Dan Gingiss

In a recent conversation, 4flow’s Akhilesh Mohan joined Scott Luton with Supply Chain Now to explore a critical shift underway in global supply chains: the move from siloed functional optimization to truly connected decision-making. The discussion highlights a growing realization across the industry. As organizations continue to invest heavily in digital platforms, Mohan makes it clear: the next wave of value won’t come from adding more tools, but from aligning how decisions are made across the enterprise ensuring those decisions are connected end-to-end.   Beyond Systems: The Rise of Decision Integration For years, companies have digitalized supply chains function by function: ERP systems, planning tools, warehouse management, transportation platforms. While necessary, these investments often created islands of capability rather than a cohesive whole. Despite this investment of technology, Mohan says “in many organizations those capabilities still operate in silos ,” limiting the value companies hoped to achieve. The result? Planning, logistics, manufacturing, and customer service frequently operate with different priorities and incomplete visibility. Mohan emphasizes that the real transformation lies in connecting these decisions: “It is less about having more systems and more about making those systems, processes, and teams work together.” This is the shift from system integration to…

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…