Supply & Demand Chain Executive September 2018

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Dates are subject to change.

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September 2018 | Volume 19 | Issue 4

CONTENTS FEATURES

20

10 COVER STORY Digital Disruption in the Supply Chain

32 PROCUREMENT

Big Data: What’s the Big Deal for Procurement?

Top Women in the Supply Chain

26

SDCE and Richmond Events recognize the industry’s leading women.

28

20 EXECUTIVE

Q&A Getting Into the Export Game

Global4PL’s CEO Sergio Retamal explains the benefits of exporting for U.S. companies that are looking to expand their business.

32

SPECIAL INSERT INDEX OF

t Line . . . . nion Freigh

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Command

14

Only

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Alkon . . .

www.command Karli Langer ext. 3968 2 amazing world (205) 879-328 in building an collaboration Alkon, we believe on, visibility, At Command that deliver automatidigital supply chain solutions d, with solutions tion. Our integrate Building Materials industry and simplifica for the Heavy drive profits. create an ecosystemtransparency and efficiency al where operation

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CSRware

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BluJay Solut tions.com

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www.blujaysolu Troy Grabel 2 (616) 796-754 jaysolutions.com and services troy.grabel@blu chain software rs, freight delivers supply BluJay Solutions progressive retailers, distributo . most service providers to the world’s urers and logistics trade, helping and global forwarders, manufact in supply chain goods efficiently, safely We are experts e move their chain companies worldwid ing the logistics of supply Transform (GTN), we have and on time.

Global Trade Network success.

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CT Logistics

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. 25

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.com www.ctlogistics Ron Dodig 0 ext. 2222 (216) 267-200 istics.com CT Logistics to rondodig@ctlog ions have leveraged and Supply Since 1923, organizat audit and payment, TMS ed freight implements customiz provide global . CT designs and solutions. CT’s Business ent Chain solutions and data and rate managem spend visibility supply chain provides global certified processes. platform Intelligence 9001:2015 SOCII and ISO analysis using Only

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www.odfl.com 9 (800) 235-556 @odfl.com -truckload (LTL) customer.service a leading less-than ive transit Freight Line is with competit Old Dominion premium service on-time delivery carrier providing Old Dominion’s claims ratio, de. industry. times nationwi are among the best in the and safety records 2

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yfuels.com www.cleanenerg Michelle Wells 1 .com (949) 437-136 leanenergyfuels of michelle.wells@c the leading provider fuel Fuels Corp. is (RNG) Clean Energy e natural gas and renewabl natural gas fuel in North America with a network for transportation across North America. stations 535 of over

John Galt

Solutions

Sealed Air

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. . . . . . . . .Map

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& TECH Insider Cyberattacks Pose Risk

As the risk of cyber threats grow, companies must be prepared for a data breach even inside their own walls.

44 PROFESSIONAL

Enabled The Global Chain Mapcan d Demand and services that Supply an the solutions es edge. provid This map s a competitive

Retailers must revisit their supply chain design to get a handle on inventory.

The rigorous approach is not for everyone. It takes a strong individual to come through as a future leader.

06 EXECUTIVE MEMO 26 MADE IN AMERICA 50 WORK HARD,

PLAY HARD

y chain

Exclusive online features and solutions for successful supply chain operations

om www.johngalt.c i Jennifer Mislinsk 232 6 ext.

(812) 701-902 alt.com mislinski@johng

INTEGRATION MADE EASY

37 WAREHOUSING

. . . . . . 23

give your suppl

42 SOFTWARE

COLUMNS

. .

fer . . . . . . .

When cost and service needs are met, shippers will rely on autonomous vehicles for their customers.

EXECUTIVE FOCUS

Smart contracts offer the potential for immediate results.

xxx

SSI Schae

How Autonomous Trucks Will Impact Shippers

Blockchain Finds Value in Smart Contracts

om www.sealedair.c Pam Davis 3 (800) 648-909 dair.com ppd.mk t@seale

er.com . . . . . . . . . www.ssi-schaef nd .com Sharw Wahrmu 0 www.protolabs (704) 944-450 er.com Customer Service integrated 0 info@ssi-schaef automation systems, solutions.

(877) 479-368 @protolabs.com prois a supplier of y, and storage SSI SCHAEFER ring source for custom ent technolog customerservice on and digital manufactu -enabled company warehouse managem products for distributi world’s fastest The technology Protolabs is the provides solutions, vertical e production parts. fabrication, and SSI SCHAEFER s including picking software. is an totypes and low-volum CNC machining, sheet metal e management days. The result warehouse operation printing, 3D within parts advanced and warehous uses an produce lift storage, AGVs, technologies to and engineers and injection molding value for designers Visit protolabs.com for speed-to-market life cycle. unprecedented product’s a t throughou on-demand resource n. more informatio

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Clean Energ

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alkon.com

40 T RANSPORTATION

DEVELOPMENT Procurement Competency Assesments

34 BLOCKCHAIN

S . . . . . 7 ADVERTISER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Following Page 26 Global Supply Chain Map 34.0 ADVERTISER

The proliferation of data has led many organizations into a period of innovation.

Inventory Optimization in the Supply Chain

NEWLY UPDATED! INDEX OF

OF THINGS I oT Helps Track Assets in the Food Supply Chain

Proper asset management and preservation is essential for food retailers to improve their bottom lines.

16 AWARD

28 THE INTERNET

IoT and other transformative technologies hold plenty of promise when there’s a use case and awareness about unintended consequences.

www.6river.com Fergal Glynn CK (866) 60-CHU m fglynn@6river.co

SPECIAL REPORTS

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LOCALIZATION KEY TO CROSS-BORDER SELLING

The 2018 B2B Cross Border Survey sheds light on the key challenges merchants face as they gear up to tackle the opportunities. www.sdcexec.com/ 21017848

SUPPLY & DEMAND CHAIN EXECUTIVE | September 2018 | SDCExec.com

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EXECUTIVE MEMO

By John R. Yuva, Editor jyuva@ACBusinessMedia.com

TECHNOLOGIES MATURE

While some transformative technologies are more seasoned than others, they all provide opportunities for companies.

W

ho could have predicted the technologies affecting our lives today? The idea of apps on our phones controlling our homes seemed like fiction less than a decade ago.

Yet, millions of people now live in smart homes where the Internet of Things (IoT), machine learning and cloud technologies permeate their lives. While the prevalence of these technologies is growing in a personal setting, how are they faring in an industrial and operational environment?

To be fair, the question is like comparing apples to potatoes. Transformative technologies, such as robots, artificial intelligence, IoT and cloud, are not unique to the industrialized world. However, how those technologies are evolving and utilized within enterprises and their broader supply chains are changing.

According to IHS Markit’s report, 8 in 2018: The Top Transformative Technologies to Watch This Year, “While AI, IoT, machine vision, robotics and the cloud are not really new technologies, they are coming together in new and powerful ways and fundamentally changing businesses, fueling innovation, disrupting industries, and creating both threats and opportunities for all.”

In the IoT arena, for example, everyone from manufacturers to transportation providers is leveraging this technology to gather critical data about production 6

efficiency and cargo delivery conditions.

The latest trends are discussed on page 10 in our feature story, “Digital Disruption in the Supply Chain.” For most companies, the integration of Industrial IoT (IIoT) is a progression of maturity cycles. What begins as device connectivity, where data is collected and transmitted to cloud-based databases, evolves through stages until you reach edge computing, where data are processed on or near the connected equipment. Dave McCarthy, senior director of products at Bsqaure, says, “Devices are no longer the star of the show. It’s really about the data that’s being generated from that device that provides business value.”

Robotics is a transformative technology that has gone through its own maturity curve. Within warehouses and distribution centers robotics are widespread. Of all the transformative technologies, robotics may pose the most disruption to the workforce. Y Soft, a leading provider of intelligent enterprise and educational solutions, released its report, Robotics at Work: Employee Viewpoint. According to the report, 83.7 percent are not worried about their jobs being replaced by robots; however, 45.5 percent of respondents are worried that machines will make decisions that lack the human element/touch.

Technology will continue to transform and with it manufacturing and operational processes. The question is how you will leverage it for your enterprise.

Happy reading!

SUPPLY & DEMAND CHAIN EXECUTIVE | September 2018 | SDCExec.com

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Published by AC Business Media 201 N. Main Street, Fort Atkinson, WI 53538 (800) 538-5544 • www.ACBusinessMedia.com

www.SDCExec.com PRINT AND DIGITAL STAFF GROUP PUBLISHER Jolene Gulley ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Judy Welp EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Lara L. Sowinski EDITOR John R. Yuva ASSISTANT EDITOR Amy Wunderlin WEB AND COPY EDITOR Mackenna Moralez CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Barry Hochfelder SENIOR PRODUCTION MANAGER Cindy Rusch ART DIRECTOR Kayla Brown AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR Wendy Chady AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Angela Franks ADVERTISING SALES (800) 538-5544 JOLENE GULLEY, jgulley@ACBusinessMedia.com SHEILA SPINCK, sspinck@ACBusinessMedia.com EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD LORA CECERE, Founder and CEO, Supply Chain Insights TIM FEEMSTER, President, Foremost Quality Logistics JOHN M. HILL, Director, St. Onge Company, and Board of Governors, Material Handling Industry of America RORY KING, Analytic and Big Data Advisor, SAS Institute KAREN MASTER, Vice President of Communications, SAP Ariba WILLIAM L. MICHELS, CEO, Aripart Consulting JULIE MURPHREE, Founding Editor, Supply & Demand Chain Executive ANDREW K. REESE, Senior Portfolio Marketing Manager, IHS, and Former Editor, Supply & Demand Chain Executive CHRIS SAWCHUK, Global Managing Director and Procurement Advisory Practice Leader, The Hackett Group RAJ SHARMA, CEO, Censeo Consulting Group KATE VITASEK, Founder, Supply Chain Visions CIRCULATION & SUBSCRIPTIONS P.O. Box 3605, Northbrook, IL 60065-3605 (877) 201-3915, Fax: (847) 291-4816 Email: circ.sdcexec@omeda.com LIST RENTAL Jeff Moriarty, Infogroup (518) 339-4511 Email: jeff.moriarty@infogroup.com REPRINT SERVICES JOLENE GULLEY, jgulley@ACBusinessMedia.com AC BUSINESS MEDIA CEO Barry Lovette CFO JoAnn Breuchel DIGITAL OPERATIONS MANAGER Nick Raether DIGITAL SALES MANAGER Monique Terrazas

Published and copyrighted 2018 by AC Business Media All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher.

Supply & Demand Chain Executive [USPS #024-012 and ISSN 1548-3142 (print) and ISSN 1948-5654 (online)] is published five times a year: March, May, June, September and December by AC Business Media, 201 N. Main Street, Fort Atkinson, WI 53538. POSTMASTER: Please send all changes of address to Supply & Demand Chain Executive, P.O. Box 3605, Northbrook, IL 60065-3605. Printed in the USA. SUBSCRIPTION POLICY: Individual subscriptions are available without charge in the United States, Canada and Mexico to qualified individuals. Publisher reserves right to reject nonqualified subscribers. One-year subscription to nonqualified individuals: U.S., $30; Canada and Mexico, $50; and $75 for all other countries (payable in U.S. funds, drawn from U.S. bank). Single copies available (prepaid only) for $10 each. Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Supply & Demand Chain Executive, P.O. Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2.

The information presented in this edition of Supply & Demand Chain Executive is believed to be a­ccurate. The ­publisher cannot assume responsibility for the validity of claims or ­performances of items appearing in editorial presentations or advertisements in the publication.

September 2018 / Volume 19 / Issue 4

8/28/18 8:08 AM

Back in the brick-and-mortar days, products received about 5 human touches while in route to final destinations.

Today, every item is touched 20 times or more during its e-commerce journey.

! ! ! !

Do you know where the damage risk is lurking in your logistics operation?

We do. sealedair.com/pc/scde SDC0918_06-07_ExecMemo AW JY.indd 7

8/28/18 8:08 AM

CHAIN REACTIONS

NEWS FROM ACROSS THE DIGITAL SUPPLY CHAIN

AI INVESTMENTS EXPECTED TO REACH

$232 BILLION BY 2025 Investment in artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and robotic process automation (RPA) is expected to reach $232 billion by 2025, according to a report from KPMG. Companies are facing barriers that include a lack of in-house talent and unclear goals for deployment, potentially preventing them from realizing the benefits of these technologies.

Within the next three years, 40 percent of industry leaders will increase AI investments by 20 percent or more.

Meanwhile, 32 percent of those surveyed will increase RPA investment by more than 20 percent. According to the report, two-thirds of respondents will fully implement RPA within three years.

Organizations that are investing in automation can quickly transform business models, yet siloed and piecemealed projects that prioritize cutting legacy processing costs and headcounts won’t move. By taking an enterprise-wide approach to automation, companies will be able to yield five- to 10-times in dividends, TechRepublic reports.

The increase of automation and RPA will touch jobs, and respondents say that one-third of positions will be impacted by the implementation. However, businesses aren’t planning on cutting jobs, but rather having humans and machines work together.

WAREHOUSES LACK WMS According to a survey from the Warehousing Education and Research Council, one-third of facilities aren’t using a warehouse management system (WMS).

While technology advances at a quick rate, and can often be expensive, leaving many warehouses to opt out, the lack of WMS can be harmful for those who eventually want to implement advanced technologies.

WMS is a baseline, and without it, emerging technologies will be ineffective.

Meanwhile, the greatest implementation growth in new technologies in the warehousing sector is in voice-direct picking technology, with 25 percent of facilities currently using it. Implementation of conveyors, carousels and advanced shipping notification have dropped significantly in the last decade.

Scandit Report Reveals How Post and Parcel Providers Can Use MOBILE COMPUTER VISION WITH AUGMENTED REALITY TO MEET GROWING DEMANDS A recent whitepaper, “Mobile Computer Vision in the Post and Parcel Industry,” from Scandit reveals how post and parcel providers’ use of smart devices and augmented reality (AR) will be essential to maintaining increased volume and customer expectations.

Parcel grew 48 percent last year and is expected to grow upwards of 28 percent each year through 2021, as consumers are increasingly reporting that fast delivery is important to them.

“Post and parcel enterprises can’t expect to use the same old technology and workflows and be successful in this explosive age of e-commerce,” says Samuel Mueller, CEO of Scandit. “The powerful thing about mobile computer vision-enabled smart devices is that they empower post

8

and parcel providers to take the barcode that’s already on every package and turn it into a tool that saves them money and supercharges their performance and efficiency.”

Post and parcel organizations can use mobile computer vision-enabled data capture and AR solutions running on smart devices to increase the capabilities of existing barcodes in ways that scanners cannot. The results include reduced costs, increased efficiency and fewer human errors, the ability to meet growing end-user demands, and the protection of your investment.

Mobile computer vision and AR working together can also provide post and parcel with multiple barcodes in a single scan and offer specific packages with instructions highlighted on the screen.

SUPPLY & DEMAND CHAIN EXECUTIVE | September 2018 | SDCExec.com

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BLOCKCHAIN HYPE STARTS TO FIZZLE

A number of software projects based on blockchain technology will slow down toward the end of the year, as companies that once pushed pilot tests are now scaling back on their ambitions.

According to Bloomberg, 90 percent of cases won’t use blockchain after the experiments because as companies ramp up projects across their businesses, they are hitting problems with performance, oversight and operations.

