Follow the Path to Agility

In another example, a multi-billion dollar consumer packaged goods (CPG) and food company needed to better meet customer service level agreements (SLA) and reduce operating costs. They achieved this by monitoring the activity of their third-party transportation partners and their third-party warehouse operators and ultimately synchronizing the activity of their third-party vendors. Trucks no longer showed up on time, only to wait several hours to be loaded and have drivers run out of time, causing SLA’s to be missed and detention charges to accumulate. Conversely, warehouse workers no longer staged orders on the premise that a truck was showing up on time only to have to restock the order because valuable dock space was needed. The end result was a significant increase in customer satisfaction and millions of dollars of reduced third-party logistics (3PL) partner costs.

These examples fit within both companies’ overall strategy. The first decreased the amount of capital required to finance operations by shortening the cash-to-cash cycle. The second, to not only operate more efficiently but also to increase organic growth which was achieved as customers saw an immediate improvement in their service, which provided the sales team with a competitive advantage. By following the path to supply chain agility, both companies realized enterprise-wide benefits.

Dave Brooks, Senior Director of Strategic Business Solutions for Software AG, developed the “Path to Agility” concept. Sean Riley, Director of Strategic Business Solutions for Software AG, enabled some of the world’s largest companies to find innovative solutions for maximum supply chain visibility.