After a year full of supply chain issues due to the Corona pandemic, the blockade of the Suez Canal and the temporary closure of ports in China, the logistics industry is eagerly looking forward to 2022. No matter what hurdles lie ahead in the upcoming months, companies can successfully meet these challenges with innovative approaches. To support you with that, we have summarized the most important supply chain trends for you:
1. Sustainable Supply Chain Management
With a logistics share of more than 25 percent of global CO2 emissions, a sustainable supply chain management is a crucial factor for climate change and therefore one of the most important supply chain trends in 2022. This makes it even more important for companies to re-evaluate their supply chains, looking beyond traditional partners, methods and technologies to consider how they can contribute to a greener future. And there are many opportunities out there – may it be the optimization of CO2 and energy consumption regarding transport functions and warehousing or an improved route and loading planning to use less congested routes and avoid empty runs.
2. Intelligent Transportation Concepts
With the call for a more sustainable supply chain management, intelligent transport concepts are coming into play as another supply chain trend. According to the International Union for Road-Rail Combined Transport (UIRR) and the consultancy firm D-Fine, combined transport can save between 63 and 90 percent of the CO2 emissions of a road transport with a Euro VI truck between locations. To shift more freight transports – especially on long cross-border transport routes – to rail, there must be higher investments in the corresponding infrastructure as well as a simplified cross-border rail freight transport.
The shipping industry is also in a state of upheaval: Around 150 companies have called on world leaders to work more closely with the industry and to ensure increased decarbonization through suitable political measures.
3. Strong and reliable Partnerships
Supply chains are getting more and more complex – be it due to globalization or frequent changes in transport modalities. The main consequence is an increased risk of possible disruptions and delays that affect companies as well as all downstream sub-sections of the supply chain. To successfully meet these challenges in 2022, a strong partner network is mandatory to ensure that all company departments and their partners understand supply chain weak points and work together to counteract this scenario.
At this point, we at Synfioo provide you with real-time monitoring of the entire supply chain for each individual transport modality. This creates an efficient exchange of information for all parties involved and ensures a flexible scope for action.
4. Resilience meets transparent Supply Chains
In order to create a resilient supply chain, companies need to refocus, because a future-oriented supply chain acts as a dynamic loop and concentrates on maximum transparency and data exchange. To achieve this, it is necessary to break down the silo mentality that is often found among all actors in the supply chain. And for a good reason: only if as much information as possible is available at an early stage, the consequences can be better assessed, and alternatives prepared. This is the only way to create more supply chain resilience in the long term.
5. Innovative Solutions
The use of artificial intelligence is one of the most important supply chain trends in 2022. Every day, huge amounts of structured and unstructured data are generated in connected intermodal supply chains. Only machine learning algorithms are able to process and analyze the information. We at Synfioo merge transport-based data with location information as well as more than 70 external disruption sources and calculate precise Estimated-Time-of-Arrival forecasts. With this knowledge boost, companies can optimally coordinate transport and planning processes and avoid financial losses due to delayed transports.
With these five supply chain trends, companies as well as logistics service providers pave their way to a successful 2022.