So far blockchains can’t handle a large volume of transactions, and the technology only stands out when companies collaborate on projects. However, because different businesses must share the same ledger, it can be challenging to agree on how to adopt the technology.

As an early blockchain adopter, IBM currently has more than 1,500 employees working on the digital ledger, reporting that it’s still in strong demand. However, an increase in competition could affect how much it can charge clients.

Bloomberg reports that only 1 percent of chief information officers say they have any kind of blockchain adoption in their organizations, while 8 percent say they are in short-term planning or active experimentation with the technology.

Meanwhile, 80 percent of CIOs say they have no interest in the technology.

JDA PARTNERS WITH MICROSOFT FOR CLOUD TRANSFORMATION JDA Software announced in August that it will be partnering with Microsoft to build a cognitive SaaS solution on the Microsoft Azure cloud platform.

The new partnership will accelerate JDA’s vision to deliver an autonomous supply chain through an infusion of advanced, intelligent cloud platform capabilities.

With Microsoft Azure driving new levels of productivity and intelligent data-driven experiences, JDA’s solutions will be able to optimize the entire supply chain from end to end. Together, the applications will enable customers to take advantage of real-time insights for smarter business decisions and profitable business growth.

“This partnership between established, trusted providers, uniting cloud services via Microsoft Azure and supply chain via JDA, addresses a gap in the supply chain ecosystem as cloud becomes a prerequisite for enterprises today as they embark on their digital supply chain transformations. Cloud-based supply chain deployments account for only about 40 percent of deployments today, and this new trust partnership could send that on an upward trajectory quite quickly,” says Victoria Brown, research manager at IDC.

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AMAZON AWARDED ROBOTICS PATENT FOR WAREHOUSES Amazon is diving further into robotics after securing a patent for robot arms that toss items around fulfillment centers.

According to the patent, robotic arms or manipulators that use sensors to identify objects find the best way to grasp them, calculate the required trajectories and throw the items into chutes or bins.

But even though a patent was issued, it does not necessarily mean the machine will ever be built. Amazon does not currently have any robotic tossing systems in any of its fulfillment centers.

The application was filed in 2015.

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FEATURE

By Lara L. Sowinski

DIGITAL DISRUPTION

IN THE SUPPLY CHAIN

Despite the initial complexities, IoT and other transformative technologies hold plenty of promise when there’s a clearly defined use case and awareness about unintended consequences.

A

ccording to a survey from Bsquare, a provider of IoT software solutions, an overwhelming majority of businesses in the manufacturing, oil and gas, and transportation industries say that Industrial IoT (IIoT) has now moved beyond the hype to widespread use.

Specifically, Bsquare’s 2017 Annual IIoT Maturity Survey states that, “Almost all respondents believe that the technology provides a significant or tremendous global impact on their industry and that setting clear business objectives prior to deployment, such as better managing devices, increasing production volume or reducing operating costs, is an important driver of deployment maturity and ROI.” By contrast, the survey says, “Fewer than 2 percent of respondents are not considering an implementation in the next 12 months.”

Dave McCarthy, senior director of products at Bsquare, confirms that while a lot of

companies from multiple industries are trying to figure out how to add intelligence to devices, and then start connecting those devices, for many, it’s outside of their core competency.

Not surprisingly, it’s easy for companies to get stuck. Therefore, it helps to understand the progressive stages of IoT maturity as well as the unintended consequences associated with change related to the adoption of transformative technologies.

Bsquare’s IIoT maturity survey findings substantiate the need for a roadmap. “There’s definitely a progression that has to happen [with these various stages],” notes McCarthy.

These stages include: ❯❯ DEVICE CONNECTIVITY: On-board logic to collect data and transmit to cloud databases ❯❯ DATA MONITORING: Dashboard and visualization tools to monitor real-time data ❯❯ DATA ANALYTICS: Machine learning and complex analytics used to develop device models and insight ❯❯ AUTOMATION: Development and execution of logic rules that automate business activities and device configuration ❯❯ EDGE COMPUTING: Distribution of analytics and orchestration to the device level Device connectivity and simple data forwarding is the first stage. Yet, when you look at the progression of IIoT, “devices are no longer the

“DEVICES ARE NO LONGER THE STAR OF THE SHOW. IT’S REALLY ABOUT THE DATA THAT’S BEING GENERATED FROM THAT DEVICE THAT PROVIDES BUSINESS VALUE.” — DAVE MCCARTHY, BSQUARE 10

SUPPLY & DEMAND CHAIN EXECUTIVE | September 2018 | SDCExec.com

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star of the show anymore,” suggests McCarthy.

“It’s really about the data that’s being generated from that device that provides business value,” he adds, which leads to data monitoring, the second stage of maturity.

McCarthy gives the example of a touch screen soft drink vending machine with more than 100 flavor choices. Once a conventional vending machine was turned into an “intelligent” vending machine, the drink maker suddenly had real-time access to what flavors were selling in which markets, he explains. Furthermore, if the drink maker wanted to test-market a new flavor or custom recipe, it could easily “push” it to the consumer to try.

Data analytics is the third stage. It’s about delivering insight, prediction and optimization with applied data analytics, such as machine learning and artificial intelligence. McCarthy simplifies it as “using really advanced math to churn through lots of data to find unique patterns.”

Automation is the fourth stage. This can be described as orchestrating automated, complex actions across multiple internal systems such as inventory, support or service-ticketing systems.

The final stage involves processing data on or very close to the connected equipment, sometimes called distributed intelligence or edge computing.

THERE WILL BE CHANGE While a roadmap helps organizations understand the progressive stages of maturity that come with IIoT adoption, many don’t fully appreciate the changes that come along with it, too.

On this point, McCarthy observes that, “The biggest problem that companies are having today is more about figuring out how it forces them to change their business.”

Digital disruption and the changes it brings with it can be difficult to embrace and hard to manage.

McCarthy describes it as “more of a business process and philosophy problem” than a technology issue.

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Bsquare’s 2017 Annual IIoT Maturity Survey confirms the enthusiasm for IoT that exists across industries, including manufacturing, oil and gas, and transportation. Of the 310 total survey participants, only five said they are not considering IIoT solutions.

Ninety-three percent of transportation executives that responded to the survey indicated that they currently have an IIoT solution in place, and virtually all believe IIoT is important to their company. In addition, 68 percent said they prefer a cloud-based deployment model instead of on-premise, most likely because of the cloud’s ease of use and lower costs.

“The transportation industry has attained a greater level of IIoT maturity due to the widespread use of telematics and regulatory mandates such as emission regulations and electronic logging devices (ELDs),” states Bsquare.

“Transportation respondents also have a significant opportunity to gain additional business value from IIoT with continued investment into advanced analytics, including machine learning to diagnose repairs and predict failures before they occur, and automation of actions such as service-ticket requests.”

“I’ve seen cases where you show a company something interesting in the technology, but if it forces them to have to change their business model—or it brings efficiencies to one part of the business, but drives value in another part—then it can create winners and losers within a single organization,” he says. And, while any “win” should be celebrated, sometimes politics or an attitude of, “we’ve always done it this way,” can put up obstacles, and “some businesses are more prepared for this than others,” McCarthy adds.

In response, some companies are creating digital transformation teams, or centers of excellence, devoted to IoT or the company’s broader connected initiative, he says. Ultimately, it’s a cross-functional team of people who are aligned around a particular SDCExec.com | September 2018 | SUPPLY & DEMAND CHAIN EXECUTIVE

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FEATURE

vision and really understand the issues that each group might have in the journey to get there.

“It’s those kind of companies that are reorganizing and seeing a better position,” he says.

KEEP IT SIMPLE AND OPEN Jason Shepherd, IoT chief technology officer for Dell Technologies, acknowledges the complexity of adopting IIoT solutions, which he equates to a “spaghetti junction” with many twists and turns, making it really confusing to simply get from Point A to Point B. The IoT is inherently heterogeneous, he says, describing it as “a growing collection of technologies, rooted in embedded systems and machine-to-machine communications across countless verticals and use cases.

“It’s a myriad of hardware types, operating systems and development tools, not to mention a plethora of connectivity standards, many of which are dictated by existing installations that require a gateway to bridge data from sensors and machines to a broader network for analytics-driven ROI. This diversity provides incredible richness, but also huge complexity to contend with,” he adds.

conference. EdgeX is a vendor-neutral open source project designed to deliver interoperability between things, applications and services across a wide range of IoT use cases.

Now that EdgeX has reached its one-year anniversary, the next priority is industrial-grade security, says Shepherd.

“Let’s put the importance of security in context.

As we all know, the IoT promises unprecedented connectivity that equates to tremendous opportunity and considerable risk. According to Gartner, the total number of IoT endpoints will reach 21 billion units by 2020. It follows that a large enterprise could have millions of IoT sensors and actuators for functions such as building automation, smart manufacturing, logistics, transportation and so on,” he notes.

Yet, while many traditional IT endpoint security techniques still play a role for certain IoT use cases, there are several concerns unique to IoT that require innovative new approaches, Shepherd says. Those include massive scale, constrained devices, hostile locations with no physical security guarantees (for example, an unmanned wind turbine or traffic sensors in a smart city) plus of

“[IOT IS] A MYRIAD OF HARDWARE TYPES, OPERATING SYSTEMS AND DEVELOPMENT TOOLS, NOT TO MENTION A PLETHORA OF CONNECTIVITY STANDARDS…THIS DIVERSITY PROVIDES INCREDIBLE RICHNESS, BUT ALSO HUGE COMPLEXITY TO CONTEND WITH.” — JASON SHEPHERD, DELL TECHNOLOGIES For that reason, Shepherd says Dell is especially committed to open frameworks and standards. In fact, Dell began thinking about how to address interoperability challenges in 2015, he explained in a recent blog post.

“Our take was that in order to speed up market adoption, we needed to address key interoperability challenges at the edge of the network, where data flows north, south, east and west between both standard and proprietary protocols and applications in an intertwined, distributed IoT fog architecture,” he wrote.

The result was the EdgeX Foundry Project, hosted by the Linux Foundation, which Dell launched last year at the Hanover Messe 12

course, legacy and brownfield deployments.

“Due to all of these concerns, securing only the ‘thing’ will not scale in the long term,” he adds.

Nonetheless, Shepherd emphasizes that companies need to keep it simple when it comes to IoT. His advice is to “focus on simple use cases that address a foundational business need, and start small.” In addition, he suggests, “Invest in things where you’re building on open standards as much as possible, or at least kind of working toward that, because long after you have your initial successes and when you get into the broader ecosystems found in supply chains, you’ve got to have open standards to work across a bunch of different companies.”

SUPPLY & DEMAND CHAIN EXECUTIVE | September 2018 | SDCExec.com

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FEATURE RETAILERS & MANUFACTURERS: Digital Supply Chain Approaches

By John R. Yuva

Supply chains are in continuous transformation as technologies evolve and customer expectations shift.

At the heart of this change is the emergence of the digital supply chain where data reigns supreme. Whether it’s data for greater demand planning, inventory replenishment, product traceability, innovation and the like, the ability to harness streams of data is game changing for companies and their supply chains. For retailers and manufacturers, the digital supply chain is just as critical as the physical one—maybe more so.

In a report from JDA and KPMG entitled, Digital Supply Chain in Retail & Manufacturing: A State of the Industry Benchmark, conducted by Incisiv, the findings illustrate similarities but also many differences in how retailers and manufacturers leverage the tools in their digital supply chains.

Before taking a deeper dive, the following are some compelling statistics derived from the study:

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most disruptive new technology followed closely by Internet of Things (IoT) connected devices.

WWManufacturers view blockchain and autonomous

vehicles as the most disruptive new technologies, with 1 in 2 conducting pilots in the next 24 months.

WW For retailers, the top three drivers of investment in

the supply chain are: real-time product visibility (57 percent), end-to-end traceability (53 percent), and manage new distribution/fulfillment nodes (50 percent).

WW For manufacturers, the top three drivers of investment in the supply chain are: real-time product visibility (50 percent); innovate faster (40 percent); and lower total cost to serve, improve integrated planning/S&OP (33 percent).

RETAILERS TAPPING INTO COGNITIVE/ PREDICTIVE ANALY TICS

While retailers are no stranger to predictive analytics, it required an immense time investment before strategic decision-making could occur. Today’s predictive and cognitive analytic solutions require fewer steps for business decision-makers and are inclusive of the vast amount of information that’s available. Kevin Sterneckert, group vice president, innovation strategy and solution marketing at JDA, explains that formerly, retailers focused on analytics related to their competition, demand patterns and movement of goods to determine the right assortments, pricing and promotions, for example.

“With all the new forms of cognitive and predictive analytics available today it would be nearly impossible for a person to consider all those different aspects,” says Sterneckert. “However, you can leverage big data and machine learning to understand all of the measurable influencers to compare and determine what’s the right product assortment or which items should be in-store or online only. These types of predictive and prescriptive recommendations are more complete and able to drive the types of alignment that ultimately lead to greater sales and greater profitability.”

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WWRetailers view cognitive/predictive analytics as the

Aside from the operational opportunities available from cognitive and predictive analytics, another critical area to leverage is performance anomaly detection. Brian Higgins, U.S. supply chain practice leader at KPMG, emphasizes how impactful assessing real-time conditions will be for retailers.

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“Whether it’s a port delay or a transportation breakdown, you can now scan your supply chain in real time looking for conditions, detecting issues and addressing them proactively,” says Higgins. “This has been part of a broader supply chain control tower vision for years. Now, the technology enables you to examine these conditions across your trading partners and work collaboratively to solve them.”

standing the specifications, the materials used and how they’re sourced,” says Higgins. “This is a dynamic that retailers don’t encounter, but that manufacturers face in their day-to-day that has cost, quality and go-to-market implications. Thus, a new design for total cost approach is needed to bridge the divide that can exist between these two functions.”

IOT CHANGING THE GAME FOR MANUFACTURERS

A top priority for manufacturers cited in the study is incorporating new data streams.

With the use of sensors, there’s greater granularity in manufacturing and logistics processes. Data from sensors and IoT control towers provides real-time transparency that manufacturers and logistics providers are using to monitor raw materials and product shipments.

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“What manufacturers need are data and advanced insights to help them identify when problems might occur to avoid disruption,” says Sterneckert. “A digital control tower is designed to sit on top of all data signals and feeds from IoT and interpret in real time to recommend changes to prepare for potential disruption.”

RETAILERS MORE COMFORTABLE WITH CHANGE

One area in the study highlighting a clear difference between retailers and manufacturers is the ability to adapt in the face of changing market conditions. Retailers are accustomed to change because it’s part of their DNA. A retailer’s livelihood is based on anticipating and reacting to customer demand.

In the manufacturing environment, change management is not so easily achieved. Higgins attributes this to a breakdown between manufacturing and engineering. With engineering on the commercial side of the house and manufacturers on the operational side, it creates a significant divide that cannot be underestimated.

“During the product design phase, there’s often a structural challenge with under-

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FEATURE

By Editorial Staff

TOP WOMEN IN THE SUPPLY CHAIN

In partnership with Richmond Events, the organizers of the Logistics & Supply Chain Forums, Supply & Demand Chain Executive is pleased to recognize the industry’s leading women. In what has traditionally been an overwhelmingly male-dominated industry (in our opinion, more so than most) we sought to recognize not only leaders, but mentors, team builders, educators and women whose background, skill sets and longevity are an asset to any organization. We even took into consideration community service. The following leaders were selected based on these criteria from more than 165 nominations.

