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November 2024
Supply Chain News to Know

 
 
NOVEMBER 2024

News To Know

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Just because spooky season is behind us doesn’t mean that supply chain horror stories are, too. But your yard shouldn’t be one of the things causing nightmares… Let’s dive in.
 
 
 

  The Lead
 
 
 
 
 

With so much excitement — and hype — surrounding recent technological breakthroughs it can be easy to forget that technology alone cannot resolve an organization’s challenges. When it comes to implementing AI, Gartner suggests identifying the organizational barriers that could hinder supply chain AI from succeeding and leveraging change management approaches to remove those hurdles.

Yet, according to the 2024 Third-Party Logistics Study, 39% of shippers and 27% of 3PLs don’t consider change management critical. As FourKites founder and CEO, Matt Elenjickal, writes for Forbes, this thinking is misguided.

“I’ve personally seen Fortune 100 companies spend up to six months thoroughly thinking through the before-and-after of impacted business processes,” says Elenjickal. “That’s time well spent as it helps reduce downstream issues.”

Successfully deploying new technology goes beyond just plugging in a solution. It demands a shift in mindset, focused change management and early attention to people and processes.

 
 

  In View
 
 
 
 
 
sparkles Speaking of AI, CIO reports more than a third of IT professionals say the main purpose of AI initiatives that they’ve worked on is to simply show stakeholders that their organization is doing something with AI. “This can lead to a dangerous cycle where decision-makers become skeptical of AI’s potential, reducing future investment,” says FourKites’ EVP of Technology, Sriram Nagaswamy. As a result, teams might be ill-equipped to handle genuine AI deployments down the road.

factory_1f3ed.png With a new administration taking office in January, potential tariffs are creating even more uncertainty for supply chain leaders. "Different manufacturing subsectors will experience wildly different outcomes,” explains FourKites SVP of Growth Markets and NAM board member Dan Abramson. “Electronics makers face potentially painful component shortages while chemical companies might actually benefit from reshoring.”

handshake_1f91d.png As the year winds down and shippers and carriers gear up for contract negotiations, Stephen Dyke argues that having the right data and insights can be a catalyst for true collaboration.
 
 

  Numbers to Know
 
 
 
 
 
Plan to Spend on Holiday Products/Gifts This Year Compared to Last Year (Among Total)
 
 
Source: AlphaWise, Morgan Stanley Research

This holiday season is likely to see an uptick in consumer spending. Overall, 37% of consumers are planning to keep their holiday budgets roughly the same, 35% expect to spend more, and 22% expect to spend less yielding a net of +13%.

 
 

Words of Wisdom
 
 
Due to the seasonality of our business, the yard gets really, really congested. For all the major holidays, we’re bringing in inventory and then inventory is quickly going out.In years past, we were operating exclusively off of Excel worksheets... sometimes even on a pen and paper on a clipboard. Now, with FourKites Dynamic Yard, we have that next-level visibility, that next-level functionality within the supply chain to be able to say, ‘Hey, this trailer is here now. It’s got this product on it. It’s priority and needs to be unloaded right away.’

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MATTHEW MCDANIEL
CRACKER BARREL MANAGER, LOGISTICS

 
 

  ICYMI
 
 
 
 
 
  • Orvis and FourKites recently participated in a fireside chat led by Steve Banker, Forbes columnist and Vice President of Supply Chain Services at ARC Advisory, to discuss how Orvis:
    • Expanded their order tracking timeline by 8X
    • Empowered non-logistics teams with self-service data
    • Reduced stockouts and eliminated surprise missed fulfillment
    • Mastered Peak Season 2024 with efficiency
  • Every year we turn our clocks back to gain an extra hour, and it’s a perfect moment to reflect on what the impact would be if we could “gain” time more often. In the supply chain world, where every minute matters, FourKites’ visibility and yard management tools help teams focus less on chasing information and more on value-added tasks. Learn more in our recent blog post.
 
 
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