What is the best way to eliminate barriers and create transportation harmony between retailers and manufacturers? That was the question addressed by attendees at the second Network Strategy Forum, held recently by Elogex Inc. (Charlotte, NC), a provider of collaborative logistics solutions for clients in the food, grocery, and consumer good industries. The forum, held in San Francisco, drew more than 50 industry executives representing more than $253 billion in combined annual revenues. According to Elogex, two of the top three U.S. retailers and five of the top ten consumer goods manufacturers attended the event, which was co-sponsored by Cap Gemini Ernst & Young.
The forum's discussions focused on new processes to improve supply chain operations between retailers, manufacturers, and carriers. Key topics included: "Bridging the Gap Between Logistics, Merchandising and Vendors"; "The State of Logistics Technology in Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) and retail industries"; "Synchronizing the Entire Order Cycle Across Multiple Parties and Interests"; and "Requirements of the Ultimate Supply Chain Technology Solution."
John Fontanella, vice president and general manager of CPG and retail industry for AMR Research (Boston, MA), spoke to attendees about the needs of transportation logistics managers and the corresponding benefits of Internet-based transportation management systems. "Clients are starting to understand the value of real-time information and visibility to events," said Mr. Fontanella. "This is a very exciting area, but industry executives are still moving slowly to take advantage of the benefits of this technology. Its adoption would rapidly accelerate if all participants in a supply chain community would collectively agree on what they need (with regard to) common platforms, processes, and data format."
"The foundation for improvement in logistics between retailer and manufacturer is visibility," said Travis Parsons, president and CEO of Elogex. "And visibility is achievable today. Capturing information through the tactical processes between shipper, carrier, and receiver makes the strategic value of visibility a reality."
Many forum attendees sought advice on which first steps to take to begin aligning processes between trading partners. Mr. Parsons suggested automated dock-door scheduling as a practical method of achieving visibility, process alignment, and optimization between multiple parties.
"Dock-door scheduling is the Trojan horse of visibility. With a common gateway for both prepaid and collect shipments, we have a holistic view of freight between shipper and receiver, which is the foundation for visibility-related benefit," said Mr. Parsons. "Collaborative scheduling is a key step towards 'control indifference'--the point at which shipper and receiver ultimately do not have a preference for which party controls the freight."
According to Elogex, the Network Strategy Forum proved beneficial enough to its attendees that the end of the day's event brought a discussion about the topics to include in the next forum. Participants voiced interest in expanding the discussions and including additional tactical and technical tracks.
"A supply chain summit like this between retailers and manufacturers generates a tremendous amount of relationship improvements," said Chris Moye, vice president of Global Supply Chain Strategic Planning for the Campbell Soup Company. "This provides a venue for discussing strategic areas of improvement for everyone."