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DANA HALL

Manager of Logistics, BELK Dana Hall began her career with an LTL carrier in customer service.

While she recalls having no idea of the world she was entering, she quickly found that logistics was her “cup of tea,” soaking up every bit of knowledge she could. “When the retail logistics world came knocking at my door, it was a natural next step and quickly became my passion,” she says.

Hall’s retail logistics career includes 10 years with Ralph Lauren and four with Belk as a logistics manager. She enjoys knowing that every rate negotiation and every truck planned contributes not only to the bottom line, but also to bringing the stores to life.

Hall hopes to continue being a driving force in the retail logistics industry not only through her work but also by mentoring those beginning their career in supply chain. She frequently begins newcomer conversations with the question, “Do you like puzzles?” because, she says, the supply chain industry is much like a giant puzzle with constant moving pieces just waiting to be solved.

She enjoys knowing that every rate negotiation and every truck planned contributes not only to the bottom line, BUT ALSO TO BRINGING THE STORES TO LIFE.

MARY R. BREEDE

COE Global Trade Management, Customer Insight, Thomson Reuters Mary Breede is a global trade compliance subject matter expert and leader in many industries, including apparel, high tech and consumer electronics, with more than 25 years of experience. She says she fell into this area of expertise by accident when she was brought in to help a company conclude a customs audit in the United States. And more than two decades later, she is still in love with the challenge of global trade and interpreting the ever-changing regulatory requirements and how a company’s supply chain aligns.

In the next five to 10 years, Breede sees trade compliance organizations becoming more instrumental to a company in their global strategy discussions because of the breadth of knowledge they bring to the table in all things global trade.

In addition to her work in the supply chain industry, Breede is devoted to helping children in her community by providing a voice for them in the foster care system as a court-appointed special advocate (CASA).

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…SHE IS STILL IN LOVE WITH THE CHALLENGE of global trade and interpreting the everchanging regulatory requirements and how a company’s supply chain aligns.

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TOP WOMEN

KIMBERLY SHELBY

Vice President of Operations, Rational USA

…one of Shelby’s largest goals has been to CREATE AN OUTSIDE IN, CUSTOMER CENTRIC SUPPLY CHAIN…

Kimberly Shelby believes that supply chain chose her. Early in her original career as an accountant she was asked to fill in on the shipping dock, where she fell in love with the movement of product. And for the last 25 years her role has been to plan, produce, ship, store and transport products.

Over the course of her career, one of Shelby’s largest goals has been to create an outside in, customer centric supply chain—one that uses data to look at what customers order and to predict demand. In the next five to 10 years, she plans to shift her focus to assimilating blockchain, along with management of the last mile. Continued efforts are also needed to deal with the Amazon Effect, or as she labels it, consumer impatience.

As the vice president for Rational, Shelby says she is working to accomplish a rate of 90 percent or more perfect orders and creating a glass supply chain that is fully transparent and optimized.

NISA McCARTER MOORE

Senior Director, Operations, General Dynamics Information Technology Inc.

“Whether you are a consumer or a government customer, YOUR LIFE AND CAREER TOUCHES SOME PORTION OF THE SUPPLY CHAIN.”

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Nisa McCarter Moore is a performance-driven senior leader with over 17 years of government contracting experience managing a portfolio of key programs around supply chain. She chose a career in supply chain because, she says, the industry gives you an opportunity to affect the end mission and truly make a difference. “Whether you are a consumer or a government customer, your life and career touches some portion of the supply chain,” she says.

In her current position, and in support of the $2.2 billion U.S. Department of State (DOS) supply chain operations, Moore’s various job duties include: program management, procurement, strategic sourcing, warehousing, global transportation and freight forwarding, receiving, inventory functions, and management of over 90 employees. She holds executive relationships with government customers, top commercial and government suppliers, supply chain consultants and innovation leaders in the industry. In a prior role as contracts director, Moore supervised cradle-to-grave contracts administration for over 50 program managers, performing all contractual aspects from proposal preparation.

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RAQUEL McELYEA Vice President of Operational Excellence, Dorman Products Who would have thought a chemical engineer would become a paradigm pioneer and supply chain leader in the automotive aftermarket?

Certainly not Raquel McElyea—but her passion for rigorous analysis and problem-solving has translated well. Throughout more than 20 years in the industry, McElyea has been driven to understand the impact along each step of the supply chain, which has allowed her professionally to make a difference personally for people throughout the world. This ripple effect is her source of inspiration to innovate solutions to otherwise impossible challenges. The way she sees it, as the industry and society become increasingly on-demand, supply chain only becomes more of an invigorating career, with greater opportunity for dynamic problem solvers that understand the end-to-end game, no matter their background.

McElyea has been driven to understand the IMPACT ALONG EACH STEP OF THE SUPPLY CHAIN…

CHRISTINE BARNHART

Global Process Owner, Berry Global

Christine Barnhart has a diverse background in supply chain, with extensive experience in plant operations, strategic planning and global procurement across consumer packaging, pharmaceutical and appliance industries.

After graduating with an engineering degree, Barhart worked in maintenance at Whirlpool before progressing into process, supplier quality and then product development engineering. Until taking her next role at Mead Johnson Nutrition in 2008, she had never heard the term supply chain, but after receiving formal supply chain training as part of her APICS CPIM certification, she fell in love with the industry. “Supply chain allowed me to leverage my engineering brain in a business context to improve performance,” she says.

In her current role, Barnhart provides strategic vision, insight and management to advance Berry Global’s supply chain maturity and achieve superior results. She is leading efforts to streamline, standardize and simplify processes, identify tool gaps/improvements and recognize talent needs.

Barnhart is motivated to make a difference, to drive continuous improvement, and “fix things.” She believes supply chain is key for a successful, sustainable business, and companies that embrace maturing and modernizing their supply chains will gain a competitive advantage and outperform their peers.

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“Supply chain allowed me to LEVERAGE MY ENGINEERING BRAIN IN A BUSINESS CONTEXT to improve performance.”

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EXECUTIVE FOCUS

{ Q&A}

By Lara L. Sowinski

GETTING INTO THE EXPORT GAME Global4PL’s CEO Sergio Retamal explains the benefits of exporting for U.S. companies that are looking to expand their business.

Q:

Global4PL is a leading U.S. exporter with a wealth of experience. Let’s discuss some of the best practices for U.S. exporters and the next steps for those who are thinking of expanding into exporting.

A: Exporting is a great way to increase sales since the market overseas is larger than the U.S. market.

While exporting is not difficult, you need to set it up correctly. For example, exporting requires a basic understanding of the HTS, ECCN, License Exceptions and knowledge of who is the end-user or user of your products, export controls, as well as the financing and payments aspects.

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The best exporters I know have this in common (i.e., they set up the basics correctly from the beginning).

Once orders start coming in and things get busy, you cannot afford to have customs delays, issues with noncompliance and aggravated customers.

The U.S. government expects exporters to perform due diligence and be a responsible corporate citizen.

In the meantime, there are a lot of organizations and companies out there to help exporters, including the federal government, colleges, trade organizations and consultants, as well as some free resources.

At Global4PL, we do our best to help our customers grow globally. It might be surprising, but only 3 percent of U.S. companies are currently exporting, so

there are plenty of opportunities for companies to engage. As stated previously, this not only helps a company’s sales, but also positively affects the U.S. economy.

Q:

At the same time, exporting has also become more challenging and risky. For example, the DOJ has stepped up enforcement of the FCPA, while a myriad of other government agency regulations are a challenge too. Can you explain?

A: It is important to have

fundamental knowledge of the basics of exporting, which will help you navigate requirements like the federal government’s export controls and the regulations regarding international financial transactions. This is very important considering both U.S.

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EXECUTIVE Q & A

and overseas governments expect the exporter to understand their responsibilities. Not knowing the law is not a valid excuse.

In general, export controls prohibit exports to countries that are under embargo or to people and companies that have been denied export privileges.

There are some controls that apply to technology, which are designed to prevent the wrong companies or countries from accessing sensitive equipment, software and technology.

Other controls are aimed at controlling crime or terrorism and protecting national security. Some of the primary federal agencies that control exports directly include the BIS, OFAC, DOJ and/or DOD.

EXPORTING CAN HAVE BIG REWARDS, BUT RUNNING AFOUL OF COMPLIANCE REGULATIONS CAN RESULT IN SERIOUS PENALTIES. Some of the least known export controls are FCPA and Deemed Exports. The FCPA Foreign Control Act (commonly referred to as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act), prohibits the payment of bribes to foreign officials to assist in obtaining or retaining business. The FCPA can apply to prohibited conduct anywhere in the world and extends to publicly traded companies and their officers, directors, employees, stockholders and agents. Agents can include third-party agents, consultants, distributors, joint venture partners and others.

Deemed Exports, on the other hand, is releasing controlled technology to a foreign person in the United States or overseas, even though a physical item is not being exported. Controlled technology and the transfer of knowledge is considered a “deemed” export. For example, allowing someone to work on your computer code who does not hold U.S. citizenship or a green card is akin to sending the 22

product overseas. The definition of an export is to ship the product or transfer the knowledge. So, if you were to give such access to a coder with Russian citizenship and the coder was in your building in Silicon Valley, it could be seen as shipping the code to Russia.

Exporting can have big rewards, but running afoul of compliance regulations can result in serious penalties. Take the time to do your research and contact the experts when needed.

Q:

Exports have historically represented a bright spot for the United States in terms of trade, and the government has a wealth of resources for exporters (Gold Key, Trade Missions, etc.). What are some that you recommend?

A: There are plentiful resources for

exports; however, they are not all in the same place which sometimes makes it difficult to find them. Some of the best resources can be found at the Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration. One program is the Gold Key Service, which provides U.S. companies matchmaking appointments with up to five interested partners in a foreign market. The full service includes identification and outreach to potential matching firms, sending client’s information to identified matching firms, preparing a profile of interested firms, attending the appointments, and providing a report with the profile and contact information for interested firms.

On the funding side, EXIM Bank (www.exim.gov) has a portfolio of solutions targeting exporters, allowing them to grow their business faster because they can get secured loans.

EXIM also offers risk mitigation programs that insure the risk of payment

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from foreign buyers, which is great.

On the private sector side, American Express offers assistance to companies looking to expand their businesses in international markets. The American Express Grow Global program brings together global trade experts, exporting officials and business leaders to help small- and mediumsized companies expand globally.

Finally, there are industry groups like the global Organization of Women in International Trade (OWIT) that has chapters in major cities throughout the United States and even some foreign markets. OWIT provides monthly seminars, networking events and other benefits to both women and men.

Q:

It’s fair to say that the U.S. trade policy is in a genuine state of flux right now. The current administration withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership last year, is renegotiating NAFTA, and is alarming trade partners with its use of tariffs and protectionist measures in an attempt to narrow the U.S. trade gap. Yet, this disruption is understandably concerning to the export community. What strategy is Global4PL adopting right now? What advice do you have for other exporters?

A: To say that the U.S. trade policy is in a genuine state of

flux right now is an understatement. Some of the ideas are good, but the implementation has not been done correctly, and there has been a lack of communication with both U.S. exporters and foreign countries. At the same time, foreign countries are responding with retaliatory tariffs and this hurts U.S. exporters.

I am afraid that the current U.S. trade policy has unintended consequences, whether it was withdrawing from the TPP or if we withdraw from other free-trade agreements (FTA), we lose a seat at the table. If the United States is not a participant, then we give our seat to China, which is more than eager to replace us as the global leader in trade. Also, FTAs are poorly understood and blamed for the U.S. trade gap, which is not quite accurate.

Furthermore, FTAs offer protections for U.S. exporters.

One example involved an American engineering firm that was being blocked from bidding on a large project. Under the U.S.-Chile FTA, Chilean entities are not allowed to discriminate against U.S. companies, and the Chilean government was forced to change their bidding policy to avoid violating the rights of U.S. companies afforded under the pact.

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EXECUTIVE FOCUS

{ GLOBAL TRADE}

By Vince Nolan & Joe Pangaro

RENEWED SANCTIONS AGAINST IRAN

REQUIRE SUPPLY CHAIN CARE

T

ransportation and supply are secondary sanctions. For example, SECONDARY SANCTIONS chain professionals often the Iran Freedom and CounterSanctions come in two varieties: deal with a singular Proliferation Act (IFCA) imposed primary and secondary. Primary expectation from their secondary sanctions on a number of sanctions prohibit U.S. persons or clients: Get the product to its end Iranian economic sectors. Section 1244 entities from dealing with sanctioned destination on time and intact. As of IFCA blocked U.S.-based property countries, persons or entities. simple as that sounds to an outsider, of any entity (even a non-U.S., nonSecondary sanctions, by contrast, are industry insiders know that delivering Iranian entity) that provided goods, directed at non-U.S. persons or entities on that promise can be complicated. services or other support to any Iranian for conduct that occurs entirely outside For those tasked with of the United States. protecting their client Because much of through a strong, wellthe world’s financial informed compliance transactions are program, developments denominated in U.S. related to the Joint dollars, the United Comprehensive Plan States has tremendous of Action ( JCPOA), influence over foreign commonly known as companies and financial the Iran Deal, could institutions. By blocking have a far-ranging or threatening to impact on international block access to U.S. trade and will likely correspondent banks Developments related to the JCPOA, commonly result in additional through secondary known as the Iran Deal, could have a challenges. Supply chain sanctions, the United professionals would do States can unilaterally far-ranging impact on international trade and well to understand these influence and effectively will likely result in additional challenges. risks, particularly those regulate non-U.S. actors. involving secondary A glance at the list of sanctions. entity designated by the Treasury major companies that have announced After President Barack Obama Department’s Office of Foreign their exit from Iran following the entered the JCPOA, a flood of Assets Control (OFA) as a Specially Trump Administration’s decision international businesses began planning, Designated National (SDN). The bears this out and include: French or entering into, agreements with Iran.

SDN list included hundreds of Iranian oil company Total SA, A.P. MollerThese include oil and gas, automotive entities.

Maersk, Peugeot, GE, Boeing and and pharmaceutical companies.

These provisions will now snap back Indian company Reliance Industries.

But on May 8, 2018, President after the expiration of the 180-day Total was explicit that it was the Donald Trump ceased U.S. participation wind-down period on Nov. 4, 2018. risk of secondary sanctions that led in the JCPOA and reinstated U.S. The entities that were “delisted” from to its decision to leave Iran, stating nuclear sanctions on Iran. Several of the SDN list to implement the JCPOA that it could not “afford to be exposed the sanctions that will now “snap back” will be relisted on Nov. 5, 2018. to any secondary sanction which 24

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might include the loss of financing in dollars by U.S. banks for its worldwide operations, the loss of its U.S. shareholders or the inability to continue its U.S. operations.”

While secondary sanctions are aimed at influencing the behavior of non-U.S. companies, it is U.S.-based companies that must monitor and ensure compliance. When the U.S. government decides that a non-U.S. entity has not complied with the sanctions regime, it will place that entity on either the SDN list or the Foreign Sanctions Evaders (FSE) list (persons or entities on these lists are said to be “blocked”). Once listed, U.S. entities are prohibited from doing business with the sanctioned non-U.S. entity.

Supply chain professionals must be careful as blocked entities often try to conceal their blocked status through joint ventures and other structures.

