Azuka Chukwuelue

Special guest post written by Chris Cunnane with InterSystems Supply chain orchestration is the coordinated management of end-to-end supply chain activities, across planning, sourcing, production, logistics, and delivery, using technology, data, and processes to ensure that every moving part works together seamlessly. It enables organizations to attain an agile and resilient supply chain model through the use of decision intelligence. This is achieved through the See > Understand > Optimize > Act framework, which gives organizations the confidence to plan and respond to disruptions with assurance in their supply chain stability. See: gather raw data and information from your environment or a situation. Understand: analyze the information you’ve seen to build a comprehensive understanding of the context, your knowledge, and potential complexities. Optimize: develop the best possible solution or course of action to address the situation. Act: implement your chosen solution, putting your knowledge into practice. From a practical standpoint, this framework powers your supply chain application ecosystem with end-to-end visibility, insights, and better decisions. It helps organizations reach their supply chain goals by enabling them to align processes, stakeholders, and technology toward desired outcomes. The end result is reduced costs, improved operating margins, and optimized sustainability decisions, among others.…

The U.S. Bank Freight Payment Index for 3Q 2021 has been released, and one thing remains clear: spend is up. More specifically, year over year, quarterly freight spend showed the second largest increase ever – rising 32.6% from 3Q 2020. What’s driving the dollars, and what can this increase tell us about the state of the supply chain across the country? Supply Chain Now co-hosts Scott Luton and Greg White recently sat down with Bobby Holland, Director, Freight Data Solutions at U.S. Bank, and Patricia Gabriel, Vice President US Customer Service & Logistics, at Mondelez International, to find out. Let’s review highlights from their discussion of the report – and take a look at what you need to consider moving forward. But first, what is the U.S. Bank Freight Payment Index? The U.S. Bank Freight Payment Index is a free report you can download each quarter to keep your finger on the pulse of freight shipping volumes and spend from both a national and regional perspective. The report uses actual transaction payment data, de-seasonalized and calendar adjusted for maximum comparability. How do I use it? When you’re asking the question, “What happened last quarter?” the U.S. Bank Freight Payment Index…