Part 7: Dream Team Finale! Top 2022 Innovations Benefiting The Supply Chain Industry

We’ve made it to the final installment of our Dream Team series. Thank you for coming along on this journey with us — we hope you gained some valuable insights from our leaders. In this final post, you’ll hear from Charles Dismuke, CFO at TA Services. He’s sharing insights on the top innovations that will have an impact on the supply chain industry in 2022 and beyond.

Leading professionals are embracing supply chain technology

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the supply chain industry has really had to step up to navigate disruptions and challenges — including labor shortages, problems with inventory and production, freight capacity issues, and more – all resulting in less than desirable customer service. Supply chain resiliency has become more important than ever. And having real time visibility into your operations is a crucial piece in ensuring a competitive advantage and supply chain resiliency. Implementing leading technology is the answer to better supply chain visibility, and professionals in the industry are taking note. They realize the importance of embracing technology in order to keep their business models and operations running smoothly. Technology allows us to collect vast amounts of data. That data has always been present in the background, but without supply chain technology, it couldn’t be turned into insights.

Effective supply chain technology is available to shippers today

A transportation management system (TMS) is an essential tool for shippers today. A TMS is a system that allows shippers to effectively plan, optimize, and execute the shipping process. Implementing a TMS will provide greater supply chain visibility into your freight rates, on-time performance, shipment tracking, carrier performance, and more. With today’s challenges, like capacity constraints and labor shortages, having visibility into this data will allow shippers to find capacity at the best rates and ensure their freight is getting where it needs to go when it needs to get there.

My teammate, David Bowers, TA Services’ VP of Warehouse Operations, recently shared some insights on warehouse management systems (WMS). To borrow from him, a “WMS is software used to manage the day-to-day operations of your warehouses, including processing the movements of goods and tracking inventory.” Implementing a WMS into your supply chains will give you better visibility into the warehousing and fulfillment side of your supply chain, including inventory levels, order statuses, picking and packing, and more.

It’s incredibly important that the systems you choose to implement can integrate. If systems are working independently to collect data without sharing that data among themselves, you’re missing out on a ton of insights about the overall performance of your supply chain — because after all, a supply chain as a whole is made up of many individual pieces, including warehousing, fulfillment, and transportation. And those pieces need to work together to keep the supply chain engine running and your supply chain operators at peak efficiency.

What does the future hold for the supply chain industry?

The importance of supply chain resiliency isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. We’ve learned in recent years how important it is to be agile and creative in order to solve any supply chain disruptions or challenges that come our way. Technology will continue to evolve to meet the needs of future supply chains. We’ve already seen a number of advances in areas like machine learning and autonomous vehicles that will have a great impact on the physical transportation of goods.

Everything will only continue to become more connected and automated, whether it’s smart warehouses that utilize artificial intelligence or self-driving trucks that transport your goods. The one thing that won’t change is the importance of people and relationships.

At TA Services, we have a people-first approach to supply chain innovations. While we embrace new supply chain technology, we recognize the importance of the people behind the technology. Our team members are the ones putting that technology—and the data it provides—to use to find creative solutions for our customers’ challenges.

If you’re interested in learning more about TA Services, including how we can help you achieve supply chain visibility and create unique solutions for your business, reach out to speak with an expert today.

ICYMI (In Case You Missed It)

And that brings us to the end of our Dream Team series. Thank you for joining us and getting to know our team behind the scenes. If you missed any installment of our series, be sure to check them out below.

• Chris Bahr, VP of Brokerage Operations:  Complete guide to full-service 3PL providers
• Brady Thames, VP of Marketing & Sales: Tips for getting the most from your 3PL partner
• David Bowers, VP of Warehouse Operations: Best practices for warehouse management
• Andrew Welling, Director of Cross-Border Services: Best practices for overcoming cross-border shipping challenges
• David Branson, VP of Managed Transportation Operations: Complete guide to managed transportation service solutions