Any entity directly or indirectly owned 50 percent or more in the aggregate by one or more blocked persons is also considered blocked regardless of whether the entity appears on the blocked lists.

The risks for violations of the sanctions regime can be high. Penalties will be financial, but can also include loss of export privileges.

with the recently reinstated sanctions and any new sanctions regime. China sees Iran as key to its One Belt, One Road initiative and currently purchases 600,000 barrels of oil per day from Iran. It is anticipated that China will be unwilling to reduce oil imports from Iran.

REMAINING COMPLIANT

In light of these risks, transportation and supply chain professionals ABOUT THE AUTHORS should take several actions to protect themselves and their clients. First, VINCE NOLAN is a member of Duane Morris’ Iran Sanctions Practice and practices in white-collar and review compliance programs to ensure complex commercial litigation. that the policies and procedures are the JOE PANGARO has experience in high-stakes cases latest and best available. A compliance involving a wide range of commercial issues, including class actions and breach of contract disputes. program that might have satisfied regulators in the past may be outdated.

Second, ensure that compliance programs address both ends of the supply chain— know where the goods are coming from and where they are going—and ensure that your organization’s management is familiar with the sanctions  • API integration with 3rd party systems programs and the  • Fast and efficient implementation cycles blocked persons  • Corrective actions to improve performance lists, so that  • Environmental, Social and Governance Insights any requested Leading companies recognize integrating vendor risk shipments to such management principles into their products and manufacturing entities can be process delivers market differentiation, increased sales and brand flagged and the protection. With CSRware, you can be confident in building issue escalated resiliency with your key partners. immediately. If necessary, employ delivery-tracking

CHINA’S PUSH BACK New, secondary sanctions will likely create additional layers and increase complexity. Built up over 40 years, the Iran sanctions regime is multilayered and complex and includes sanctions against Iran for its support of terrorism, the continuing ban on U.S. trade and investment, sanctions on Iran’s energy sector, as well as sanctions on weapons of mass destruction.

Further complicating the regime is China’s anticipated refusal to comply

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software to ensure shipments are delivered to the intended destination and are not diverted.

Third, ensure contracts have warranties that address violations of sanctions laws. It is important to alleviate contractual duties in the event that performance would be in breach of sanctions to avoid breach of contract actions and obtain indemnity.

SDCExec.com | September 2018 | SUPPLY & DEMAND CHAIN EXECUTIVE

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MADE IN AMERICA

By Amy Wunderlin

DOWN TO A SCIENCE Organomation remains competitive with high-quality American-made lab equipment.

M

assachusetts easily in general laboratory equipment conjures up images for municipal industries such as of crisp fall days, ivy education (Ivy League universities), covered brick and a environmental markets (EPA) and certain prestigious university campus. research organizations.

But what is maybe less well-known is What really sets the manufacturer the state’s long history of innovative apart, though, is its unique manufacturing. business model of sourcing Organomation, all parts domestically. founded in 1959 “[American

by Dr. Neal manufacturing] is one of McNiven, is proud those things we’ve always to be part of that done, and the formula tradition. McNiven, works for us,” explains a chemist by trade Organomation’s with an engineering General Manager background, David Oliva. foresaw the need for “It really does sample preparation provide us a instruments required competitive advantage,” for chromatography he adds. “While we Organomation was founded and invented the first might be five times more in 1959 by Dr. Neal McNiven. commercially viable expensive compared with nitrogen test tube on the market. The our competitors on some instruments, N-EVAP remains Organomation’s we continue to grow both domestically best-selling product line to this day, and internationally.” and it is what the company is best Oliva notes that Organomation known for. It also offers a handful of also prides itself on its level of repeat other product lines, but specializes business.

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“People have a really good experience with the product, and when it does come time for them to buy a new one, they’re not evaluating new alternatives; they are just interested in replacing what they have with our updated model.”

Part of that great customer experience is due to the longevity of its instruments, which Oliva says is “really only possible due to the craftsmanship of our in-house technicians but also the quality materials, most of which are sourced domestically.”

In fact, many of its vendors are within five or 10 miles. During a recreational trip on a local bike path a few towns over Oliva recalls actually riding by three or four vendors Organomation does business with.

“That really speaks to Worchester County in terms of all the manufacturing that is still in the area,” he adds.

And while Massachusetts is certainly known for education, Oliva notes its technical schools are often overlooked, including the many people with metalwork, fabrication and welding experience necessary for American

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Funding is a significant hurdle for the Parker Lab at Stanford University School of Medicine. Organomation products help the lab keep costs down when competing for grant money.

be a reasonable expectation if the quality and craftsmanship isn’t where it is now,” he adds.

Though bringing much of the manufacturing in house has helped Organomation remain price competitive, as a small, family-owned company, it is still a challenge, in addition to staying on top of fastmoving lab tech trends. On the flipside, however, Oliva notes the problems that its instruments are solving, such as air quality and water testing, are not going away.

“We certainly are the little guy— there’s no doubt about it. Thus, one of the biggest challenges is staying on top of technological developments and making sure we can help the chemists of tomorrow complete their work effectively,” he says.

The general manager adds: “We have an extremely strong brand, part of which is tied to being made in the United States. We have a lot of pride in [American manufacturing], and we’ve been able to stay true to ourselves, not having to compromise in terms of lower quality materials or employee compensation. We’ve managed to have a very successful small business, which we think is something to be very proud of in this day and age.”

manufacturing.

“Even though unemployment is extremely low, we’ve still been able to find good people with the skills we need, and that’s really the most important thing in keeping this business running,” he says.

Organomation’s 17 employees, a mix of part- and full-time, are another major competitive advantage.

“We have the in-house expertise and experience and control over every process. This has allowed us to improve efficiency and remain price competitive,” Oliva explains. “Our product attributes wouldn’t be what they are if we didn’t have that level of in-house expertise. That speaks to the quality of materials we’re sourcing but also everything being built by hand. We really put together a product we can stand behind.

“If we were producing instruments elsewhere, I don’t know how many cases we would have of customers who have instruments in the field for 10 or 15 years. I just don’t know if that would

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“WE CERTAINLY ARE THE LITTLE GUY…SO ONE OF THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES IS STAYING ON TOP OF TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS AND MAKING SURE WE CAN HELP THE CHEMISTS OF TOMORROW COMPLETE THEIR WORK EFFECTIVELY.” — DAVID OLIVA

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SPECIAL REPORT THE INTERNET OF THINGS

By Mary Shacklett

HOW IOT, BLOCKCHAIN HELP

Track Assets in the Food Supply Chain Proper asset management and preservation is essential for food retailers to improve their bottom lines.

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I

nventory represents roughly 15 percent of all corporate assets for the average company. If it’s managed poorly, the results will flow directly to the bottom line.

For companies in the food and beverage industry, the assets associated with inventory are not only food products, but the containers that these products are stored and transported in, along with other equipment and facilities used during the course of farm-to-table food processing.

Historically, tracking this inventory has been a manual process, meaning it can be prone to error and often a prohibitive cost to get right.

“About 30 percent of food delivered to retailers is wasted, related to improper handling and processing

along the supply chain,” explains Kevin Payne, vice president of marketing for Zest Labs, an AgTech company specializing in post-harvest shelf life and freshness management solutions.

“As such, products like produce have been tracked and monitored only at the trailer level—if at all—rather than at the product or pallet level—and that’s really what we want to monitor and manage: the condition of the product, not the trailer.

“Because of this, companies aren’t getting the level of granularity they need to make informed decisions based on the product’s condition and history.

This is one of the things contributing to the massive food waste problem we’re experiencing,” he adds.

An example is 2 Sisters Food

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SPECIAL REPORT THE INTERNET OF THINGS

The Zest Intelligent Pallet Routing Code or “ZIPR Code” provides real-time data about the condition of produce and enables growers to ensure the delivered freshness meets the customer’s requirements, reducing waste by 50 percent or more.

transporters and suppliers. However, while blockchain can certainly help with trusted transaction recording and tracking as part of food asset management, the problem is bigger than blockchain. In particular, food retailers also need granular insight into the condition of their food supply chain assets.

“There are some really groundbreaking new technologies for food safety in the cold chain,” says Elizabeth Sinclair, manager of verticals at Seagull Scientific, an RFID, barcode and label solutions provider. “An active RFID data logger affixed to a pallet can register temperature and humidity fluctuations, sending out a ‘yellow light’ warning if a product is approaching dangerous temperatures, so that the manufacturer or transporter can take action to mitigate the situation. If a product is exposed to temperatures for long enough that it would be unsafe to consume, a ‘red light’ warning is sent so that the product can be pulled from the food supply chain. Losing a load to spoilage is expensive, but losing brand reputation to foodborne illness and recall can put a company out of business,” adds Sinclair.

IoT condition monitoring tags collect information about a product to determine freshness and enable intelligent pallet routing.

Group, a poultry supplier to U.K. supermarkets. In October 2017, the company suspended production of chicken after an investigation by The Guardian and other news outlets revealed that food safety records had been altered.

It was alleged that the company had altered “kill dates” in order to artificially stretch the commercial life of the meat and trick customers into buying the product past its use-by date. Pundits advocated the use of supply chain tracking technologies like blockchain so that every transaction involving food would be securely logged and tracked, giving total food supply chain transparency to retailers,

TRACKING PLASTIC RETURNABLES It isn’t just food that suffers from poor asset management in supply

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chains. Each year, food retailers lose millions of dollars when containers used to store and ship food are misplaced.

“High-value assets like tractortrailers have always been tracked, often manually and by spreadsheet, to facilitate things like load planning,” says Sinclair. “But for low-value items such as plastic returnables like tugs and totes, in many cases there was no mechanism in place to track them.

Manufacturers and retailers worked on the honor system, trusting that the assets would be returned to the manufacturer.”

Sinclair adds that misplaced or lost plastic returnables can account for millions of lost dollars annually. This is also an area where newer Internet of Things (IoT) technologies can help.

“Before IoT sensors became available, a variety of paper-based systems were used, as well as barcodes,” says Zest Labs’ Payne.

“They each may have their place, but when compared to IoT sensors and devices, they’re manual and more prone to error.

“Also, because of this, we weren’t able to easily collect data at a granular level. It was either too expensive or too difficult to do. This meant we were getting incomplete, and possibly, inaccurate data. This can lead to poor decision-making,” he adds.

For example, if there are 26 pallets of produce in a trailer, and you only sample one (or only the condition of a trailer), Payne says you might make an incorrect decision about the product.

BOOSTING ASSET MANAGEMENT So how do food retailers get their arms around the problems of asset management and preservation so they can improve their bottom lines?

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Obtain granular visibility of your food supply chain assets.

“We’re seeing a convergence of technologies, including RFID, 2D barcodes, voice, GPS and sensors,” says Mike Liard, director of the RFID practice for VDC Research, a Massachusetts-based research firm.

“And, we’re seeing a broader value proposition associated with asset management besides just where something is located.”

IoT sensor technology is also a critical component for improving food supply chain asset management.

“IoT sensors are autonomous, so you don’t have to ask someone to manually collect them and input the data from a USB device,” says Payne. “This saves labor costs and also makes it far easier to collect the data, and it can also minimize changes to your processes.

Secondly, the data is collected without human intervention and is more accurate as there’s less opportunity for errors to be made.”

2

Don’t overlook non-food assets that are part of your supply chain.

Read-only RFID tags, which have leveled off to around 10 cents apiece for some products, are being used to tag and track plastic returnables. When the cost of using these returnable assets is in the millions of dollars, it pays for companies to track and reuse them.

3

Use transactional track and trace technology.

Blockchain is one of the most popular transactional technologies being used to securely track and trace assets through supply chains. The technology records each supply chain transaction into a block of digital data that is uniquely signed or identified, and that becomes a permanent and trackable data record. The sequence of blockchain blocks is chained together so no block can be altered or inserted 30

between two existing blocks.

Companies are already making the move to blockchain. Therefore, it’s important to ask vendors about the type of support they offer for the technology.

4

Work with your suppliers.

With the plethora of RFID, sensor, IoT and blockchain technology now commercially available, it is important to make the right choices for implementing them—and to also promote adoption by your supply chain partners.

Not every supplier will adopt the same solutions, but to the degree that they do, you will gain greater endto-end visibility into what’s going right—and what’s not—in your food supply chain. More granular visibility of your assets will enable you to take steps to eliminate or reduce waste. You will also be able to identify producers, transporters, distribution centers and warehouses that have higher incidences of waste than you would like to see.

By issuing metrics and tracking asset performance, you can sit down with under-performing suppliers, so that together, you can improve food asset management and supply chain performance.

“For the fresh food supply chain, there are numerous points across the supply chain that pose a risk, as time and temperature have a significant impact on the delivered quality and freshness of the product,” notes Payne.

“Ideally, we want to track product

A farm worker attaches a ZIPR IoT monitoring tag to a pallet of strawberries.

The tag is inside the pallet to collect information about the product, instead of ambient conditions.

such as fresh produce from the point of harvest to delivery to the grocer because every step along the way provides the opportunity to impact the product. If only certain segments of the supply chain are monitored and managed—such as in transit between the grower and the retail distribution center—we aren’t able to determine what, if any, impact on the product occurred before or after that segment.”

5

Before you start with IoT, do your research.

Payne recommends asking the following questions: ❯❯ Are the IoT devices reusable? ❯❯ How long will they last? ❯❯ Who will have access to the data? ❯❯ Are they approved food-safe devices?

“It’s also important to understand how the data is going to be used and presented,” he adds. “It’s one thing to collect data—and IoT devices can simplify that process—but it’s equally important to define how the information will be used.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR MARY SHACKLETT is the president of Transworld Data, a technology analytics, market research and consulting firm. Prior to founding the company, she was vice president of product research and software development at Summit Information Systems. She may be reached at mshacklett@twdtransworld.com.

SUPPLY & DEMAND CHAIN EXECUTIVE | September 2018 | SDCExec.com

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8/23/18 9:17 8/27/18 1:48 AM PM

SPECIAL REPORT PROCUREMENT

By Dr. Marcell Vollmer

W What’s the Big Deal for Procurement?

When the phrase was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2013, the industry had only seen the tip of the iceburg.

e’re in the midst of a big data revolution.

Around the world, 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are produced daily, and approximately 90 percent of the world’s data were generated in just the past two years.

This proliferation of data has led many organizations into a period of innovation with far-reaching implications. The imperative to transform this data into useful, actionable insights has never been greater, and no industry or line of business is immune from the big data revolution underway. It comes as no surprise that procurement professionals are turning to big data to drive digital change. They are increasingly realizing that the future belongs to those enterprises that can successfully harness its value for competitive advantage.

THE PATH TO DIGITAL To understand the priorities and challenges that global companies face on their digital journey, the University of Applied Science Würzburg/ Schweinfurt, in cooperation with SAP Ariba, conducted a survey of more than 650 leaders in procurement, finance and supply chain functions from organizations across North America and Europe. When asked to rank the top five priorities for their organizations, 72 percent of respondents cited big data and predictive analytics as their chief concerns.

That figure reflects a paradox that procurement professionals understand all too well. While their organizations enjoy greater access to data about their

72% 32

of respondents cited big data and predictive analytics as their chief concerns.

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suppliers, customers and prospects, the enormity of it can make meaning hard to come by. Out of this abundance of data, how can procurement professionals draw meaningful insights, integrate predictive analytics into their day-to-day responsibilities, and provide prescriptive guidance to buyers?

