Logistic Industry: Trends, Revelations and Challenges

In an interview with Britain Pavlic, Director, Transportation Technology, enVista; she talks about the Logistic Industry, and elucidates upon its trends, challenges, and future. She also shares details of the latest project she has been working on and how she managed to make it successful.

What are some of the major challenges and trends that have been impacting the Logistic Industry lately?

There have been several trends impacting the logistics industry over the last few months. There are five in particular that come to mind for me.

• Economy. Rising inflation is challenging consumer demand trends which are placing pressure on supply chains to have better transparency and agility.

•Environmental challenges. Pressure to lower carbon emissions and improve logistics sustainability is creating government regulations that are increasing compliance costs to both carriers and shippers.

•Digitally evolving businesses. Customer supply chains must be nimble if they wish to gain and keep a competitive advantage in today’s digital environment. While the industry understands and supports many of the benefits of these technologies, concern remains as to how to fund, implement and leverage them for the most overall value to the business and customer.

•Increased e-commerce demand (Amazon Effect). E-commerce is rising in popularity and increasing the demand for faster shipping. To keep up with this demand, shippers have to make smaller shipments more frequently without greatly increasing transportation costs.

•Driver shortage and retention. Despite lower demands, hiring and retaining drivers continues to impact the industry due to significant driver compliance regulations imposed by federal and state authorities.

What keeps you up at night when it comes to some of the major predicaments in the Logistic Industry and servicing your customers?

The way that the logistics industry and its challenges are ever-changing is what stays on my mind. Logistics providers continuously need to adapt their supply chain networks to meet this constant fluctuation, and that is no small task.

Can you tell us about the latest project that you have been working on and what are some of the technological and process elements that you leveraged to make the project successful?

My team of transportation experts at enVista worked with a large food manufacturer that was challenged with a very large, decentralized network with mostly manual processes and minimal technical solutions. This created a sub-optimal supply chain network that lacked optimal freight planning and visibility, limited carrier sourcing and cost management and had no standard operating processes. All of these factors greatly increased the manufacturer’s freight spend, provided limited accountability and a led to a very disjointed network. My team performed a strategic supply chain assessment project, quickly building a logistics strategy and implementation plan that solved the manufacturer’s issues with short- and long-term obtainable solutions. The project unlocked $2M+ savings within the first year, with the potential for $17M+ more savings over a five-year period.

What are some of the technological trends which excite you for the future of the Logistic Industry?

Technology is skyrocketing in the logistics industry as organizations learn how they can leverage it to optimize their operations. There are a few trends in particular that I am looking forward to.

"Technology is skyrocketing in the logistics industry as organizations learn how they can leverage it to optimize their operations"

• Artificial intelligence technology and advanced data analytics. This technology will help organizations with predictability and agility when responding to the everchanging industry demands.

• Sustainable solutions – I expect there to be an increase in the use of technology for improving performance, tracking and visibility of sustainability metrics and more.

• Digital freight matching – This technology improves capacity utilization and shipper transportation efficiencies and lowers freight spend.

• Evolution of transportation management systems (TMS). TMS will continue to evolve to support the above functionality.

• Automation and robotics – Automation improves warehouse management efficiency in keeping up with high demand products and improved freight fulfillment to consumers.