A blog series of Technology-enabling Reusable Transportation Packaging
This blog series covers the application and use of enabling technologies that allow companies to gain valuable insights into reusable assets’ location, condition, and availability as they move through the supply chain from manufacturer to consumer.
The fourth of this series will share a brief introduction to Using Data to Develop and Deliver Insights.
Using Data to Develop and Deliver Insights
When implementing technology-enabled reusable assets in your business, a crucial part of business case development is how a company expects to turn information into connected and meaningful insights that will deliver value to your business in the near and long term.
Companies face complex challenges across their supply chains and are saturated with a large amount of data from their operations. The focus on creating meaningful insights often needs to catch up to the investments and resources in functional teams gathering and managing large amounts of data. It is essential to highlight that the creation of insights should be prioritized by business leadership.
When using technology-enabled assets, the benefits of understanding the insights from the data include:
- Actively managing a company’s logistics and supply chain partner networks
- Locating and understanding inventory levels of your goods and shipping assets
- Achieving targeted operational efficiency levels across a company’s supply chain
- Optimizing working capital and OPEX in material handling systems and assets
- Deploying labor more efficiently across the handling and movement of goods
By understanding these and other insights, companies can improve operational efficiencies and decision-making across their business operations, resulting in improved financial performance.
How to Organize the Insights Process
Based on the volume of learnings and global experiences across RPA Technology Working Group member companies, there are a few key learnings to help address challenges when defining a strategy and implementation plan of a technology-enabled supply chain using reusable assets.
They include the following learnings:
- Align by Use-case
When implementing a technology-enabled reusable asset project, focusing the team on the targeted problem, and ensuring the functional ownership aligns with the expected insights is crucial. Projects that have not been successful often struggle to align functional silos of data and information across a company.
- Prioritize Primary Business Case
Define the expected outcome and how the business will measure the financial and functional results. Define the economic benefits expected from the primary use case and ensure the business case meets the financial expectations.
Build additional use cases based on customer needs after the primary use case financials are complete. Ensure the primary use case includes typical and exception-based company operations.
- Build Supply Chain Insights
To maximize the financial and operational impact of technology-enabled reusable assets, it is essential to consider insights and benefits from the owner of the reusable asset perspective and the user(s) of the asset throughout movements across the supply chain.
Often, companies build their targeted insights to measure and optimize from an internal perspective rather than from the perspective of their supply chain partners and customers.
- Develop Business Insights, NOT Software Tool-focused Insights
Ensure that the traditional disconnect of business information systems data is addressed. Provide a business-wide insights solution for the C-suite, incorporating the various data sources (ERP, etc.) across a company and its supply chain partners, starting with the primary use case. Be clear the insights are sticky and used deep into the organization for business operations.
A more in-depth reference guide and case study examples for Technology-enabling Reusable Transportation Packaging, “A Smarter Technology-Driven Supply Chain with Reusable Packaging Systems,” is available on the RPA website.
This brief article and whitepaper are a cumulation of the Reusable Packaging Association’s (RPA) Technology Working Group (TWG) members and invited industry experts. The committee’s objective is to raise awareness of asset management and develop standards for common processes promoting the efficient movement, handling, visibility, and return of reusable packaging products.
Technology-enabled Reusable solutions, including identification and tracking solutions, can be found at the Reusables Marketplace, where both sustainable packaging and reusable packaging products and services from RPA member companies can be found.