The challenge for procurement professionals is to sift through all the data and distill it in a way that makes informed decision-making possible.

Big data, predictive analytics and prescriptive guidance can further scale with cognitive computing power to enhance situational awareness and speed of decision-making. The resulting business value promises to improve the way procurement professionals carry out their crucial roles.

information intelligently and accurately—and derive valuable insights. ❯❯ ENABLING TALENT AND SKILLS: For a digital transformation to succeed, organizations need to foster an internal culture open to change and a mind-set that embraces these disruptive technologies.

Big data, predictive analytics and cognitive computing require new skills and ways of working where front-line employees are able to perform queries or generate reports on their own, with minimal support from IT.

THE OPPORTUNITIES OF TOMORROW Advances in technology and new concepts like intelligent computing provide opportunities to predict and respond effectively to customer and market demands. The insights they yield can guide buyers to create requests for information or contract templates based on unlimited amounts of information analyzed across multiple databases. Connecting people and information guided by intelligent procurement systems will fundamentally change how companies buy and sell. The biggest change lies in the ability of these networked systems to foster collaboration, from product design to coordinated operational strategies, among trading partners.

By linking together the right stakeholders with key operational data across the value chain, a network can open up broad visibility into the interconnected operations of buyers and suppliers. This heightened transparency yields valuable insights that arm businesses with the foresight to prevent bottlenecks in the supply chain before they arise, thus reducing

THE CHALLENGES OF TODAY Today, most procurement organizations face three key challenges when working with big data: ❯❯ DIGITIZING PROCESSES: The first challenge for procurement is to access unstructured data that resides in scanned documents, email inboxes and spreadsheets.

The key to unlocking the data’s potential is to ensure it is stored in a digital format that lends itself to deep analysis. In the process, data sets previously thought to be uncorrelated can reveal remarkable insights and patterns that lead to innovation. ❯❯ DRIVING INSIGHTS: It is vital to be able to analyze and utilize the digitized data. Customers are challenged to figure out how to tap into cognitive capabilities and build them into their processes.

Human limitations, as well as technical challenges, can hinder the detection of patterns.

Digitalization can process the

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operational uncertainty and enhancing customer satisfaction. Meanwhile, as automated procurement solutions take on many of the function’s dayto-day tactical activities, they free up professionals to focus on strategic priorities such as shoring up supply chain resilience, shielding the brand from third-party risk, and spurring new sources of innovation. As digital technologies reshape the way businesses work together, procurement is evolving from its historic role of generating cost-savings to fostering teamwork across organizational boundaries and, ultimately, driving much of the strategic value that fuels growth.

However, the opportunities presented by digital transformation extend even beyond collaboration, cost-savings and operational risk.

Consider reputational risk, such as that associated with forced labor upstream in a company’s supply chain.

A digital procurement solution can instill confidence across the value chain when it offers transparency not only into inventories, cycle time and turnover ratios but also into the criteria that gauge whether a trading partner’s brand values align with one’s own.

The digitalization of business is real, and it is here to stay. The combination of new technologies and skilled talent working with intelligent systems provides the competitive edge that businesses need to stay ahead of rivals in the market. As with any revolution, there will be winners and losers, and those that make the most of big data will emerge on top.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR DR. MARCELL VOLLMER is chief digital officer at SAP Ariba and the former chief procurement officer of SAP. SAP is the market leader in business applications, and SAP Ariba is the world’s largest business network, linking together buyers and suppliers from more than 3 million companies in 190 countries.

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SPECIAL REPORT BLOCKCHAIN

By Amy Wunderlin

BLOCKCHAIN FINDS ADDED VALUE IN SMART CONTRACTS The applications for blockchain are immense, but smart contracts offer the potential for immediate results.

L

et’s face it. In an industry where many companies are still trying to get a handle on their internal data—and some still even process much of their information manually—it’s hard to imagine a reality where buyers, suppliers, carriers and other supply chain partners all share data across one secure platform.

But realistic applications for blockchain will soon be realized, with many experts predicting widespread adoption within five years.

Smart contracts are one blockchain application gaining traction, with the potential to offer immediate rewards.

Blockchain allows companies to create smart contracts based on programmable business logic, which

can execute themselves autonomously and thereby save time and money by reducing friction and intermediaries.

In this format, traditional contracts are converted into computer code to form a digital agreement that is stored, replicated and supervised by the network of computers that run on the blockchain. The self-executing, digital contracts allow the chain to essentially hold funds in escrow until both parties meet their obligations.

WHY SMART CONTRACTS? A Beginner’s Guide to Smart Contracts by Blockgeeks, an online blockchain training technology educational platform, offers a list of numerous smart contract benefits, which include:

TRUST—Your documents are encrypted on a shared ledger. There’s no way that someone can say they lost it.

AUTONOMY—You’re the one making the agreement; there’s no need to rely on a broker, lawyer or other intermediaries to confirm.

Incidentally, this also knocks out the danger of manipulation by a third party since execution is managed automatically by the network, rather than by one or more, possibly biased, individuals who may err.

BACKUP—Imagine if your bank lost your savings account. On the blockchain, each and every one of your friends has your back. Your documents are duplicated many times over.

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“This helps make sure that all parties are sharing the same data, it’s “Think about a world where parties fully meet the conditions set in even closer to a real-time scenario, basically all of the different parties the contract,” explains Ray Young, cowhich will be important going in the supply chain share the same founder and chief technology officer of forward,” Peltonen says. data. Buyers, suppliers, carriers—all Omnichain Solutions. of the parties—would be able to For instance, in a delivery scenario, A FUNCTION OF share the data. That provides huge Young says “a smart contract would PROCUREMENT opportunities for increasing efficiency ensure the trucking company only An area of supply chain that stands and automation,” he explains. receives payment once the retailer to benefit the most from smart For example, building a smart confirms receipt of the shipment.” contracts is procurement. Peltonen says contract will eliminate associating the Smart contracts can also help the impact and promise of blockchain supplier’s invoice with corresponding “prevent breaches and reinforce trust technology within B2B transactions purchase orders, he says, allowing you and accountability among everyone in across the supply chain and within the to define various checkpoints and the supply chain,” Young adds. accounts payable function is quickly ensure the purchase order has been In fact, Sami Peltonen, vice becoming more realistic. When it delivered according to the expectations. president of purchase-to-pay product comes to the application of blockchain In addition, you would be able to management at Basware, says smart (and specifically smart contracts) ensure or verify that the carrier hasn’t contracts have the potential to within accounts payable, near-term been adding extra costs. eliminate fraud. benefits occur where you can: “With that innovation you are then “Everybody has the able to automate the same understanding downstream process, What really sets smart contracts apart of truth, so it is very meaning the invoice is their potential to aid in achieving today’s handling,” Peltonen adds. difficult, if not even impossible, to do fraud in 2) Revolutionize supply chain Holy Grail—real-time visibility. business that context,” he explains. processes, But what really sets including managing smart contracts apart is their potential 1) Eliminate manual matching DPO and cash flow and helping to to aid in achieving today’s supply chain with automated payment approvals, mitigate supply chain disruption Holy Grail—real-time visibility. making the accounts payable function through close collaboration with “You can build pretty advanced more effective. suppliers on payment terms. algorithms and business rules even Peltonen says automating the “Whenever both the buyer and without blockchain. Part of that value accounts payable process based on supplier have exactly the same visibility certainly can be done with today’s procurement information using of the purchase order—what has existing technologies and many of our blockchain is one of the most happened with the purchase order, the customers are doing it. But when all intriguing use cases for the technology. historical data and action loops—and

SAFETY—Cryptography, the encryption of websites, keeps your documents safe. There is no hacking. In fact, it would take an abnormally smart hacker to crack the code and infiltrate.

SAVINGS—Smart contracts save you money since they knock out the presence of an intermediary. You would, for instance, have to pay a notary to witness your transaction.

SPEED—You’d ordinarily have to spend chunks of time and paperwork to manually process documents.

Smart contracts use software code to automate tasks, thereby shaving hours off a range of business processes.

ACCURACY—Automated contracts are not only faster and cheaper, but also avoid the errors that come from manually filling out heaps of forms.

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SPECIAL REPORT BLOCKCHAIN when both have exactly the same understanding of what’s happening on the invoice, it ensures that when you want to automate your downstream accounts payable process, you always have the correct data,” Peltonen explains.

Omnichain’s Young points out that when all records are digitized and available to anyone in the blockchain network, it eliminates any doubts as to an agreement’s condition, transaction status or location of a product.

“It creates a unique, user economy among business partners, where all parties fulfill their responsibilities, payments are made when expected, and all goods arrive where and when they should,” he says, adding, “Overall, smart contracts lead to a more efficient and seamless supply chain.”

This increased supply chain visibility and partner trust also makes contract exceptions easier to identify and resolve.

“When this data is shared between the parties, you are able to see in real time where the difference is coming from. And the exceptions can then be handled in a more effective way, where the supplier can take care of processing the exception,” Peltonen says.

For example, in today’s supply chain, the buyer is typically the one trying to resolve conflict.

“If something goes wrong, such as the delivery is broken or the carrier adds an extra freight charge that wasn’t agreed upon in the contract, the buyer now has to resolve all of those conflicts,” Peltonen says. “But in a blockchain, we are able to involve all of the parties to do the exception handling, and in the end, it’s to everybody’s benefit. Conflicts are resolved fast.”

3) Realize cost savings by paying immediately and claiming discounts from suppliers.

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Another benefit to smart contracts is the potential for dynamic payment or dynamic discounting. Smart contracts on a blockchain platform allow the supplier to immediately see that an invoice has been processed.

“To get the money faster, the supplier may be able to provide an opportunity for the buyer to pay right away using a dynamic discounting program,” Peltonen explains.

citing the potential for bugs in the code and questions about government regulation. Basware’s Peltonen also emphasizes concerns around data privacy.

“Even though there are great benefits, at the same time, customers tend to be very sensitive with their data. Thus, sharing your data with various parties doesn’t always sound like a good idea,” he explains. “It’s a challenge that will be resolved, but DATA CAPTURE there are no perfect solutions available The benefits of a fully integrated right now. That is one of the reasons buyer and supplier relationship with why it will still take some time before shared data are obvious, and blockchain we are able to see broader adoption of will make that possible, further driving blockchain applications.” automation, data Gil Perez, compliance and senior vice “People need to consider faster exception president of handling. But IoT and digital where and how they use to really get supply chain at blockchain in order to the benefit of SAP, also warns the ongoing consider also the financial of added costs development, smart contract implications of it.”

Peltonen says implementation “you need to be can carry.

— GIL PEREZ, SAP able to capture all SAP first of the data. implemented smart contracts on the “That is a prerequisite that often the hyperledger, but found that actual customers are not fully understanding implementation was too expensive to or executing successfully,” he adds. justify the investment. Instead, they Basware encourages its customers turned to multichain, which doesn’t to begin by congregating their data have smart contracts at all. into a single platform. This will “It’s much faster, more efficient result in immediate benefits, but and allows you to run everything at a more importantly, Peltonen says as significantly lower price point,” Perez blockchain moves forward, “those says. “Smart contracts do have a cost companies that already have lots of associated with them. You need to data in a single place will see the best consider when and how you want to benefits of upcoming blockchain or use smart contracts, and when does it AI-related developments.” make sense to use it and where does the logic need to be?

UNSOLVED QUESTIONS “Smart contracts are great because A Beginner’s Guide to Smart Contracts they give us more flexibility, but it has a

by Blockgeeks, an online blockchain cost to it. People need to decide where training technology educational and how they use blockchain in order platform, emphasizes that smart to consider the business and financial contracts are still far from perfect, implications of it,” he adds.

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{ WAREHOUSING}

EXECUTIVE FOCUS

By Amy Wunderlin

INVENTORY OPTIMIZATION

IN THE DEMAND-DRIVEN SUPPLY CHAIN

B

y definition inventory “The opportunity is to unify that optimization is the view and get that inventory to the place process of scientifically that it’s most likely to sell next. That’s determining the right where this whole optimization, the inventory levels across the supply math behind it, is allowing retailers to chain. Sounds simple enough. Yet, get better visibility,” she adds. Instead of for today’s retailers, managing their managing inventory like two separate inventory in a customer-centric, lines of business, Logility is helping omnichannel world is a challenge. its customers bring them together.

What might sound like a customer The biggest challenge in creating this service complaint to the average omnichannel approach, however, is that shopper is now increasingly a supply there is no one-size-fits-all solution to chain problem. Why is the pair of inventory management. shoes they’ve been eyeing online out “When everyone identified that of stock at their local retail location? e-commerce players were starting Many retail supply chain teams are to take market share and they were still working to find the answer. A starting to see lost sales, the immediate separation of e-commerce and brickknee-jerk reaction was to then offer and-mortar inventory is one factor. similar service levels, offer free shipping, “As they offer next launched day service,” The biggest challenge in their directexplains Toby to-consumer Brzoznowski, creating this omnichannel business co-founder approach, however, is that there or their and executive e-commerce is no one-size-fits-all solution vice business, president of to inventory management. many of LLamasoft. those retailers “So many set up different silos of inventory—this companies moved as rapidly as possible inventory was for e-commerce and that to try to make those offers, not inventory was for brick and mortar,” understanding what the actual cost to explains Karin Bursa, executive vice serve was and what that would do to president at Logility. “The bad behavior their margins. if you will, or the bad habit of creating “What many companies quickly these silos of inventory, has created identified is that if they were to offer some interesting challenges for retailers that type of service for all products, in that they could be out of stock at a they were drastically impacting their retail store and be sitting on inventory margins and their profitability,” for their e-com business.

Brzoznowski adds.

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Retailers must revisit their supply chain design to get a handle on inventory, with an increased focus on understanding demand behaviors and the actual cost to serve.

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WAREHOUSING

That immediate reaction has been tempered now, however, with a much more practical, data-driven approach that identifies which products should rationally be sold and offered at a high service level. As opposed to offering a one-size-fits-all strategy, Brzoznowski says retailers are looking to digital models.

“They’re using more sophisticated demand analytics and cost-to-serve analytics to really determine their overall retail and service-level policies,” he adds.

UNDERSTANDING DEMAND Llamasoft is focused specifically on the idea of supply chain design, or helping its customers focus on the metrics that ultimately drive inventory and service. The first step in that process is understanding demand— understanding the frequency with which each individual item, and the variability of each individual location and item combination, is happening.

“The companies that seem to be best-

“There has been a traditional focus on and investment in execution. The real competitive advantage is companies that are stepping back and leveraging more advanced analytics to redesign [their supply chain].” — TOBY BRZOZNOWSKI, LLAMASOFT Thus, the design aspect of the supply chain has become more critical.

“You can only execute as good as your design. No matter how well they execute, they’re only going to get so good. You can’t improve any further until you redesign,” Brzoznowski says.

“There has been a traditional focus on and investment in execution. The real competitive advantage is companies that are stepping back and leveraging more advanced analytics to redesign and continuously redesign because things are always changing.”

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in-class are doing a much more detailed analysis of demand patterns than they have ever done before—the way in which customers are buying things and the way in which they’re expecting service,” Brzoznowski explains.

This trend toward a more demanddriven supply chain has also led to a more proactive approach. Through advances in technology and greater insights provided by data and analytics, retailers can now manage inventory levels based on actual demand rather than forecasted demand.

“One of the biggest mistakes people

make is they assume everything is the same,” Brzoznowski says. “They try to promise the same level of service for every product and to every customer.

