Larry Woelk, Director, International & Business Development writes:
As specialist Supply Chain & Logistics Recruitment Consultants BiS Henderson find the people who manage supply chains.
Interacting with retailers, manufacturers and logistics providers constantly exposes us to the efficiencies, or lack of, in supply chains. One element that presents itself regularly is the sameness of supply chains and the lack of collaboration between them. There are many factors favouring collaboration in the supply chain – empty lorries on the roads; empty warehouses on industrial estates; companies delivering to the same locations, etc.
There are many factors that hinder supply chain collaboration – competitive companies not wanting to work together; identifying who pays what cost; and coordinating service requirements to name a few. However, even when those issues are resolved, collaboration initiatives are often vetoed by the marketing department using the argument of ‘how can we protect our brand if it is being distributed with a competitor’s products.
Often logistics collaboration is abandoned even after the logistics manager has identified cost savings or service improvements, or both.
However, ‘marketing’ usually wins the day even without demonstrating that collaboration does actually reduce sales or hurt the brand. .
In reality, in addition to getting different companies to collaborate, it is even difficult to realise logistics collaboration ‘within’ a company. Although all part of the same company, the silo nature of different divisions, products, profit centres and locations inhibits collaboration.
And with internal collaboration there is not a marketing issue.
One thing on the horizon that is giving momentum to logistics and transport collaboration is the carbon footprint. More and more companies are getting serious, or at least trying to, in order to reduce their carbon foot print. Ironically, a principal contributor to this momentum is marketing.
The PR a company can get from being seen to reduce its carbon footprint far outweighs, according to most marketers, the threat of collaborating with a competitor. We will watch developments with interest.
If you would like to know more about our supply chain and logistics recruitment services please leave a comment below or visit our supply chain & logistics recruitment page.
