Strengthening Logistics Operations

While all businesses face challenges in various aspects of operations, personnel, and meeting customer demands, the recent COVID-19 pandemic has created an additional level of complexity. The previously revered “just-in-time” practices created an optimal flow of goods through distribution channels; however this style of operational thinking had vulnerabilities that the pandemic exposed. Although the pandemic may have magnified these vulnerabilities in the global supply chain, the cracks were there long before. At Venture Solutions, a leading 3PL based in Rochester Hills, MI, the use of technology fills the cracks nimbly, and ensures that the supply chain is as flexible as possible. The Venture Solutions team views technology as paramount in growing and retaining both our customers and our team members. We believe that determining the right mix of people, processes, and technology is the key to any organization’s success.

Employing cutting-edge web-based solutions, Venture performs route optimization and creates the ideal plan of pickups and deliveries. Dynamic route planning is used to identify the best possible physical path for shipments, creating a controlled, predictable network for our customers. 

These actions allow for flexibility in the supply chain. Venture also strives to support our team members as they face enumerable challenges each day. Proper technology allows them to process large volumes of freight quickly without error, and react with cost-effective solutions to delayed freight, supplier shutdowns, or missed shipments. Technology supports all our systems in a repeatable, sustainable, scalable, and error-proofed way that bolsters our team members and partners. Also critical to our success is the integration of supply chain software through a data integration hub that is centrally controlled and configured across all our business units. By leveraging industry leading network optimization software, we develop routes and create robust plans for optimal pickup and delivery.

While offering our partners the best supply chain technology is important, the technology does not solve every problem that companies face. For example, a customer’s labeling process may pose unanticipated challenges including incorrect data entry due to inconsistent formats, poor print quality, or improperly placed bar codes. Customers frequently have unique requirements and often object to changing their processes to adjust to a uniform label format. Part of what Venture does is identifying challenges while cultivating customer engagement to help them understand how improving small pain points with better processes can lead to big savings. Having the right team is just as critical to our success as the technologies we use.

"We believe that determining the right mix of people, processes, and technology is the key to any organization’s success."

As we look ahead to the near future, we understand how important the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) will be to our continued success. AI analytics will be used to identify and predict bottlenecks and gaps in the supply chain, allowing us to adjust to issues quicker than ever before. The use of robotics for order picking will have a positive impact on our operators by increasing efficiency, easing the workload, and freeing them up to do other work. Lastly, AI computer vision captures and interprets data from image and video data and will help us to identify goods even if customer labels are incorrectly formatted, damaged, or missing.

Managing the perfect mix of technology, people, and future planning is imperative, especially in an industry that has a profound impact on human health, happiness, and welfare.