It’s simply not a good strategy because of this variability and the different types of demand patterns.

“If you tried to promise the same level of service and treat inventory the same across all the different products, you would way overstock some items and you would highly understock others,” he adds.

Ed Elsbury, associate partner at Reveal, says a traditional reactive approach to demand often results in excess inventory.

“What we often find are inefficiencies in processes and in people’s understanding of how to manage their inventories and how to utilize their tools to manage those inventories. Companies tend to drown those inefficiencies with inventory, which is costing them in a number of different ways. It costs them in tied up working capital, and it ties up bin space that could be utilized for faster moving, more profitable items,” he explains.

At Reveal, Elsbury says they are helping customers understand how to utilize sales and improve operational planning to get ahead of market trends and better utilize forecasts based on more than historical data.

“If you’re a retailer and you’ve got

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WAREHOUSING

to keep certain items on the shelf at the stores, then understanding your forecasts and understanding those usage histories and the information that’s available to you—and then being able to utilize the system for reordering and making sure that you have those right materials at the right place at the right time—is critical,” Elsbury says.

“If you’re a materials buyer, you’ve got to go off of some kind of demand signal,” he adds. “If the forecasts aren’t in the system, then what am I buying off of ? The only thing I’m buying off of typically is just historical usage.”

And as retailers get closer to the end consumer, demand signals are increasingly coming directly from them, through social media.

“There’s so much more information, and the process to pull that information out in different ways is changing,” Elsbury says. “The ability for a company to take data, make it actionable and then execute is the Holy Grail companies are searching for. If you could align your master data and your business behaviors to how you operate as a business, the profitability would increase exponentially.”

identifying which ones are fast moving, which ones are very normal in frequency and which ones are higher margin versus others—retailers must then understand what their actual costs to serve each product are, Brzoznowsk says.

“People are focusing a lot of attention on: ‘What is the actual cost to serve or margin to serve each product to each customer?’ Because if you understand what the buying behaviors and demand patterns are, and you understand your margin to serve, you can identify a certain group and category of products that are absolutely essential to offer the highest level of service,” he says.

These are your high margin, high volume, high frequency and low variability-type products. These are the products that require higher, more expensive transportation costs to get them to the customer no matter what.

Categorizing demand, and therefore understanding the actual cost to serve, will also help you identify the products that are neither high volume, low variability nor high margin.

“Those are the items you have to have a discipline as a retailer to avoid the risk of promising high availability or high service because those are items that will ultimately ruin your profitability,” Brzoznowski says. “You have to be willing to offer lower service or offset your costs with requiring

A FOCUS ON ACTUAL COST TO SERVE Once you understand demand patterns and segment inventory based on the different types of behaviors—

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additional shipping or handling costs in order to expedite service. Those are the ones that wouldn’t necessarily qualify for free shipping.”

From there, the next step is understanding the areas within the supply chain that introduce variability (variability in lead times, transportation and production).

“If you can understand variability, if you can understand your cost to serve, if you can understand your demand behaviors, those three elements are going to help you create a design that can accommodate all of them,” Brzoznowski adds. “The companies that can design and adapt faster are the ones that are going to have an edge on their competitors. Unless you have that digital model to identify all of the options that are available to you and allow you to experiment, you’re really stuck.”

Elsbury agrees, adding the biggest impact will come from companies that have revised their processes, improved data integrity and developed the knowledge level of users.

“The tools have always been there… but organizations are starting to realize that they’ve been underutilizing them. If organizations could just fundamentally improve performance with tools that they have available to them today, it’s incredible the results that can be achieved.”

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EXECUTIVE FOCUS

{ TRANSPORTATION}

By JP Wiggins

PREDICTING HOW AUTONOMOUS TRUCKS WILL IMPACT SHIPPERS When cost and service needs are met, shippers will rely on autonomous vehicles for their customers.

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utonomous trucks (ATs) are barreling down on the transportation industry, and you’ve probably heard about all of the benefits they’ll bring: better safety on the roads, more efficiency for transportation companies and the solution to chronic driver shortages.

In the industry’s discussion of ATs, the focus stays mostly on the carrier side. But what about shippers? How much will autonomous trucks change their day-to-day operations?

Though shippers have been overlooked in the excitement around autonomous trucks, some are already researching how they could benefit from being an early adopter. Even if you don’t own a fleet and instead hire a 40

logistics company to move freight for you, it’s important to understand some of the changes on the horizon and whether they will or won’t impact your transportation decisions.

FEWER DRIVERS—BY LAW There are currently no federal U.S. regulations for autonomous trucks weighing over 10,000 pounds—though some states have laws on the books.

That is expected to change as ATs are proven to be safer and more reliable. In practice, we might see AT-only lanes, roads or entire highways. Perhaps there will be regulations surrounding the length of hauls, which will require ATs be used. Once ATs are accepted as a safe alternative, laws and regulations will rapidly evolve.

CONSIDERING A NEW MODE In North America, we have many modes of transportation—air, parcel, truck, rail, intermodal—and they all have unique differentiators, costs and requirements for execution. If we simply think of autonomous trucks as another mode, it can help us predict how shippers will use ATs to execute.

ATs will initially be similar to an intermodal move. For example, in intermodal we have truck-rail-truck. In this scenario, a truck moves freight to a rail yard, and then rail is used for the long-haul segment of the route. Finally, another truck takes up the last leg of the journey and moves the freight to its final destination, such as a city or warehouse.

When autonomous trucks become part of the equation, we may see

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truck-AT-truck, where the trucking portion is done with a live driver and the freight is delivered to a place where an AT (or perhaps one with a live driver as assistance) will drive the freight long-distance via an expressway or interstate, and then the final leg of the journey (perhaps into an urban area where driving conditions are more complicated) will be completed by a live driver. This truck-AT-truck scenario is similar to the intermodal example, except that the live driver is needed in the initial leg to pick up the freight and in the final, local delivery of the freight.

whether the driver is human or an AT. Individual drivers are governed by things like the ELD mandate and human functions like the need to sleep, but ATs have no such restrictions.

Therefore, transit times may vary significantly based on the type of driver, and your TMS software will have to make those calculations and predictions accordingly.

FURTHER INTO THE FUTURE It can be expected that ATs will handle in-city pickup and delivery, and from a shipper’s perspective, there won’t be any difference compared with how a live driver operates today. Think about it: Does a shipper really care if it’s an AT or a live driver? No, because shippers select the mode and carrier depending on service and cost, and the execution will still be through the carrier’s general system.

Shippers will also tender the same for an AT as they do for a live driver.

Your TMS won’t care if it’s a human behind the wheel or an AT, either.

How soon could we see these changes for shippers begin? Some vendors are noting dates as soon as 2020 for ATs to run regular routes with a human safety driver.

Several shippers have already signed contracts to have freight delivered during test runs of ATs, though many technical and regulatory challenges remain. For instance, the technology of ATs is not where we need it to be yet; we can’t send an AT across the country without a safety driver. ATs also can’t handle city driving completely autonomously because of the multitude of complications and changing factors that happen in a city, from pedestrians to detours to more complicated routes.

Furthermore, the technology of ATs

THE IMPACT ON ROUTE EXECUTION AND TMS Rail currently has the cost advantage for long haul in terms of cost per ton/ mile and is mostly autonomous already.

However, it is arguable that trucks give better customer service and that, from a shipper’s perspective, ATs will work very similar to how you route intermodal today. If your transportation management system (TMS) can handle a three-legged move with intermodal and pay three different parties already, then ATs will not introduce much more complexity and can be treated similarly by your software.

Yet another option is to use an autonomous truck for the entire route, but place a human driver in the cab for pickup and delivery. In this scenario, the autonomous truck will help augment the driver and won’t require any change in route execution from the shipper.

Either way, the shipper’s TMS will still have to adjust transit/drivetime calculations when routing. For example, the TMS will need the ability to vary driver hours of operation and calculate transit times based on

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is simply too expensive for widespread adoption. As noted earlier, there aren’t any federal regulations governing ATs, which we will ultimately need if the vehicles are to be sent cross-country.

The process to determine the details of those regulations is unlikely to be a quick process.

Before the widespread adoption of ATs, the cost must become less than a live driver and as safe and reliable as one. In the meantime, driver-assisted technology will continue to gain traction in vehicles we have on the road now, such as automatic braking, alerts if the driver falls asleep or lane departure technology. Some companies are even testing tele-drivers, where an operator sitting in a call center-like setting dials in and drives the vehicle to its destination if an AT needs a live driver because of an unexpected complication or even just to handle a local delivery. The driver doesn’t even need to be in the truck.

In the end, shippers will choose their mode based on cost and service. You, as a supply chain executive, simply want your freight to arrive safely, on time and at a reasonable cost. When ATs can completely meet shippers’ needs and your expectations, they will become the mode of preference. And as long as the TMS software industry keeps pace and remains flexible, the technology will be able to leverage ATs the same way it relies on other modes today.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR JP WIGGINS is co-founder and vice president of logistics at 3Gtms, a global provider of Tier 1 transportation management software. Previously, he was co-founder and senior vice president of logistics for Global Logistics Technologies (G-Log), co-founder and vice president of product management at dx/dt and vice president of logistics at Weseley Software.

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EXECUTIVE FOCUS

{ SOFTWARE & TECH}

By Amy Wunderlin

INSIDER CYBERATTACKS

POSE EVEN GREATER SUPPLY CHAIN R As the risk of cyber threat grows in today’s digital supply chain, companies must now be prepared for a data breach even inside their own four walls.

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n July 24, a massive cyberattack took down COSCO Shipping’s U.S. network, extending to its communication with Canada and numerous Central and South American countries, including Panama, Brazil and Argentina.

As of press time, COSCO officials had not revealed if they knew who committed the attack, but coverage of the breach has been extensive. While cyber threats come in all shapes and sizes, the supply chain industry’s efforts have been primarily on identifying and preventing these types of attacks, which come from the outside.

Isaac Kohen, founder and chief technology officer at Teramind, a software provider that specializes in user behavior, is more concerned about the risk companies face internally.

“The focus of the industry has always been to identify and prevent attacks from the outside, so you have firewalls and anti-malware, things that prevent attacks from a party that’s not really related to the company but is trying to get access. What we’re focused on is how insider behavior shapes the company’s risk profile in terms of cybersecurity,” he explains.

Insider threats are seen in two forms—either negligent or malicious employee behavior, both of which can 42

compromise sensitive company data.

For example, a negligent insider is someone with legitimate access to company information who unintentionally shares it with an outside source. This happens most often with employees who open phishing emails.

“The attack was initiated from the outside, but they use an insider’s legitimate access to gain whatever it is that they’re looking for inside the company,” Kohen explains.

In contrast, a malicious insider is someone who for whatever reason wishes to cause the company harm by indirectly or directly selling the company’s data or taking revenge on the company.

“These days it’s more common to have a successful insider-based attack than to have a successful attack from the outside,” Kohen says.

In fact, in the 2016 Cyber Security Intelligence Index, IBM found that 60 percent of attacks were carried out by insiders. Of these attacks, three-quarters involved malicious intent, and onequarter involved inadvertent actors.

Most companies, however, are more apt to keep these types of security threats under wraps, because as Kohen notes,“it brings shame on them thinking they have created a culture that would allow an employee to do this.”

These things do happen, though, and often times culture has nothing to do with it. A large manufacturer in New Jersey recently experienced a malicious insider threat, where sensitive corporate information was stolen. The manufacturer previously had a legacy employee monitoring solution that its IT director says was “not efficient, nor user-friendly.”

Following the incident, the manufacturer rolled out a small pilot group through Teramind. Its goal was to protect intellectual property and customer data against exfiltration. Soon after, Teramind was able to provide the proof required to identify the malicious insider who was leaking intellectual property and other sensitive data.

“Knowing that data was leaving the organization, but not knowing how or by whom, the IT director was able to review comprehensive historical data reports generated by the Teramind monitoring software.

Teramind delivered the IT forensics required to pinpoint both the user and the method of data exfiltration,” the company explains in a case study, Detection, Investigation and Elimination of Company Insider Threats.

ADVERSE EFFECTS Like any cyberattack, the release of sensitive company data can have

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SOFTWARE & TECH

N RISK

❯❯ Create a watch list of employees who are behaving in a suspicious manner, such as reduced productivity or increased time on LinkedIn. Alerts can be triggered based on user internet usage. ❯❯ Implement as much automation as possible, including software that provides anomaly detection.

Computer automation prevents companies from infringing on employee privacy because a computer doesn’t care what your employees are looking at online.

It is only looking for certain suspicious behaviors. ❯❯ Augment automation with rules for behaviors that you know should be illegal. For example, management could be alerted if an employee sends an attachment to a competitor’s domain, or they send an attachment that came from the company’s CRM to an email outside of its domain.

“You have to build a layer of automation around what is sensitive for you,” Kohen says. “The ideal program would be using protection from the outside (i.e., firewall) in addition to something from the inside that can accommodate both these discretionary rules as well as anomaly rules.”

He adds that while it is important to trust the people you work with, in today’s increasingly competitive and global business environment it is important to be cautious.

“As companies grow, you lose touch [with employees]; you don’t know everyone in the company and what they are going through,” he explains.

“You don’t have to be suspicious of your employees to start a program like this, but if you don’t have it and something does happen, then you’ll be at a very big disadvantage.”

adverse effects on brand reputation and come with the risk of liability concerns.

“Imagine if it were patient records or credit card numbers or other highly regulated data that is illegal for companies to exfiltrate; that would be a very big problem for a company. They would face regulatory compliance, as well as reputation damage,” Kohen explains.

The release of confidential data can also have negative business impacts.

For example, an employee releasing its company’s CRM customer list to a competitor could create a significant financial loss.

“These three things combined can really bring a company to its knees and are something that should be taken very seriously,” Kohen adds.

EARLY DETECTION Prevention is a very difficult thing to achieve, Kohen says, but he notes there are ways to make insider cyber threats difficult to pull off. He suggests the following methods, which can help companies detect the early stages of exfiltration attempts:

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Supply Chain Software Prime for Foreign Cyber Threats Software supply chain infiltration poses a significant threat, with 2017 representing a watershed year for reporting public incidents, according to new report from the National Counterintelligence and Security Center.

The 2018 Foreign Economic Espionage in Cyberspace Report identifies seven “significant” supply chain software incidents versus just four in the preceding three years, including a cyberattack that paralyzed the networks of both FedEx and Maersk at a cost of approximately $300 million each, in addition to the operations of banks, transportation companies and utilities worldwide.

The report also reveals insight into foreign economic and industrial espionage against the United States, specifically calling out China, Russia and Iran as “three of the most capable and active cyber actors tied to economic espionage and the potential theft of U.S. trade secrets and proprietary information.”

In recent months, the United States government has echoed similar warnings of state-sponsored cyberattacks via infiltration of the software supply chain.

In fact, the report notes that while new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT) have introduced new vulnerabilities into networks “for which the cybersecurity community remains largely unprepared,” it’s the software supply chain that represents one of the biggest emerging threats.

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EXECUTIVE FOCUS

{ PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT}

By Bill Michels

The Missing Link: Why Procurement Competency A Alone Fail to Make the Grade

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on’t get me wrong, as one of the original developers of an online procurement competency assessment in 2004, I am still a strong advocate of the process. It provides a directional compass indicating where the gaps are in individuals and teams, but many companies that offer training and development have limited knowledge about team dynamics, industry specialization and the capability of the team to deliver on the mission and vision of the procurement leader.

