People who work in small to medium-sized technology companies wear a lot of hats. Who has time to figure out how to "streamline" their supply chain? What does that really mean in practice?
By using very simple (and often free) solutions, you can reduce costs, save yourself time, and make yourself look like a star. Here are three simple tips for streamlining your SMB supply chain:
Automated inbound visibility The arrival of a bunch of packages or pallets at your dock can be a hassle. Will you have enough staff to deal with the unknown influx of inbound shipments? Did you receive everything that the supplier promised? Did that snowstorm in Denver hold up your shipment? Will you be able to turn the product around to your end-customer in time?
Recommendation:
Set up a visibility solution through your carrier, your third-party software supplier, or your logistics provider that shows when and/or if the shipment was sent. Proactive email notifications will let you know in advance if a shipment is delayed, so you can notify your customers in advance. Finally, use this visibility solution to determine when the shipment will arrive and plan staff accordingly.
Brisk order processing Let's say your firm processes 20 shipments a day. If you could save one minute of time per shipment, that would save you a whopping 84 hours in a year. That's more than two weeks worth of time saved.
Recommendation:
Use a shipping system with an address book and integration capabilities, thereby reducing key strokes and manual entry. Saving one minute per shipment is entirely feasible since you don't have to continually type in addresses. In fact, one minute per shipment is on the low-end of what I've seen at UPS customer sites.
In addition, for an even more streamlined order processing system, work with your carrier or a third-party software provider to link up your order entry database with their shipping systems. Imagine the satisfaction you'll enjoy when labels automatically print once an order is entered into your order entry system.
Customer-enabled tracking Every supply chain needs glasses. Giving your customers visibility into their orders on the outbound side of the supply chain is as important as your need for visibility on the inbound side. This outbound visibility helps in two major ways. It lets your customer plan for receiving the shipment(s) and helps you avoid WISMO (where is my order) calls.
Recommendation:
Use a shipping system (your carrier’s or a third-party software provider’s) to set up proactive transportation notifications for your customers. First, capture your customer's email address during the sale. Then, during the outbound shipping process, set up outbound shipment notifications to the customer-supplied email address. Your customers will appreciate the advance notifications.
By using these three simple (and often free) solutions within your supply chain, you can look like a hero and save your SMB time and money. It’s as easy as ABC. I'd like to hear whether your firm uses these solutions, or has any other tips that are making your supply chain run like a "well-oiled machine."
I see. From what I understand, BBs do require specialized knowledge, so it can be frustrating for IT people to have to administer them. Well at least you have good support available to you.
Having had worked with them for years now, there are so many little things that pop up when it comes to using and/or administering them. I have mostly done admin tasks with them. I know many IT guys love them but that's because alot of them do not have to do any real setup work (they just get it & use it). Of all of the smartphones I've been fored to work with, the BB's are the most annoying.
The only thing I cannot ignore credit is that their support is awesome and their Knowledge base is better than most.
Maybe you can also get a carrier pigeon, pocharles, then you can keep the slip of paper for a written record. What do you have against blackberries? I don't use one myself, but I know it is required for many IT people.
I agree with that. The only caveat with texts is that there isn't as much accounting as there is with email. I can easily delete a text from my phone with no simple way to recover it in the case of an emergency or compliance.
This all goes out the window is youhave a Blackberry of coourse (but I can't stand those things...).
Can I get the carrier pigeon? Perhaps snail mail would fall into that category. Personally, I don't care about the coolness factor and check my email much more frequently than Twitter, so I actually would prefer an email notice to a Tweet. But the world at large probably would prefer a text, as that is considered universally cool --even for the teens who don't tend to follow Twitter.
Also, one other thing: the web 2.0 intersection with logistics is a fascinating question (Web 2.0 == dynamic and shareable content and social networking, as defined by Wikipedia).
Likely, integration with Twitter and/or Facebook is going to be on the horizon for a lot of companies as these social media streams become more and more ubiquitous. Wouldn't it be cool to get a Twitter direct message on your blackberry telling you your supplier just shipped your pallet, vs. merely an email! :-) Obviously, the desired channel for visibility info will vary across people/firms: some want email, some want a Twitter DM, some want carrier pigeon.
My guess is that we'll see more of a demand for Web 2.0 supply chain visibility after High Tech firms get past some of the basic struggles (visibility from supplier to end-customer). Sometimes (esp. for the SMB) it seems companies are focused on growing sales, cutting costs, and innovating, vs. taking the time to leverage more sophisticated supply chain technologies.
