make many comparisons. In fact, with the right kind of data management in place, there is no need to guess with container drayage and LTL shipping issues, because you know what to expect and you can anticipate what needs to be done. This is called a pro-active approach.