An accurate competency assessment requires a way to determine if individuals have the desired thinking, practices and behavioral skills the organization needs. These are hard to evaluate in a standard skill-set gap analysis or personality profile. While standard competency assessments are excellent at determining functional skill-set gaps, and personality profiling and emotional quotients can help build a team that can work together, both fall short of determining how well a person can use those skills to develop actionable strategies based on knowledge, experience, process, rational competency, business acumen and execution capability.

Competent procurement and supply chain practitioners must have a natural curiosity, personal drive, interest in how the business works and an understanding of the end44

to-end process they are involved in, as well as the technical skills for the role. If individuals are locked in a limited, functional role without this understanding, they likely will not add value to the business in the long term.

DEVELOPING HIGH-POTENTIAL EMPLOYEES When a business has launched a significant initiative to transform procurement and supply chain, the senior executive team is often unwilling to also invest time, money and energy in developing the team to reach the new desired levels of performance. While some people in the organization will not meet the new requirements, others will with minimal support and development.

To determine who has potential, I recommend conducting an assessment center. The assessment center process consists of a two-day evaluation of individuals and teams. It identifies the presence and application of problemsolving skills, technical knowledge, business knowledge, relationshipbuilding skills, initiative and influencing skills. Participants are given a series of case studies that require solving custom designed business cases. This process is very successful in succession planning and identification of high-potential employees.

High performing teams of individuals have the technical procurement competency combined with the following attributes:

❯❯ The ability to influence ❯❯ Practical communication skills (oral and written) ❯❯ Collaboration and relationship skills ❯❯ Intellectual comprehension ❯❯ Process skills ❯❯ Creativity and innovation ❯❯ Drive and energy ❯❯ Curiosity and ability to test the boundaries ❯❯ Planning skills including the ability to correct the course of action when necessary ❯❯ Financial thinking

IDENTIFYING LEADERS Using standard competency assessments is a quick and costeffective method for getting a compass reading on the gaps for functional knowledge. The next step is to sort out the leaders and move them through the assessment center process.

Savvy procurement leaders know that curiosity and emotional intelligence are the two qualities that make a difference between success and failure in recruiting and retaining the best people in procurement. Interest is critical when evaluating the elements that make the procurement job dynamic. If a procurement professional does not dig into the process, they will be of limited value in driving strategic solutions to everyday procurement problems. It is curiosity that drives out-of-the-box thinking to create

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y Assessments innovative and new solutions to old problems.

Emotional intelligence is hard to describe. It is something inside each one of us that manages how we navigate social complexities, control behavior and make decisions leading to positive results.

Experts suggest the following attributes drive emotional intelligence: ❯❯ SELF-AWARENESS: Selfawareness can be described as understanding and perceiving your emotions with a constant awareness of your reaction to situations. It is critical that anyone involved in sourcing and procurement understand how their organization and suppliers see them. ❯❯ SOCIAL COMPETENCE: Understanding your social awareness and relationship skills and sensing others’ moods, behavior and motives is critical if the procurement professional is to be successful. Relationship skills, trustworthiness, collaboration, and action will all impact the quality of relationships built in the course of business. ❯❯ ADAPTABILITY: Procurement is a dynamic profession, where changes in the economy, manufacturing processes, supply network and company politics can cause frustration. It’s essential that procurement and sourcing professionals remain flexible and adaptable as things can change daily and, in some cases, hourly. If people get too attached to particular

processes and suppliers and fail to be versatile, it could be a disaster for the company and their career. ❯❯ SELF-CONTROL: Understanding emotions and being in control, no matter how volatile the situation, is critical to managing procurement and sourcing activities. If people can maintain emotional control, they are more likely to sustain clear thinking and meet the challenges before them.

UNDERSTANDING THE ASSESSMENT CENTER APPROACH The assessment center is an approach best used with high-potential employees and leadership. Skills and competencies will be assessed through the assessment center’s case study methodology, which will determine an individual’s technical competence, decision process, tendency to collaborate, human relationships, emotional approach and other skills that simple skills tests cannot test for. It is also critical to assess the individual’s alignment with the corporate strategies and leadership capabilities.

The evening before the assessment center, there is a social gathering to brief everyone about the process.

Participants get a pre-work assignment involving a complex case study to complete before the assessment center.

The morning of, each participant presents on the pre-work case study.

Results will vary between people who excel in logical thinking and

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can build a robust and sustainable argument to guide the assessors through the solution to the problem to people who are not very good at creating a presentation or logically organizing their thoughts. For example, after one assessment center I witnessed, an individual told the assessors that she didn’t do calculations; that was for the people on her team to do. In another assessment center I participated, an individual explained that he could “out PowerPoint” anyone and would just talk through the case study. The reality is that he was too lazy to do the work in detail.

Two additional case studies (one tactical, one strategic) are given to participants to solve and present during the assessment center. They are also given a scenario for a group discussion.

By the end of the day, the assessment team and management have a good idea of the make-up of the individual’s overall skills, emotional intelligence and capability. This rigorous approach is not for all people, and it takes strong, confident individuals to come through as a future leader.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR BILL MICHELS is the vice president of operations at America for the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply Chain (CIPS). He previously served as CEO and founder of Aripart Consulting, president of ISM Services, and CEO of ADR North America. In addition, Michels has held senior procurement and supply chain positions in the manufacturing, paper and food industries.

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The Status Quo –

HOW MUCH ARE WE COSTING OURSELVES? Consider your current supply chain processes. How much is spent in both time and money to ensure you adhere to the #1 rule of replenishment? – Don’t run out.

Given this approach, how often are trucks stacked up in the yard because they can’t unload? How many times are loads diverted? How often do you run into service issues at one location while having excess trucks at another?

Around 30% of raw material costs are tied up in transportation. supplyCONNECT has shown that you can regain at least 10-15% of these costs with a more efficient and less wasteful approach to managing your replenishment process.

What if you could keep up with growing demand with less trucks? What would that mean for your fleet? Your haulers? Whether you own your own trucks or utilize outside hauling, gains can be seen across business lines by reducing waste and inefficiency across the supply chain.

PUTTING POWER BACK IN YOUR HANDS THROUGH REAL-TIME INFORMATION PROFILE: Wayne Davis Concrete is the largest family owned ready-mix producer serving the West Georgia area. Operations currently include 14 ready-mix plants and a fleet of over 100 ready-mix trucks. Services also include the supply of crushed stone, sand, block, and related masonry products. The company was founded in 1971 and currently employs 185 professionals.

THE CHALLENGE Every ready-mix supplier plays the daily balancing act of supply and demand, juggling the risk of running out of material with the chaos and inefficiency of a long line of trucks lined up in the yard making deliveries. The ready-mix producer’s visibility into “real” raw material requirements has historically been very limited and inefficient communication between suppliers and producers further complicates the constantly changing supply 46

and demand juggling act. Supply chain operations are inherently filled with inefficiencies and gaps, opening many opportunities for improvements that can directly impact bottom line results and customer satisfaction. Wayne Davis Concrete fit this description perfectly and were done with their “flying blind” approach to managing their supply chain and the money tied up in overstocking inventory and hauling costs that could be averted.

Improvement Opportunities: ❯❯ Lower cement costs. ❯❯ Lower overall inventory costs. ❯❯ Improved hauling inefficiencies. ❯❯ Significant reduction in planning time. ❯❯ More effective collaboration with key suppliers. ❯❯ Proactive management of critical pours.

THE SOLUTION Jacob Davis, Area Operations Manager at Wayne Davis Concrete, was desperate for a means to see a live view of his inventory and a more accurate idea of his material demand. Enter supplyCONNECT, a supply chain management solution for managing daily replenishment plans and reducing the costs, risks, and waste involved

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with out of stock and over-stock situations and inefficient hauling practices.

The features of supplyCONNECT that attracted Jacob to the solution were: ❯❯ Real-time view of inventory levels that adjust as concrete is loaded.

❯❯ Live, real-time view of raw materials demand that adjusts as concrete customers adjust. ❯❯ Prioritization of plants based on actual inventory levels in relation to what they need versus just keeping plants full. ❯❯ Ability for trusted partners to view inventories and demand and assume responsibility of materials replenishment.

THE RESULTS With supplyCONNECT in place, Jacob quickly saw the “value of visibility.” ❯❯ Lower costs due to more efficient use of inventory. Previously, the goal was to keep all of the cementitious silos full. With supplyCONNECT, material demand is automatically tracked and plants are automatically prioritized based on material needs. The cement ordering process is optimized. ❯❯ Lower costs due to flexibility in cement sourcing. With the visibility into the material demand as it relates to on-hand inventory provided by supplyCONNECT, Wayne Davis can now accurately determine if they can wait on a delivery being made from the source that is further away, but at a lower cost versus using the closer supplier that comes at a premium cost. ❯❯ Cost improvements due to more proactive efficient

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management of admixture supply and hauling by trusted vendors. Wayne Davis’ admixture supplier has access to supplyCONNECT and can proactively manage tank replenishment plans.

This has eliminated stock outs and allowed Wayne Davis personnel to focus on their core tasks while enabling the supplier to more efficiently manage hauling needs and costs. ❯❯ Significant reduction in time spent gathering inventory information from plants. Daily calls to assess inventory levels are a thing of the past since supplyCONNECT provides live inventory levels in one place. This also builds confidence in knowing the exact amount needed on hand for large, critical, and/or specialty pour where material costs and risks are greater. ❯❯ Servicing high production pours with a single tanker. For high production pours that come out of multiple plants, both plants can be stocked with the necessary level of inventory with just one tanker due to the visibility provided by supplyCONNECT. Jacob Davis sums up his experience with supplyCONNECT as, “it has saved me tremendous time in scheduling every day. Before supplyCONNECT, my evening planning would take at least an hour and a half. Now, I can plan a busy day in around 30 minutes. The feeling of knowing without a doubt what the inventory levels are at each of my plants allows me to focus my efforts elsewhere.”

THE FUTURE Now that the complex equation of supply and demand is automated using supplyCONNECT, Wayne Davis Concrete is ready for the next steps in improvements. They are beginning to use the suggested loads feature in supplyCONNECT to create driver schedules, and are eager to explore aggregate replenishment options provided by the solution.

For more information: www.commandalkon.com

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Outdoor power equipment leader INCREASES EFFICIENCY, VISIBILITY & COLLABORATION with global SaaS TMS platform MTD Products Inc. increases efficiency, visibility, and collaboration with BluJay Solutions’ Transportation Management platform

Mexico, Europe, China, and Australia, MTD’s operations group ships approximately 3,000 inbound and 2,500 outbound containers to these locations annually. Shipping volume for the first six months typically is 45,000 loads, which is about 300 million pounds of freight. Because of the global nature of its business, MTD has a huge need for information visibility from all over the world.

COMPLEX CHALLENGES CALL FOR A SOLUTION MTD faced many transportation challenges, including lack of visibility of shipments, many manual processes, limited supplier collaboration, lack of metrics, and a very reactive process. The company also hoped to improve cost effectiveness across all facets of logistics. MTD decided that ounded in 1932, MTD Products implementing a transportation management Inc. is a worldwide leader of outdoor system (TMS) was the best answer to optimize power equipment based near supply chain costs and resolve its transportation Cleveland in Valley City, Ohio. MTD’s challenges. durable, easy-to-use products for residential and Goals for the TMS implementation included: commercial markets include lawn mowers, snow ❯❯ Creating a seamless supply chain domestically throwers, utility vehicles, trimmers, chain saws, and internationally leaf blowers, log splitters, ❯❯ Providing visibility tillers, and more. These of product and global quality products are sold regulations paperwork online and internationally in ❯❯ Increasing all channels of distribution collaboration among – home improvement facilities, suppliers, stores, hardware stores, mass and customers retailers, independent dealers, ❯❯ Automating and farm supply stores. The processes to improve company culture supports productivity growth, innovation, and ❯❯ Gaining access to entrepreneurship. real-time accurate data With facilities in the for analytics and better United States, Canada, decision making — VP SUPPLY CHAIN, MTD PRODUCTS

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“BLUJAY SOLUTIONS HELPED MTD DRIVE EFFICIENCIES IN OUR SUPPLY CHAIN — BOTH INTERNALLY AND EXTERNALLY. THIS REALLY PUTS THE ‘SEAMLESS’ IN SEAMLESS SUPPLY CHAIN.”

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SUPPLY & DEMAND CHAIN EXECUTIVE | September 2018 | SDCExec.com

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QUICK FACTS A SINGLE TECHNOLOGY PLATFORM IMPROVES MULTIPLE FACETS OF GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN

Worldwide leader in outdoor power equipment

improve services, and gain complete visibility through FOUNDED: the collaborative network.

1932 “Our suppliers can go to After a review of TMS the MTD portal to identify HEADQUARTERED: vendors, MTD selected all of the shipments and Valley City, OH BluJay Solutions as the releases that are due, and as Thousands of containers shipped best platform to automate they check those, it shows inbound and outbound annually processes and create a data from Transportation seamless, more efficient Management,” said MTD BUSINESS CHALLENGE: supply chain. BluJay’s Products’ VP Supply Chain.

A company with global operaTransportation Management “This has helped us drive tions like MTD Products needs software gives MTD efficiencies both internally real-time visibility of inventory complete transportation and externally. This really and improved collaboration with functionality, as well as puts the ‘seamless’ in seamless suppliers and customers. transportation visibility and supply chain.”

RESULTS: collaboration.

Among the ongoing With a true SaaS Transportation MTD uses Transportation benefits that MTD Products Management technology platManagement to manage continues to receive from form, MTD has gained visibility every step of the BluJay’s platform are: and collaboration throughout transportation process, from IMPROVED VISIBILITY: its entire supply chain, reduced purchase orders for inbound Central data repository freight cost and dock transaclogistics, to interplant enables visibility for analysis tions, optimized shipments, and communication regarding of costs and performance increased productivity. customer orders, and measurement to uncover areas outbound logistics. for improvement.

Additional benefits include: REDUCED COSTS: Initially MTD decreased ❯❯ Better visibility of both inbound and freight cost by 12% and increased productivity by outbound shipments 20% with the same number of people. Receiving ❯❯ Receiving orders automatically and tendering dock transactions have decreased 30%, meaning loads to carriers directly through the system less receipts, putaways, and material handling. ❯❯ Visibility of supplier routing guides, ensuring OPTIMIZED SHIPMENTS: LTL compared to compliance and accountability truckload has gone from 33% LTL down to 25% ❯❯ Improved process automation and LTL, resulting in a huge improvement to the optimization number of deliveries being made daily in addition to improving freight costs.

COLLABORATION AND VISIBILITY INCREASED COLLABORATION: With over PROVIDE VALUE 500 suppliers in the US alone, collaboration Managing transportation with BluJay’s true SaaS ensures correct information to keep multiple technology has given MTD better coordination, production facilities running smoothly. control, and lower costs. Collaboration and visibility among MTD facilities, suppliers, and For more information: customers are two of the biggest improvements www.blujaysolutions.com since implementing Transportation Management.

MTD takes advantage of the industry’s largest Global Trade Network, which empowers shippers, carriers, suppliers, and members to reduce costs,

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SDCExec.com | September 2018 | SUPPLY & DEMAND CHAIN EXECUTIVE

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WORK HARD,

GOING

By Mackenna Moralez

BEHIND THE LENS

Infratab’s President Stanton Kaye finds similarities in smart sensors and movie making.

