Modern transportation management systems can connect distributors and manufacturers while facilitating growth and agility.
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n today’s fast-paced, interconnected global market, supply chain efficiency is not just a competitive advantage;
it’s a necessity. Foodservice equipment and supplies (FE&S) distributors and manufacturers face growing pressure to deliver faster, reduce costs and improve visibility across their supply chains — all while managing transformative disruption that changes daily. Rising to this challenge and achieving supply chain control and stability requires modern solutions that are made possible through digital integration and connectivity between dealers, suppliers and customers.
By Kevin Brink Vice President LTL Solutions Kuehne+Nagel
Focusing on technology that involves automation and visibility will play a pivotal role in navigating current and future disruptive influences. While every FE&S dealer and supplier has its own mix of systems and applications for exchanging supply chain information, more must be done to close the digital gap that still exists in the industry and among its most critical partners. Recent global events, including the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighted the importance of logistics and transportation as part of the supply chain ecosystem. Those experiences and the shortages that followed made the need for technology showcasing real-time and risk-relevant data even clearer. Most transportation and logistics data are currently being transmitted through phone calls, emails, websites, or electronic data interchange (EDI). All these aging solutions are cumbersome to manage, implement and maintain. They rely on aggregated information that is a snapshot in history and do not promote digital or automated communication among users and businesses. APIs (application programming interfaces), on the other hand, are faster to implement and are significantly
more cost-efficient than the previously mentioned practices. API does require an investment in programming and master data; however, it makes use of flexible and scalable integration solutions that are real-time and promote visibility among distributors and manufacturers.
The ability to access data from
anywhere at any time through an API is becoming increasingly essential in this age of digitalization and disruption, and the FE&S industry tends to trail behind other competing sectors that are vying for the same finite resources (like transportation and warehousing capacity). Therefore, it is paramount for FE&S distributors and manufacturers to work together to elevate the industry by enhancing its use of API technology.
Data Feeds Transportation
Management Systems One way to leverage API technology to advance supply chains is by using a transportation management system (TMS). A TMS is a digital platform that facilitates the planning, execution and optimization of the physical movement of goods. It acts as a centralized hub for transportation-related data, processes and communications, providing real-time insights and automation capabilities that streamline supply chain operations. When implemented effectively, a TMS can play a crucial role in driving supply chain transformation, mitigating risk and reducing costs among FE&S partners.
One of the primary benefits of a TMS is enhanced visibility across the supply chain. Through integration with enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, warehouse management systems (WMS) and carrier networks, a TMS consolidates data from multiple sources to provide a live, end-to-end view of inventory, orders and shipments.
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