Forget the old score cards and welcome real time information about where products in the supply chain are actually right now. Real time information makes anticipation on global supply chain risks such as natural disasters or sudden delivery problems of suppliers possible. The message: more visibility made possible by smart control towers.
Better supply chain visibility and a more in-depth understanding of changing transport circumstances lead to robust planning. “The control of complex transport flows changes from reacting into anticipating”, says Carlo Peters, senior consultant at Buck Consultant International. “We call them smart control towers or command centers.” Together with Cisco Systems Buck Consultants International organized a successful seminar for supply chain professionals in the high tech industry, with a lot of discussion on the opportunities and risks of control towers.
In a control tower it is all about a smooth collaboration between people, processes and technology. Processes includes planning, selection of third party logistics providers, cost optimization and inventory reduction. Internet technology makes a continuous flow of real time data possible, with quick data analytics opportunities in order to take the best possible logistics decisions. Complex global end-to-end cargo flows, in which various parties and logistics service providers play a role, can be better orchestrated now.
A presentation of Smart Control Towers is available. Please request a copy here.
