Supply Chain Complexities, Confusions, and Conundrums... How to Solve Them

The over-arching and overwhelming dilemma I see in the supply chain world is the gap between the complexity of decisions facing supply chain executives, and the decision support capability they have access to. The degree to which supply chain complexity exceeds supply chain capability to a large degree explains and reflects the degree of excess supply chain costs, inflated inventories, poorly employed supply chain infrastructure, and high lost sales. The items below decompose and define the supply chain complexity gap and how RightChain helps overcome it.

Under Staffed and Under Qualified vs. Elite Professional Services and Support. Inexplicably, in the face of the proliferating complexity and number of supply chain decisions, many supply chain organizations are reducing supply chain staffing, and hiring at qualification levels much too low relative to the complexity and stakes of the decisions they are asked to make or support. RightChain provides access to elite, experienced, highly qualified supply chain decision support professionals, as well as to supply chain professional education for our client’s supply chain professional development.

Conflicting, Under-Informed, Sub-Optimization vs. Integrated Optimization. Despite numerous exhortations to the contrary, most supply chain decision making remains dis-integrated, sub-optimized, and under-informed. The RightChain.ai platform and RightChain™ Methodology clarifiy and integrate supply chain decision making. Integrated optimization occurs horizontally across the supply chain (incorporating service, inventory, sourcing, transportation, and warehousing) AND vertically, connecting supply chain decisions to finance, sales, and operations. Decisions are based on advanced optimization and proven methodology applied to big data sets.

IT Dependency vs On-Demand, Accessible Optimization. Many RightChain implementations are delayed due to over-committed, dated, and rigid IT organizations and methodologies. In stark contrast, RightChain.ai begins working from, adding value with, and learning from simple data downloads. Within days, supply chain optimizations, learnings, and analytics are available.

Human Mis-Intervention vs. Autonomous Optimization. Despite all good intentions, many operators of supply chain systems are inadequately trained in supply chain interdependencies and/or the intricacies of the system they operate. As a result, their interventions often disrupt and/or diminish supply chain performance. RightChain’s supply chain artificial intelligence can be configured to autonomously optimize and analyze inventory, transportation, and warehousing.

Fox in the Hen House vs. Objective Optimization. Many consulting, 3PL, MHE, and software firms have objectives that may be at odds with their client’s objectives; may only be willing to provide support if it favors their bottom line; and/or offer sub-par support via inexperienced personnel. RightChain has maintained 30 years of industry objectivity and is committed to maintaining that objectivity on behalf of the organizations we serve. We are also committed to offering the highest possible level of support personnel and services.

One Off Projects vs. Continuous Optimization. There are thousands of supply chain optimization projects launched every year. However, the learnings available to convert the one-time optimization are rarely, if ever, leveraged to create a bespoke continuous optimization process for the organization who invested so much in the optimization configuration. RightChain collaborates with large organizations to craft and implement optimization designs for inventory, transportation, and warehousing and leverages the experience and algorithms shaped for the client to become the client’s continuous supply chain optimization platform.

Supply Chain Management and Execution Systems vs Supply Chain Optimization Systems. Since we first imagined RightChain™, the marketplace for supply chain execution systems (SCES), including transportation management systems (TMS), warehouse management systems (WMS), and inventory management systems (IMS) – as well as for 3PLs and 4PLs - has grown significantly. However, the supply chains they operate have not improved accordingly. The capability and usability is simply not keeping up with the complexity of modern day supply chain scenarios.

Today’s supply chain decision support tools are often more complex to use than the problems they are designed to solve, and the lack of training for the tools themselves leaves many disappointed buyers and users. In contrast, RightChain’s SaaS platform codifies 30 years worth of expertise in supply chain, inventory, transportation, and warehousing optimization in a CloudAi-based subscription platform, with supply chain education embedded in the solution. The RightChain.ai platform is interoperable with the marketplace of supply chain execution systems and can be deployed autonomously and/or via a browser-based user interface. In doing so, we essentially created a new domain of supply chain systems – supply chain optimization systems. Our RightChain™ Inventory | Inventory Optimization System (IOS), RightChain™ Transportation | Transportation Optimization System (TOS), RightChain™ Warehousing | Warehouse Optimization System (WOS), and RightChain™ Planning | Supply Chain Planning System (SCPS); super-charge and enhance supply chain management and execution systems.