DC Velocity - October 2018

20 DC VELOCITY OCTOBER 2018 www.dcvelocity.com newsworthy

Analyst: Shippers are leading shift
toward digital supply chain practices

On a scale of one to 10, logistics practitioners are only at level two of the process of applying the technologies that will allow them to digitalize their operations, a Gartner analyst said in mid-September.

Shippers have evolved faster than carriers so far in this effort to transform their practices, Bart De Muynck, research vice president at Gartner, said at technology vendor project44’s “Transform” conference in Chicago.

However, all supply chain partners are chasing the same goal as they face a challenging transportation environment, he said. Technology could be part of the solution because as companies begin to automate their data flows, they will build the capability to meet rising consumer expectations, handle disruptions to freight flows, and manage skyrocketing transportation costs.

One sign of progress toward digitalization can be seen in the willingness of some companies to create leadership structures that assign oversight to a single person—such as a chief supply chain officer or a chief data officer—instead of distributing logistics tasks among many departments, De Muynck said.

Another tool for building digital interconnected supply chains is artificial intelligence (AI), said Jett McCandless, founder and CEO of proj- ect44. But rather than jumping right in to use AI for making forecasts or to suggest solutions, most organizations first need to use the technology to clean up their data, McCandless said. Layering complex analytical tools over raw data will not produce useful results, so companies need to normalize and enrich that data first with AI, he said.

When executed correctly, that process can lead to far more powerful results than simply tracking cargo shipments like dots on a map, he said, adding that as with many other logistics processes, the e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc. is leading the way. “Amazon flipped the idea upside down from transportation being a cost center to being the tip of the spear for driving customer satisfaction,” McCandless said. “It has been doing that for a while, and organizations are now catching up with that.”

BluJay Solutions, a supply chain software and services company, has entered into an agreement to purchase Grosvenor International Systems, a provider of customs and compliance solutions to the U.K. and European markets. … Trucker Tools LLC, a company that provides shipment visibility, carrier capacity management, and predictive freight-matching solutions, has unveiled feature and function improvements for its Trucker Tools mobile driver app. The company has also introduced “Smart Capacity for Truckers and Small Fleets,” a cloud-based predictive freight-matching and capacity connectivity platform designed to streamline the way brokers operate. … Full-truckload carrier CFI has unveiled five custom-de-signed, large-format “truck wraps” recognizing the company’s military veterans and women drivers for their service to CFI and its customers, and to encourage more military veterans and women to consider truck driving as a profession. … Western U.S.-based logistics company On Trac has participated for the third year in Delivery Hope’s backpack drive, donating 1,000 backpacks filled with school supplies to students in need throughout the company’s eight-state service region. … Family-owned global logistics company Dachser has expanded its Midwestern footprint by opening a new location in Detroit, its fifth office in the region. … TVH in the Americas, a provider of replacement parts and accessories for the material handling and industrial equipment industries, recycled more than 389 tons of paper, cardboard, and other recyclables in 2017, an increase of almost 20 tons over the previous year. short takes

Intermodal marketing company Hub Group Inc. said in early September that it had sold Mode Transportation LLC, its asset-light third-party logistics services subsidiary, to a unit of New York-based investment management firm York Capital Management for $238.5 million.

Oak Brook, Ill.-based Hub said several months ago that it would explore strategic alternatives for Mode, whose decentralized operations no longer fit Hub’s centralized business model. TemStar, a Mode unit that provides transcontinental intermodal services for temperature-controlled commodities, was not included in the sale and will be retained by Hub. Hub said it would use the proceeds from the sale in part for acquisitions of both new and existing service lines that will complement its core business.