PLAN AHEAD FOR 2023
SOURCING STRATEGIES
TO DO [ ] Focus on supply chain strategy, carrier relationships, and network resiliency. Sourcing events will be a key talking point in 2023. Focusing on goals beyond cost reductions establishes lasting impacts for shippers. In times of a soft market, shippers need to evaluate their supply chain strategy to ensure alignment with business objectives. This evaluation gives insights into gaps and opportunities for improvement. Using this analysis to drive operational changes, prior to sourcing events, ensures that when you go to market, you’re sourcing to achieve your supply chain strategy objectives. Baselining and evaluating your current carrier relationships ensures you have partnerships that aid in achieving your objectives. It’s also important to remember that part of a successful carrier relationship in sourcing events is being a shipper of choice and ensuring communications are flowing in both directions. Once you’ve evaluated your supply chain strategy and carrier relationships, you can identify where network resiliency is needed. An objective of sourcing events is to address risk and develop contingency plans. –Spencer Shute, Principal Consultant, Proxima
OVERVIEW
A trend we can expect to see in 2023 is reshoring as many companies bring their industrial footprints back to North America. With recent supply chain issues and national security concerns, companies are not only rethinking where their product is manufactured, but also where suppliers and material sourcing is located as well. We’ll likely see new incentives around this with the dual aim to shorten supply chains for businesses and mitigate national security and defense concerns. But, as U.S. labor is more expensive than other regions, we can anticipate more automation becoming integrated into the manufacturing processes as new generations of smart factories take center stage. With these shifts come new cybersecurity concerns that will drive policy makers to place a variety of restrictions on non-U.S. technology solutions. This will not be an overnight adjustment, but companies will adapt over time as they seek more digital security and “harden” the goods they build. –Cory Lichtenberger, Vice President U.S. Strategy, Schneider Electric
LASTLY, THE LAST MILE
The fastest growing trend is outsourcing to flexible, hourly (Uber-type) delivery contractors. However, some retailers and restaurants could try to bring gig economy services back in-house by adding more pay-rolled employees or in-sourced contractors. –Andre Luecht, Global Practice Lead – Transport & Logistics, Zebra Technologies Corporation Gig economy providers that create a positive customer experience through visibility. Visibility can benefit almost every aspect of a business, including meeting customer demands and improving the bottom line. Customers have low tolerance for bad deliveries and must have a positive experience on the first interaction. –Brian Kava, CEO, PICKUP TO DO In 2023, delivery providers and retailers will need to streamline the last mile. Customer expectations for faster, more flexible deliveries with shorter lead times have made covering the last mile more complicated. It will be necessary for the last mile to become reactive instead of proactive. Last-mile providers must be agile so they can oer an ecient, simplified process. Retailers will need to focus on partnering with last-mile delivery
TRENDS TO WATCH
Another year of substantial growth is ahead for the last-mile sector.
These top 4 trends both challenge and boost its trajectory: Continued pressures on last-mile drivers: Drivers are tired of the pressure to make daily on-time deliveries, and will increasingly push back on undesirable working environments, making driver empowerment and health/wellness a necessary factor for success. Last-mile sustainability goes mainstream: To deliver on ESG goals, companies will be more strategic in approach, such as bringing ful llment centers closer to consumers, incorporating tactics like parcel lockers to reduce carbon emissions, and investing in EVs. D2C invests in last mile: To close the gaps between regional warehouses and consumer doorsteps, D2C brands will heavily invest in last-mile delivery solutions and SaaS platforms that bring the convenience, exibility, and sustainability they need. Advanced analytics and AI grow stronger: As businesses continue to rethink and rede ne last-mile tech capabilities, there will also be a urry of investments in solutions that unlock big data opportunities. More companies will both adopt these to get ahead as well as go to market with new platforms that offer these capabilities to customers. –Nishith Rastogi, CEO and Founder, Locus
226 Inbound Logistics • January 2023
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