The logistics industry is constantly evolving to stay competitive within a crowded marketplace of companies. Consumer shopping trends like e-commerce scaled the significance of final mile deliveries; stagnant sales orders and a gluttony of capacity within the U.S. truck market affect gross profit margins; and new technologies provided by transportation service providers are helping shippers become more efficient, productive, and profitable. Optimizing supply chains through digitization and advanced data analytics are productive measures designed to give shippers more transparency and control over their logistics operations. This article takes a look at the digital supply chain, showing logistics managers the advantages of partnering with a single source logistics provider to manage their supply chains.
What is the Digital Supply Chain?
For decades, the traditional triangular relationship that linked shippers, carrier partners, and customers revolved around the purchase order: the customer requests a shipment of supplies, the shipper sources the product and readies it for pickup, and the transportation provider arranges the logistics, truck order, and delivery in a timely fashion. Most logistics companies source capacity after they accept a load tender, a common practice that works well—until the carrier team signals that there’s no capacity available for the load. This, among other factors, contributes to supply chain disruptions, missed pickups, and late deliveries, which can damage customer relationships.
A digital supply chain is an approach that leverages robust technologies to give logistics managers more transparency and oversight over their supply chains. Digital supply chains provide real-time visibility over every touchpoint within a shipment’s lifecycle. This includes the ability to receive automated tracking and tracing updates, automatic load notifications, advanced KPIs on deliveries, and carrier scorecards, managed invoicing and payroll, as well as data analytics to provide shipping managers with industrial reports to make more informed decisions about pricing, capacity, and route optimization.
These technologies are designed to improve communication with carrier parties and reduce the amount of time and energy spent emailing and calling for check calls, status updates, and driver locations. Further, it enables shipping managers and transportation providers to streamline communication between parties, creating a centralized database where information can be organized, analyzed, and used to create customizable reports to help optimize key areas within the supply chain.
Real-Time Visibility
Shippers are taking advantage of the slowdown in the truck market by looking internally for ways to improve operational performance throughout their supply chains. By partnering with a single source logistics provider like PortCity, shippers immediately get access to cutting-edge technology that provides unprecedented supply chain visibility. From ocean to door, customers are provided with real-time tracking for all types of transportation, including:
- Vessel Visibility
- Port Visibility
- Drayage Trip Visibility
- PCL Yard/Dock Visibility
- Inventory Visibility
- Order Status Visibility
- Shipment Status Visibility
- OTR Trip Visibility
- Document Visibility
Cloud-based Solutions for Warehousing and Distribution
PortCity owns and operates some of the largest transloading and warehouse facilities in the U.S. East Coast, including a state-of-the-art facility in Savannah, Ga., that offers over 4 million square feet of warehouse space designed for short-term or long-term storage. Its WMS cloud-based inventory system gives logistics managers real-time visibility over their inventory. This technology informs decisions on when to replenish stock, updates the status and location of orders, and provides notifications about when products have been packed and shipped.
PortCity is a single source logistics provider, meaning its services and technology are standard for all customers. By owning its transload facilities, PortCity helps shippers and freight forwarders eliminate the need to outsource storage and distribution services, which improves communication and helps reduce detention costs and other accessorial fees.
Improved Accuracy
Most shippers and logistics companies still rely on manual data entry as the primary method for updating driver information, load notifications, tracking and tracing updates, and service issues. Information is often manually tabulated into bloated spreadsheets or antiquated TMS from the early 1990s. Record keeping is often up to the individual logistics coordinator, who keeps Bills of Lading and other paperwork in bloated email servers that are siloed on individual computers.
There are several problems with this type of data tabulation. For starters, these time-consuming and repetitive tasks can absolutely drain a workforce. Human errors can lead to missed pickups, wrong reefer temperatures, late payments, or delayed invoicing due to lost paperwork, among other things.
PortCity provides customers with a modern solution to help improve communication, automate certain tasks, and generate customizable analytical reports based on trade data to improve supply chain efficiencies. By partnering with PortCity, all customers can access a SaaS-based transportation management software (TMS) that seamlessly integrates into existing WMS, TMS, ERP, or other data systems. The software streamlines information into an easy-to-use platform powered by the cloud, allowing logistics managers to run advanced data reports to improve supply chain efficiencies.
What are some of the other Advantages of Partnering with a Tech-Enabled 3PL?
Having access to the latest tech-backed solutions available in the logistics industry will help your company improve in a variety of ways, including:
- Scalable growth and improved communication.
- Access to advanced data analytic reports to prepare for seasonal fluctuations in key markets.
- Customizable reports designed to improve KPIs on fill rates and on-time delivery.
- Carrier scorecards to service across your entire supply chain.
- Automated services designed to improve order management and fulfillment.
- Up-to-the-minute updates on all live loads from ocean to door.
- Event-based alerts for known exceptions (for example, ETA changes for vessels, port congestion, OS&D, equipment maintenance, labor availability, and service failures).
Modernize Your Supply Chain With PortCity
Tech-based solutions are designed to help shippers gain control over their operations to reduce supply chain disruptions, lower transportation costs, improve communication, and gain transparency over every critical link within their supply chain. Shippers know that when they partner with PortCity, they are working with a fully-integrated single source logistics provider with its own trucks, drivers, equipment, warehouses, and transloading facilities. By combining the latest technology with its full range of value-added services, PortCity is the no-hassle solution to cover logistics across North America. Contact an expert at PortCity today!