Where’s My Stuff? How Container Tracking Can Help Manage Your Global Supply Chain

June 23, 2020

If you’re a manufacturer in a global supply chain and you order a finished product or components from across the globe, then you know there is about a month of time where you really don’t know the location and status of your container of parts. Tracking and checking the status of your different shipments manually can be a headache – especially if you need to hold or expedite your shipment quickly due to changes in demand. So, how can you increase efficiency in the transportation segment of your business?

With today’s technology, global supply chains can stay efficient and increase profits by closely examining their current processes and making necessary changes. One smart move is to explore an Intelligent Transportation solution, a specialized type of supply chain management software that allows more in-depth visibility across various parts of your supply chain, particularly between order management and warehouse/distribution facility.

Efficient Routing and Scheduling

Increased visibility along the production chain means you can better schedule deliveries and pick-ups, ensuring accuracy in tracking dates and routes that might have been issues in the past. This can help to provide better customer service. An Intelligent Transportation solution can also provide flexible, scalable shipping that can handle multiple shipping companies, and allows for changes when the unexpected arises. For example, let’s say you need to move a shipment to storage because of lack of demand, then you know when and where you can move the shipment. Alternatively, you may need your finished product or parts tomorrow. Using Intelligent Transportation, you can track the shipment and organize the products to be put on a plane to arrive the next day.

The Benefits

Intelligent Transportation solutions provide many benefits to businesses:

  • Reduced costs for the business and the end customer
  • Simplification of supply chain processes across geographies, modes, and carriers
  • Automation of business operations
  • Improvement in container visibility, location and contents
  • Time savings—fewer manual steps result in fewer delays and faster delivery times
  • The ability to track freight, both locally and globally, on a single platform
  • New business insights as better reporting leads to faster action and process improvement
  • Improvements in customer service and customer satisfaction with real-time updates and fewer shipment delays

MCA Connect’s Intelligent Transportation Solution

With MCA Connect’s RPA (Robotic Process Automation) solution, Container Tracking, manufacturing companies gain the visibility they need into the status of their containers around the globe. Leveraging Microsoft Power Platform and Blue Prism RPA technology, you can determine best route optimization based on various inputs, including cost analysis, or transportation lane availability.

With our Container Tracking solution, manufacturers can:

  • Make better business decisions based on real-time updates
  • Track shipments and containers daily and check location status
  • Scorecard shipping and freight forwarding companies
  • Eliminate manual processes
  • Remove ties with EDI Interfaces
  • Check near real-time analytics & reports with Power BI

Global supply chains are ever-changing and supply chains and manufacturers need to innovate to keep pace. Fixed Interval Scheduling provides a window into better understanding ‘Where’s my Stuff’! If you’d like to learn more about how this solution can benefit your global supply chain, contact us. We’d be happy to further discuss how Fixed Interval Scheduling can streamline your supply chain.

Author: Brad Smith, Director of IoT & Analytics

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