Business Management

CEO’s are linking strategically into their supply chains. Their supply chain is the best place to make the most of CEO effectiveness in product needs, real savings opportunities, ultimate customer satisfaction and therefore shareholder value. New technologies, changes in asset provider capacities, transportation management options and difficulty in organizations overcoming paradigms are making the CEO’s involvement in their supply chain success critical.
The supply chain is the movement of raw materials and finished products, impacting purchasing practices, manufacturing efficiencies, inventory carrying costs, departmental optimization, product value differentiation, business growth and ultimately marketplace viability. Most businesses underestimate the true costs, much less opportunities of their supply chain.
CEO’s who rely on the silo functionality of their managers often do not see the sub optimization of internal departments. Competition for scarce resources, missed opportunities in controlling costs, dynamic process efficiencies available in the supply chain, new value add technologies, leveraging greater buying power, impact of old relationships with inefficient transportation providers, passing on higher costs with declining deliverable values, are just a few issues where the vision of the CEO is needed. Instead of managing the supply chain as a departmental function, real savings and value await those who incorporate leading edge processes across all departmental functions to optimize spend, value, growth and profitability.
New transportation management companies are emerging with business models that address supply chain efficiencies on contingency basis. Loaded with leading edge technology, dedicated account management teams to monitor deliverable values and unparalleled ability to leverage spend savings, these new transportation management companies are growing at triple digit percentages. Unfortunately, either past experiences with unfocused providers or relying on single departmental management has limited companies from increasing sales and improving their bottom lines with their supply chain.
Purchasing managers and logistics managers are unable to leverage savings beyond current company scale nor able to engineer or afford the technology for real time supply chain visibility on their own. The silos of functionality in business are often good at meeting their metrics but unable to create new approaches to incorporating supply chain opportunities across all departments. Only the leadership of the CEO can create the vision of engaging new resources and technologies that can improve the entire organization’s deliverable results.
The complexity of transportation provider choices, varying market reach and multiple customer needs, call for a new approach in using a focused transportation management company to optimize the value of their unique supply chain. To only require the best providers with the lowest prices set up purchasing and logistics departments to bid, renegotiate or partnership for the best of a mediocre bunch of commodity providers, leaving value and money on the table.
Without losing control of day to day provider selection, smart companies are outsourcing the negotiations to a new class of transportation management company that can guarantee spend savings, superior transit deliverables, real time visibility of supply chain across all department functions and provide dedicated account management teams accountable to unique departmental needs. Not engaging your potential leaves the company vulnerable to competitors who recognize the supply chain can be leveraged to add value, grow business and improve net profits.
The clear trend in supply chain management is this new breed of focused providers who can leverage greater spend savings, develop customized, scalable real time technologies across all functions and add dedicated account teams to manage the transportation providers. Portfolios loaded mid and large size corporations, with best practices and industry specific case studies, these transportation management companies can cut through the jargon of supply chain applications and deliver measurable results. The CEO must create the vision of new possibilities, facilitating his teams to achieve greater savings & value, with more control over their supply chain, real deliverable results for employee job security and shareholder value.
Old asset players in transportation are either one dimensional in capability or try to leverage the illusion of value with their own spin on limited capabilities and risk adverse thinking. The emerging transportation management companies are lean, bureaucracy free, accountable to you and at no cost as they contingency based. Despite what asset transportation providers present in poor yields, inflated fuel costs, labor and health care concerns (like manufacturers/distributors do not have the same challenges?), the right transportation management company can still create guaranteed savings of at least 10% of current spend, bring value add technology for supply chain visibility as well as dedicated 24/7 account service teams to inspired manufacturers/distributors.
The complexity of asset transportation provider systems, varying costs by product/lane, limited technology and no doubt unsatisfactory past experiences, have stymied manufacturers/distributors on how to proceed in maximizing supply chain efficiencies. Only this new class of transportation management companies is capable of delivering the right provider solution, for each link of your supply chain, for the best available value & cost, with total visibility and accountability.
While there are many opportunities and duties for today’s CEO, no other area of their business will bring the greatest value return for their time investment than their supply chain. Reaching out to these unique, no cost, and no risk, transportation management providers will certainly be worth their time as employees, customers and shareholders will no doubt agree.