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resident and founder of Infratab, Stanton Kaye, first made a name for himself when he was just 20 years old. Except it wasn’t as an industry leader in smart sensors and software; it was as a movie director.

His writing and directorial debut with Georg, the story of a German

WWII veteran and émigré to the United States, earned him

critical acclaim at a young age. The movie went on to earn first prize at the Los Angeles Film Festival and the United Nations Award due to its unconventional camera style.

“I wasn’t very skilled. I had an idea, and I wanted it made in a certain way.

I didn’t care what the standard way of making a film was—I made it my way,” Kaye says.

After making a mark with his first film, Kaye studied to become a more “conventional” director. He discovered he could use his craft in a more skilled way by using proper equipment and production. Just three years after Georg was released, Kaye began production on his most well-known project, Brandy in the Wilderness , a fictionalized account of his relationship with aspiring artist Michaux French, starring themselves.

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Brandy in the Wilderness earned

Kaye several awards and was selected for the National Film Registry in 2013 for being “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.” The film was also honored at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival three different times.

“With the reopening of Cannes this year, they opened with my film in the Cinema Tech Francoise. It was in celebration of the history, because it was one of the — STANTON KAYE famous films of that period. The print was restored by UCLA and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; it had great sound, and it looks fantastic,” Kaye says.

In the years after making Brandy in the Wilderness , Kaye gained an interest in philosophy and science, eventually making a transition from behind the lens to behind a desk. His next great role would be as president of Infratab, a manufacturer of smart sensors and software, though he says the responsibilities are not so far from

those of a director. He sees similarities between light and time and heat and time. For example, temperature and time are important for the company’s Freshtime technology platform, which securely monitors, tracks and traces the condition of perishable goods.

“I’m not a philosopher; I’m a logistics guy. I’m the president of a company that measures time and temperature.

I came out of light across time and came into heat across time,” Kaye explains.

Even though he is now in a more corporate setting, Kaye still finds himself behind a camera from time to time.

Most recently, he directed a short video on food waste and plans on making e-learning training videos for Infratab.

Throughout all of the acclaim, though, one thing still remains vital to Kaye in both his professional and personal life: love.

He urges those who want to start a business to go where they will be happy and somewhere they love going.

“The most important thing is love, and whatever is going to sustain love is what you should be doing,” he says.

“There’s nothing more rewarding than that. No amount of achievements or awards will be equal to that.”

“THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS LOVE, AND WHATEVER IS GOING TO SUSTAIN LOVE IS WHAT YOU SHOULD BE DOING.”

SUPPLY & DEMAND CHAIN EXECUTIVE | September 2018 | SDCExec.com

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DEVICE TO CLOUD SENSOR SOLUTIONS FOR TRUE INDUSTRY 4.0 READINESS

In today’s connected world, cyber and physical systems converge for operational autonomy, efficiency, and safety. SICK leads the way with bottom up solutions that enable Industry 4.0 readiness in any enterprise. In this new industrial age, SICK’s solutions open the door for real-time data collection, so its customers can achieve process automation goals for maximum competitive advantage. Whether its sensors are integrated to optimize conveyor flow, safely navigate autonomous vehicles, automatically identify and track goods, or ensure the protection of workers, SICK provides the data needed to meet today’s most demanding automation challenges.

We think that’s intelligent. www.sick.com

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The Global Enabled Supply and Demand Chain Map This map provides the solutions and services that can give your supply chains a competitive edge.

Version 34.0 SDC0918_map_ISSUU.indd 1

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The Global Enabled Supply and Demand Chain Map VERSION 34 .0

(This map replaces Version 33.0 from the March 2017 issue.)

SUPPLY CHAIN INTEGRATION & TECHNOLOGY • Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning (NEW) • Automatic Identification & Data Capture, including Barcode, RFID, Voice & Wearables • Automation • Business-to-Business (B2B) Connectivity, Standards & Integration • Blockchain (NEW) • Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) • Collaborative Production Management • Contingency Planning • Descriptive & Predictive Analytics • Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) • Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) • Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) • Enterprise Data Management & Synchronization

• • • • • • • • • • • • •

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Hardware Options Import & Export Compliance Management Internal & External Portals Internet of Things (IoT) Inventory Optimization Network Infrastructure & Optimization On-Premise, Cloud, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), On-Demand &Hosted Applications Real-Time Freight Contract, Bid and Tender Automation Regulatory & Customer Mandate Compliance & Governance Issues Security & Cyber Security Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) Wireless Applications & Devices

SUPPLY CHAIN INTEGRATION & TECHNOLOGY ENABLERS 6 River Systems Avercast

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BluJay Solutions Command Alkon

CT Logistics John Galt Solutions

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PROCUREMENT Automation

• • • • • • • • • • • • • •

• Product Cost Management • Purchase Order & Requisition Management • Relational Contracting • Spend Management & Analysis • Supplier Enablement & Supplier Information Management • Supplier Onboarding, Enablement & Integration • Supplier Performance Measurement & Monitoring • Supplier Relationship Management & Supplier Development • Supplier Risk Management • Supplier Segmentation (NEW) • Value-Focused Supply Management • Working Capital Management

Benchmarking & Metrics Collaborative Bidding (NEW) Content & Category Management Contingent & Temporary Labor Services Management Enterprise Supplier Collaboration Employee Business Services Management (including Travel & Entertainment) Financial Fraud Group Purchasing Organizations & Solutions Hedging Strategies Marketplaces Negotiations & Contract Management Network Optimization New Laws & Regulations

PROCUREMENT ENABLERS Avercast BluJay Solutions Command Alkon CSRware CT Logistics John Galt Solutions Protolabs

SOURCING • • • • • • • • •

• Outsourced Manufacturing, including Offshoring, Nearshoring Auctions & Reshoring Strategies Automation • Relational Contracting Collaborative Bidding (NEW) • Sourcing Business Models Commodity Team & Supplier • Spend Analytics & Supply SOURCING ENABLERS Collaboration Strategy Avercast Content & Category Management • Supplier Relationship CT Logistics Management e-Request for Information/ John Galt Solutions Proposal (eRFI/eRFP) • Tail Spend Management Protolabs Financial Fraud • Total Cost of Ownership & Total Cost Analysis Market Analytics • Trading Exchanges New Laws & Regulations

ORDER & DEMAND CAPTURE • • • • • • • • • •

Automation Benchmarking & Metrics Capacity Planning Demand Planning & Forecasting Demand Sensing & Shaping e-Request for Information/ Proposal (eRFI/eRFP) Merchandise Planning Network Analysis & Optimization New Laws & Regulations Order & Demand Management

• • • • •

Outsourced Manufacturing Predictive Analytics Promotional Planning Quote-to-Order Automation Sales & Operations Planning, & Sales, Inventory & Operations Planning • Supply & Demand Chain Network Design • Supply Chain & Production Planning • Supply Chain Coordination & Event Management

PRODUCT LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT • • • • • • • • • • •

Collaborative Design Design for Supply Chain Design for Sustainability & Environment New Laws & Regulations New Product Introduction PRODUCT LIFECYCLE Outsourced Design Services MANAGEMENT ENABLERS Product Data Management Avercast Product Portfolio Management John Galt Solutions Request for Information Protolabs Reverse Logistics Sealed Air Sustainable Packaging

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ORDER & DEMAND CAPTURE ENABLERS 6 River Systems Avercast BluJay Solutions

Command Alkon John Galt Solutions

CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT • • • • • • • • • • •

Big Data Analytics (NEW) Channel Management Customer Analytics & Intelligence Content Management Field Service & Service Parts Logistics Mobile Sales Solutions Promotion Management Reverse Logistics & Merchandise Returns Sales Force Automation Trade Promotion Management Warranty Chain Management

CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT ENABLERS Avercast John Galt Solutions

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Procurement Fulfillment

Sourcing

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Supply Chain Integration & Technology

Service

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SUSTAINABILITY & GREEN T CONTINUING EDUCATION • • • •

Accreditation Associations Certification Universities

CONSULTING

CONTINUING EDUCATION ENABLERS Command Alkon

CONSULTING ENABLERS Avercast Command Alkon CT Logistics John Galt Solutions

• Alternative Fuel Vehicles & Lift Trucks • Automatic Motion Control Lighting & LED Lights • Automation • Carbon Dioxide Tracking & Management • Energy & Sustainability Assessment • Energy-Efficient Equipment • Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) Energy Star Equipment • Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED), & Green Buildings

• Low-C Bathro • Routin Softwa • SmartW Carrier • Solar & • Sustain Manag • Transp Shift d Load O • Wastew

SUST TECH

Averc Clean CSRw

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FULFILLMENT & LOGISTICS • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Automation Autonomous Vehicles (NEW) Benchmarking & Metrics Customized Build & Assemble Order & Delivery Management Dashboards Descriptive, Predictive & Prescriptive Analytics Distribution Planning & Distribution Requirements Planning Drones (NEW) Electronic Logging Devices (ELDs) (NEW) Financial Fraud Global Trade Management & Trade Compliance Management Inventory Management & Optimization Labor Management Systems Last-Mile Delivery (NEW) Logistics Resource Management Manufacturing Execution Systems Material Handling Equipment & Services Modeling & Simulation New Laws & Regulations Omnichannel Distribution (NEW)

SERVICE SUPPLY CHAIN • Service Analytics & Optimization • Service Financial Management • Service Parts Logistics

Automation Blockchain (NEW) Collaborative Cash Flow Management e-Credit e-Money Electronic Bill Presentment & e-Invoicing Electronic Funds Transfer & All Forms of e-Payment • Financial Fraud

GREEN TECHNOLOGY • Low-Capacity & Automatic Bathroom Fixtures • Routing Optimization Software • SmartWay Transportation Carrier Designation • Solar & Wind Power • Sustainable Supply Management • Transportation Mode Shift due to Order & Load Optimization • Wastewater Reclamation

SUSTAINABILITY & GREEN TECHNOLOGY ENABLERS Avercast Clean Energy CSRware

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FULFILLMENT & LOGISTICS ENABLERS 6 River Systems Avercast BluJay Solutions Command Alkon CT Logistics John Galt Solutions Old Dominion Sealed Air SSI Schaefer

• Service Operations across the Aftermarket Service Supply Chain, including Asset Management, Spare Parts, Field Services, Warranties, Service Management, & Repairs & Returns • Service Supply Chain Planning

PAYMENT • • • • • • •

• Order Management Inputs • Outsourcing Services • Reverse Supply Chain & Logistics, & Returns Management • Route Accounting & Management, & Direct Store Delivery Solutions • Security & Cyber Security • Service Parts Logistics & Service Supply Chain Planning • Simultaneous Outbound & Inbound Management • Supply Chain Event Management • Supply Chain Execution • Supply Chain Security • Transportation Management & Optimization • Urban Logistics (NEW) • Vendor-Managed Inventory • Voice-Driven Solutions • Warehouse Control Systems • Warehouse Execution Systems • Warehouse Management • Workforce Management • Workforce Training

• • • • • • • • • •

Financial Supply Chain Management Financial Transaction Management Freight Audit & Payment Services Global Trade Finance Letters of Credit PayPal & Bitcoin Procure-to-Pay (NEW) Purchasing Cards Reconciliation & Reporting Solutions Spend Data Management

DECISION SUPPORT • Benchmarking & Metrics • Big Data Analytics (NEW) • Business Process & Performance Management • Change Management • Dashboards • Descriptive & Prescriptive Anayltics • Enterprise Business Intelligence • Information Sharing • Inter-Enterprise & CrossFunctional Collaboration • Market Intelligence & Analytics • Regulatory & Customer Mandate Compliance • Relational Contracting

SERVICE ENABLERS Avercast BluJay Solutions

PAYMENT ENABLERS BluJay Solutions Command Alkon C T Logistics

• Research & Consulting • Revenue, Price & Profit Management Automation • Six Sigma, Quality & Lean Practices • Staffing & Incentive Management • Supply Chain Skills Management & Professional Development • Supply Chain Relationship Management • Supply Change Risk Management

DECISION SUPPORT ENABLERS Avercast CSRware CT Logistics John Galt Solutions

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INDEX OF ADVERTISERS 6 River Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Command Alkon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

www.6river.com Fergal Glynn (866) 60-CHUCK fglynn@6river.com

www.commandalkon.com Karli Langer (205) 879-3282 ext. 3968 At Command Alkon, we believe in building an amazing world with solutions that deliver automation, visibility, collaboration and simplification. Our integrated, digital supply chain solutions create an ecosystem for the heavy building materials industry where operational transparency and efficiency drive profits.

Avercast LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Map Only www.avercast.com Jason Averill (208) 538-5380 javerill@avercast.com

BluJay Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 www.blujaysolutions.com Troy Grabel (616) 796-7542 troy.grabel@blujaysolutions.com BluJay Solutions delivers supply chain software and services to the world’s most progressive retailers, distributors, freight forwarders, manufacturers and logistics service providers.

We are experts in supply chain and global trade, helping companies worldwide move their goods efficiently, safely and on time. Transforming the logistics of supply chain with the BluJay Global Trade Network (GTN), we have a demonstrated commitment to customer success.

Clean Energy Fuels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 www.cleanenergyfuels.com Michelle Wells (949) 437-1361 michelle.wells@cleanenergyfuels.com Clean Energy Fuels Corp. is the leading provider of natural gas fuel and renewable natural gas (RNG) fuel for transportation in North America, with a network of over 535 stations across the region.

CSRware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 www.CSRware.com Karen Alonardo (855) CSR-ware karen@csrware.com

CT Logistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 www.ctlogistics.com Ron Dodig (216) 267-2000 ext. 2222 rondodig@ctlogistics.com Since 1923, organizations have leveraged CT Logistics to provide global freight audit and payment, TMS and supply chain solutions. CT designs and implements customized supply chain and rate management solutions. CT’s Business Intelligence platform provides global spend visibility and data analysis using SOCII and ISO 9001:2015 certified processes.

John Galt Solutions . . . . . . . . Map Only www.johngalt.com Jennifer Mislinski (812) 701-9026 ext. 232 mislinski@johngalt.com

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INDEX OF ADVERTISERS Old Dominion Freight Line . . . . . . . . 13

Sealed Air . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

www.odfl.com (800) 235-5569 customer.service@odfl.com Old Dominion Freight Line is a leading less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier providing premium service with competitive transit times nationwide. Old Dominion’s claims ratio, on-time delivery and safety records are among the best in the industry.

www.sealedair.com Pam Davis (800) 648-9093 ppd.mkt@sealedair.com

Protolabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 www.protolabs.com (877) 479-3680 customerservice@protolabs.com Protolabs is the world’s fastest digital manufacturing source for custom prototypes and low-volume production parts. The technology-enabled company uses advanced 3D printing, CNC machining, sheet metal fabrication and injection molding technologies to produce parts within days. The result is an unprecedented speed-to-market value for designers and engineers and an on-demand resource throughout a product’s life cycle.

SICK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 www.sick.com

SSI Schaefer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 www.ssi-schaefer.com Sharon Wahrmund (704) 944-4500 info@ssi-schaefer.com SSI SCHAEFER is a supplier of automation systems, integrated warehouse management technology and storage solutions.

SSI SCHAEFER provides products for distribution and warehouse operations, including picking solutions, vertical lift storage, AGVs and warehouse management software.

Ryder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 www.ryder.com

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