{"id":6135,"date":"2020-06-17T14:16:44","date_gmt":"2020-06-17T12:16:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/?p=6135"},"modified":"2020-06-17T14:17:51","modified_gmt":"2020-06-17T12:17:51","slug":"covid-19-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/2020\/06\/17\/covid-19-4\/","title":{"rendered":"COVID-19 strains supply chains, last-mile delivery operations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since the COVID-19 outbreak, last-mile delivery and demand forecasting practices have changed drastically. Here, industry experts detail how they have been managing fleet assets, no-contact deliveries, and customer demand throughout this \u201cnew normal.”<\/p>\n

The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly strained supply chains and last-mile delivery. It also has pushed many retailers and consumer businesses into home delivery, even those who weren\u2019t necessarily serving that space before.<\/p>\n

During a webinar hosted by Terrapinn Holdings, the group behind the Home Delivery World<\/a> trade show, last-mile delivery experts discussed how their companies are navigating the pressures COVID-19 has put on supply chains and their operations.<\/p>\n

John Cail, vice president of mobility and last-mile delivery for national fleet management<\/a> company Merchants Fleet<\/a>, explained that since the outbreak of COVID-19 in the U.S., there has not only been an emergence of additional last-mile suppliers delivering to homes, but there has been anywhere between a 10 and 40% increase in need for assets among fleet clients.<\/p>\n

Through the course of the webinar, attendees were polled about specific challenges they are facing. When asked what part of the supply chain has been most impacted for them during the pandemic, the majority of participants pointed to last-mile delivery and demand forecasting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not really surprised, we have been seeing demand forecasting changing tremendously due to COVID-19,\u201d explained Arnaud Deshais, chief supply chain officer at RedBubble<\/a>, a global online marketplace for print-on-demand products.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has really impacted different categories in retail and included a lot of variables in the different supply chains,\u201d he continued. \u201cAt this stage, there\u2019s even more volatility in terms of what to expect in the next couple weeks and months.\u201d<\/p>\n

Panelist Kristin Smith, chief operating officer of Fernish<\/a>, a furniture and d\u00e9cor rental company, stressed that one of the biggest challenges over the course of the pandemic is that every week it seems like a different part of the supply chain has been stressed.<\/p>\n

Fernish sources different furniture from all over the globe. As COVID-19 was really starting to impact China, Smith explained that it was critical for Fernish to understand what the supply chain was like for all its suppliers, as well as potential interruptions that would occur.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs China was slowing down in terms of closing manufacturing plants and other facilities, you really saw this bullwhip come through,\u201d she said. \u201cThere was nothing at the ports, and so many empty containers were sitting there and blocking new containers from coming in. You just saw this ripple effect throughout the supply chain there.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response, Fernish began to closely monitor its customer demand, which became increasingly difficult to forecast.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were really managing our inventory levels to manage the potential disruptions in our supply chain inbound but also trying to pay very much attention to what was going on,\u201d Smith noted. \u201cThe great thing about us is that, for the most part, we do our own last-mile delivery and assembly. We had to put in no-contact deliveries, and that became our default option. We had to explain what that was because it was not something we had done internally or with our customers before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tamir Gotfried, senior vice president and general manager of global field operations for Bringg<\/a>, a logistics technology provider that helps retailers manage deliveries, emphasized that technology has played a key role and will continue to do so.<\/p>\n

In order to operate efficiently, Gotfried referred to five main pillars that are critical to watch: customers, orders, inventory, location, and fleets.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you orchestrate those five pillars, and when you connect them and digitize them, it becomes a data game, where you can make real-time decisions that impact your operations,\u201d he explained. \u201cTechnology is the glue that brings it all together, and that\u2019s when the magic happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

In another poll, webinar moderator Jennifer Bartashus, senior equity research analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence<\/a>, asked: How long will consumer patience last with longer delivery times?<\/p>\n

Poll results here indicated a bit of a contradiction\u2014that consumers are already pushing back on longer delivery times, but attendees saw this pandemic as an opportunity to reset customer expectations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the short term, I\u2019m not sure there are enough assets on the road or enough independent contractors to fulfill the demand and the increased capacity may not be there, so I am not sure there is a lot of choice for the consumer at this point,\u201d Cail said. \u201cCertainly, the manufacturers and e-commerce businesses are doing their best to push out the product as fast as possible. In the long term, last mile is here to stay.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI do think that long term it\u2019s a competitive space, and I do think that people\u2019s patience level will fall and that he who can deliver sooner will win,\u201d he added. \u201cRight now, there is not a lot of choice, but I think that in the future, consumer behavior will drive [delivery times].\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith, who helped lead the project that launched same-day delivery at Amazon in 2005, quipped that she has been competing with herself ever since.<\/p>\n

\u201cCustomers obviously understand what is going on right now, and we are very lucky to have a website that allows the customer to choose the day they want their delivery and assembly,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

However, she noted that amid all the disruptions and unknowns, consumer moods have begun to shift, with customers becoming slightly less patient as more time goes on.<\/p>\n

\u201cTransparency is the biggest thing that I learned from Amazon\u2014set an aggressive promise that you know you can keep, and then keep it,\u201d she said. \u201cMy thought is that people will go back to expecting things faster and that consumers are going to shift to online more.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Home<\/span><\/p>\n

When it comes to the forces that have been impacting the supply chain before COVID-19, looking at the current space, and then looking to the future, Deshais pointed to three factors that may have helped the global supply chain prepare for this pandemic:<\/p>\n

1. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Tariffs and the trade war between the U.S. and China became a driving force behind more manufacturing and shipping capabilities in the United States.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In Europe, Brexit has caused people to look at the supply chain differently.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The move toward reducing businesses\u2019 carbon footprint has heightened the ideas of more local and sustainable business practices.<\/p>\n

On the transportation side, Cail explained that with OEMs temporarily shutting down<\/a>, the production of new vehicle assets has dwindled industrywide.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019ll catch back up but it\u2019s not something that turns on right away,\u201d he pointed out. \u201cWe created a little bit of a recycling plan where we refurbished a lot of our parcel vans and our box trucks that we typically would have sold off in the market. We are keeping them in play because we understand the supply is going to be tight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cail also explained that before COVID-19, Merchants Fleet\u2019s traditional reconditioning of trucks did not include a total disinfectant process. The company has since transitioned to disinfecting the entire vehicle to keep drivers safe.<\/p>\n

\"Home<\/span><\/p>\n

In a post-COVID-19 world, experts emphasized the need to keep a close eye on demand moving forward. One challenge will be the impact of the virus in different regions of the world, Deshais explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the time to really take a good look at where the demand around the world is and what the needs of customers are,\u201d he said, adding it\u2019s also important to watch the impact from possible COVID-19-related recessions. \u201cTry to put a plan in place to support that with maximum flexibility and set contingency plans for different opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the next six to 12 months, Smith also reiterated that flexibility and customer understanding will be critical.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody really knows how long these \u2018new normals\u2019 are going to last\u2014whether in our personal lives or in the supply chains of the world,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

By Cristina Commendatore<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Source: https:\/\/www.fleetowner.com<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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Since the COVID-19 outbreak, last-mile delivery and demand forecasting practices have changed drastically. Here, industry experts detail how they have been managing fleet assets, no-contact deliveries, and customer demand throughout this \u201cnew normal.” The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly strained supply chains and last-mile delivery. It also has pushed many retailers and consumer businesses into home…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6136,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[302,35],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6135"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6135"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6138,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6135\/revisions\/6138"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}