3PL Panacea: The Flexible Mobile Supply Chain Platform

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The third-party logistics (3PL) business is tough, because it covers a wide gamut of service offerings, that include some combination of:

  • Just move my boxes and/or pallets.
  • Move my boxes and/or pallets and store them in your warehouse.
  • Move my boxes and/or pallets and operate my facility.
  • Own all the labor and activities in my facility.
  • Offer all distribution services for my product (All I will do is download my orders into your system/supply chain).

I’ve even run into more complicated models of operation, including both tightly and loosely coupled models.  In a tightly-coupled model, the supply chain systems of the 3PL, including orders, inventory, transportation, advanced shipment notices, purchase orders, and more, are tightly integrated into the shipper’s supply chain systems. All this information seamlessly flows between both supply chain systems of the 3PL and the shipper. They stay in synch with each other and the parties perform the functions in their respective systems.

In a loosely-coupled model, no such tight system integration exists. The 3PL personnel have access to the shipper’s supply chain systems because they are operating a shipper’s facility. There is no system integration whatsoever.  However, 3PL personnel are trained to log into the shipper’s systems and are can do just about any function. The 3PL owns everything in execution including labor and accountable for the labor costs.

No matter what model is chosen, flexibility is key to winning and keeping business.  An inability to integrate with shipper’s systems or support the shipper’s systems could mean losing multiyear 3PL contracts.  Particularly with the sunset of Windows CE, which begins this year, a flexible mobile supply chain platform is invaluable.   In the past, Windows CE was the default system offered for the mobile computers, scan guns, and wrist mounted devices from Microsoft. I believe that Windows CE is one of the most clunky, least user friendly, and least customizable platform available. It became even more clear to the industry when Steve Jobs demonstrated what was possible in such a small form factor with the iPhone and the super-easy-to-use UI/UX.

For enterprises, Android is emerging as a very good alternative. With this OS, flexibility can be taken to another level in a variety of ways compared to the Apple platform:

  1. The Android platform is open, compared to Apple’s severe restrictions.
  2. The powerful Android Mobile Supply Chain Platform makes adding capabilities is as simple as adding another app.  Possible extensions include Telnet emulation, voice-enabling a warehouse management system (WMS), image-enabling the supply chain, learning management systems (LMS), smart glasses integration, or an indoor positioning system.
  3. Android allows for the quick addition of language support to support a wider variety of workers.

The possibilities are endless.

We just finished a call with a multi-billion dollar 3PL, and these guys were very clear that they don’t want to just move boxes and participate in a transactional relationship that competes via a lower cost model.  Instead, they wanted a partner to offer high value trusted advisory services delivering ROI and leveraging innovation.  For this customer, systemic flexibility is an important asset because while bidding for contracts, they can confidently say that they can make any system work with their supply chain infrastructure.

If you really think about it, that’s all any CIO really wants. The good news is truly flexible supply chain systems is coming. How flexible is your mobile supply chain platform? How would that make your life easier? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

See how Android can improve your operations here.

15
May 2019
By Puga SankaraLeave a comment
Author:
Puga Sankara
About:
Puga Sankara is the Founder, CEO of Smart Gladiator LLC. Smart Gladiator designs, builds, and delivers market-leading mobile technology for retailers, distributors, and 3PL service providers. So far, Smart Gladiator LoadProof has been used to ship, receive, and scan more than 100 million boxes. SG LoadProof is a patent pending Centralized Enterprise Photo/Video Document System on Cloud for Supply Chain. SG LP is built on the fact that photos & videos are vital docs as important as POs/SOs/Legal Contracts/Fulfillment Orders that reside in ERP/WMS/TMS systems, that serve as compelling, conclusive, unequivocal proof of crucial, critical, vital operations executed in Supply Chain within/across orgs when fulfilling customer orders as well as meeting contractual obligations between orgs as merchandise is transferred between different parties that partake in Supply Chain functions & operations. And these photos/videos data should not be stored in someone’s Smartphone or Email Inbox or in their personal/work Computer, but should be stored in a Centralized Enterprise system, where such data can be pushed into super-fast, stored securely, accessible to all stake holders (CFO/Sales Reps/Customer Support/AR/AP) in an org, as well as facilitates super-fast retrieval/sharing. LP is an Enterprise System of record for Photo/Video docs & is as important as an ERP which is an enterprise system of record for POs, SOs, Legal Contracts between parties etc. that have huge legal ramifications, also as important as a WMS (Warehouse Management System) that hold indispensable shipment & fulfillment data on orders. Like how Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat etc. have evolved into social media platforms/systems that enable individuals to showcase their beauty/pretty clothes/lovely cosmetics/hep coolness etc., LoadProof is an Enterprise system that holds similar photos/videos, but for a different reason, not for show off, but to serve as compelling, conclusive, unequivocal & indisputable system of record and proof that can be presented even in the court of law, when there is a dispute between parties while they execute many facets of the Supply Chain functions & operations. SG LoadProof is also an Enterprise System of Record for Photos, videos and any other digital documents for your Supply Chain Network. A system of record (SOR) or source system of record (SSoR) is a data management term for an information storage system (commonly implemented on a computer system running a database management system) that is the authoritative data source for a given data element or piece of information. The need to identify systems of record can become acute in organizations where management information systems have been built by taking output data from multiple source systems, re-processing this data, and then re-presenting the result for new business use. In these cases, multiple information systems may disagree about the same piece of information. These disagreements may stem from semantic differences, differences in opinion, use of different sources, and differences in the timing of the extract, transform, and load processes that create the data they report against, or may simply be the result of bugs. The integrity and validity of any data set is open to question when there is no traceable connection to a good source, such as a known System of Record. Where the integrity of the data is vital, if there is an agreed system of record, the data element must either be linked to, or extracted directly from it. In other cases, the provenance and estimated data quality should be documented. The “system of record” approach is a good fit for environments where both: 1. there is a single authority over all data consumers, and 2. all consumers have similar needs Here, LoadProof is the System of Record for pictures and videos for all the entities in Supply chain who uses pictures and videos to track using any Supply Chain System infrastructure. 1. LoadProof provides accurate, thorough, complete, and latest information in pictures and videos related to any entity in the Supply chain that is tracked. 2. LoadProof is the single authority on pictures and videos related to any entity in the Supply Chain that is tracked 3. LoadProof doesn’t let any external system to copy the records being stored in it, which eliminates the data being duplicated in multiple places to preserve the data integrity and credibility. 4. LoadProof has a secured login procedure which lets only users with select level access to view the data and modify the records which helps in maintaining LoadProof is becoming the Industry Standard System for Photo & Video Docs for Supply Chain Smart Gladiator is located in ATDC - Advanced Tech Dev Center (tech Incubator) in Georgia Institute of Tech. Click for a demo - https://loadproof.com/apply Puga is a supply chain technology professional with more than 25 years of experience in deploying capabilities in the logistics and supply chain domain. His prior roles involved managing complicated mission-critical programs driving revenue numbers, rolling out a multitude of capabilities involving more than a dozen systems, and managing a team of 30 to 50 personnel across multiple disciplines and departments in large corporations such as Hewlett Packard. He has deployed WMS for more than 30 distribution centers in his role as a senior manager with Manhattan Associates. He has also performed process analysis walk-throughs for more than 50 distribution centers for WMS process design and performance analysis review, optimizing processes for better productivity and visibility through the supply chain. Size of these DCs varied from 150,000 to 1.2 million SQFT. Puga Sankara has an MBA from Georgia Tech. He can be reached at puga@smartgladiator.com or visit the company at www.smartgladiator.com. Also follow him at www.pugasankara.com. [Read More]
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