What they often don't realize is that there are options for technologies and it actually helps improve the bottom line and it's worth the time (even for the SMB)....
Dave, you hit it right on the head: "The technology exists, but are companies willing to take the plunge for full automation?"
Fortunately, it's getting easier! Transportation and logistics providers are increasingly offering slicker technology tools to tap into the logistics data stream.
Certainly today, it's standard fare to enable proactive email notifications to multiple recipients, if desired. Also, there are often robust data streams (eg XML) available for the ultimate in notification customization. Finally, more software providers are offering out-of-the-box integration.
Ahhh! This is easier said than done. Jennifer, I agree that this is what most companies need, but there are issues, and we touched upon this somewhat on your "Co-Creation and Collaboration" post. This may not pertain as much to an SMB company, but if you look at a typical large (or even medium sized) corporation with global operations (and in many cases, just domestic operations), the number of potential systems that are being maintained may be numerous. Some of these systems may be modern, while some of them may be a bit dated. Also, certain functionality may be specific to each system. Manufacturing, Distribution, Order Entry, Finance, etc. may all be on different systems. The problem is that they are on different systems, in which in many cases a "best of breed" solution is the best approach, but some of the systems are in fact dated and cannot be easily modified or updated without a major upgrade taking place. This is why many companies can only hope for a visibility layer sitting on top of all or some of these systems with limited automation. The technology exists, but are companies willing to take the plunge for full automation?
Right, Dave. That's exactly what I was wondering - how do we shift from a system that stills need human interventation to a more truly automated event-notification mechanism. That's really what most companies could use.
Hi Jennifer, I am not speaking for Mike, but incorporating a distribution list or adding multiple recipients to an email notification should be relatively simple. The real question I think you are posing is that email notification, although perhaps automated by the sending party, still requires human intervention at the receiving side or somewhere in the chain. The more automated systematic approach would be to implement some sort of event management system, where these sort of notifications would then trigger of series of events which would then be reacted to automatically by the system via a rules engine and making the proper adjustments and decisions without any human intervention. Incorporating Web 2.0 or social media into this would be quite compelling.
Mitigating unnecessary costs, protecting high-value products, navigating customs processes, and ensuring end-to-end visibility across the supply chain are all key challenges of international shipping.
EBN Dialogue enables and encourages you to participate in live chats with notable leaders and luminaries. Not only editors and journalists, but the entire EBN community is able to comment and ask questions. Listed below are upcoming and archived chats.
Archived Dialogues
Thailand Stages a Comeback Join EBN contributor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday August 23, 2012, at 11:00 a.m. EST for a live chat on how electronic manufacturers in Thailand have shored up their supply chain to reduce the impact of future natural disasters.
Euro-Crisis: What It Means for High-Tech Firms Join EBN Editor in Chief Bolaji Ojo and Contributing Editor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday, July 12, at 10:00 a.m. EDT for a Live Chat on high-tech and Europe's economic difficulties.
Microsoft Surface: Potential Winners & Losers What are the implications for the electronics industry supply chain of Microsoft Corp.'s decision to launch its own tablet PC? Join industry veteran and EE Times' systems and OEM expert Rick Merritt on Tuesday, July 3, at 12:00 pm EDT for a Live Chat on this subject.
Join EBN contributor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday August 23, 2012, at 11:00 a.m. EST for a live chat on how electronic manufacturers in Thailand have shored up their supply chain to reduce the impact of future natural disasters.
Peter Drucker famously said "Trying to predict the future is like trying to drive down a country road at night with no lights while looking out the back window." Yet in the razor's-edge world of electronics—with a lean supply chain and just-in-time demands—the need to know the future is vital.
You've heard the saying "the No. 1 supply chain risk is your people." That hasn't always been the case. But today's complex global supply chain requires a new type of multitalented employee. It's one who understands, finance, marketing, economics, is savvy with technology, graceful with relationships and can think analytically.
Where are these people? Are universities properly preparing the next generation supply chain professionals? How do train your existing workforce for these new, demanding positions?
Brian Fuller, editor-in-chief of EBN, will lead a 60-minute Avnet Velocity panel discussion that will ask and answer these and other questions swirling around today's supply-chain talent challenges.
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