A STRATEGIC IMPERATIVE FOR MANUFACTURERS

Deliver Supply Chain Performance AnalyticsHow to Automatically Collect and Track Global Transportation Information in Real Time

Transportation planning in today’s global environment

is far different than in the past, where manufacturers

kept the process in-house or allocated goods across a

few providers. Now, companies outsource a great deal

of transportation to 3PLs and freight forwarders, who

in turn collaborate with carriers to follow through with

the manufacturer’s logistics plan.

However, as each of these partners record data within

their internal systems, information on the thousands of

lanes and various carriers gets fragmented; operating

in silos makes it impossible to compare actual carrier

performance and transportation spend with the original

allocation plan. Companies without access to high-quality

supply chain performance analytics face a huge

administrative burden in trying to manually reconcile

data. They don’t have the ability to make the best

possible logistics decisions.

Enterprise

Logistics Plan

LogisticsActuals

3PL

3PL

Carrier

Carrier

Carrier

Too many cooks in the kitchen – when transportation is managed

by many partners without a single platform, data integrity falls by

the wayside.

Impact of Poor Supply Chain Performance Analytics

When manufacturers don’t have a single platform, they

are limited in both strategy and control throughout the

supply chain. Instead of being freed up to make strategic

supply chain decisions, managers are forced to

spend time collecting data, experimenting with new

procurement strategies, and guessing on best

practices. Here’s what they face:

• Inability to effectively monitor short- and long-term

allocation plans

• Manual after-the-fact data collection

• Non-automated operational and strategic

report generation

• Inability to effectively leverage volume in

negotiations cycles

• Lack of adequate controls to monitor liability

exposure for MQCs (e.g. SOX)

• Trying to find procurement strategies to deal

with constantly changing rates

The Root of the Problem

Poor supply chain analytics boil down to one issue:

bad data. When manufacturers can’t explain how their

actuals size up to their plans, it’s usually because of

the following:

1. No easy way to capture actuals

Global transportation planning involves thousands

of lanes in many regions, over varied modes, with

hundreds of external partners and systems involved.

Manufacturers attempting to line up their manually-

collected data with their allocation plans will face

two major drains on company resources:

• Huge administrative burden

• Fees and charges for under/over utilization

2. Decentralized operations

It’s typical for manufacturers to have operation

centers that are spread out and disconnected from

each other. Each partner in each region may have

a unique system for supply chain management,

leading to:

• Reliance on third parties to do the work

• Difficulty integrating 3PLs and freight forwarders

on a one-off basis

The Challenge

Companies spend a lot of money on ocean transportation, but have no easy way to track and analyze volumes by lane.

Companies that want quality supply chain analytics must

adopt a cloud-based platform where all of their logistics

partners can collaborate. On this type of network,

global information on lanes, volumes, and rates is

updated instantly. It’s then used to run detailed analytics

on carrier performance and the outcome of particular

allocation plans.

On a cloud supply chain platform, logistics and operation

teams can improve supply chain performance and

avoid wasting money on outdated and reactive

manual processes.

Enterprise

CarrierCarrierCarrier

3PL

3PL

LogisticsPlan

LogisticsActuals

Cloud technology captures service contract data in a central

location, letting manufacturers award and adjust contracts

throughout the cycle.

Automatically collect and track global transportation

information in real time.

• Capture volumes as they occur by carrier, date,

lane, shipment, and SKU

• Use reports to benchmark actual against plan and

make better decisions

• Use analysis platform to analyze and rank carrier

performance

How to use supply chain performance analytics:

1. Ensure that allocations are reviewed for

sourcing decisions

2. Monitor liability exposure for MQC, e.g. SOX

3. Monitor partner performance against expected

SLAs for shipment execution

Value Propositions

Supply chain performance analytics can greatly con-

tribute to ROI as well as make life easier for logistics

and operations teams. The benefits are as follows:

1. Improve sourcing decisions and target costing by

analyzing comparative data

• Avoid over- or under-utilizing carriers by reviewing

real-time allocation data

2. Improve labor efficiency and lower

administrative costs

• Eliminate manual processes through automation

3. Benchmark carriers with supplier scorecarding to

drive continuous improvement

• Use global carrier template so each is measured

the same way in every region

4. Provide the business with data related to

corporate KPIs

• Analyze transportation spend and

sustainability metrics

• Monitor supplier performance and inventory

management

5. Assist with procurement and execution planning

6. Reduce freight spend by 2-7% to lower COGS

7. Decrease carrier fees by 2-3% to lower SG&A

Supply Chain Performance Analytics and the

Networked Company

To gain access to high quality supply chain performance

analytics, companies must transform themselves from

silo-based, inward-facing corporate operators to inter-

connected, highly agile business network orchestrators.

NetworkConnectivity

Agility

B

A

Sense more accurately

Operate more e�ciently

Respond faster

Make better decisions

The Solution

The key to great supply chain perfor-

mance doesn’t lie in gathering data –

that can be automated. Manufacturers

should focus on making decisions based

on high-quality data in the cloud.

GT Nexus provides the cloud-based collaboration platform that leaders in nearly

every sector rely on to automate hundreds of supply chain processes on a global

scale, across entire trade communities.

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