Supply chain leaders today are faced with two major challenges. Achieving visibility across multi-stakeholder networks and deriving actionable insights from data. In fact, 87% of businesses have low business intelligence and analytics maturity – this is especially true in supply chain. Of course, the two challenges are linked, and in this blog, we set out why and how leaders can leverage visibility and actionable insights to improve both operational performance and analysis across their networks.

As supply chains grow ever more complex and multi-faceted, leaders have been looking for ways to gain visibility at a granular level. What makes achieving visibility so challenging in today’s supply chains is the number of independent organisations involved in each intricate network. Supply chains are typically made up of several organisations, each performing a specific function that, when combined with others, makes up the network that facilitates the movement of goods from A to B.

Each organisation generates a huge amount of data at specific points within the supply chain. Capturing and combing this data is, of course a major challenge given the organisations are independent entities, separate from one another. Hence single domain like technologies such as GPS and RFID tagging can generate data outside of each organisation’s jurisdiction (single domain as one organisation owns the tech, captures the data etc.).

However, as those businesses that have invested heavily into these types of technologies have found, they only solve part of the challenge. They might well provide tracking and condition data at consignment level, but the data is still siloed from the other sources. This makes the realisation of value difficult as, in isolation, users only get part of the story.

Of course, from an operational perspective, relatively siloed data can be of benefit. For example, tracking a pallet of goods enables real-time ETA’s to be generated and communicated etc. But deriving root cause analyses historically often requires many more data points and relationships between them to unlock the insights required.

To achieve truly transformational insight and visibility sustainably, the impasse that currently prevents data across the various separate organisations from being shared must be unlocked.

At Entopy, we have looked at this challenge. Rather than focusing on how we can enable a single domain to get visibility across the network (i.e. the deployment of new technology), we have set about finding solutions for how data can be captured and combined across multiple organisations whilst addressing the key challenges that prevent this today.

The Entopy platform enables data to be captured in a highly targeted way, using defined policies to govern interactions with each domain. Data is orchestrated to form a ‘Digital Twin’ of a consignment, enabling analysis and insights to be drawn at a granular level. Each ‘Twin’ records the consignment lifecycle, providing a rich data foundation for future root cause analysis and identification of pinch points.

We call it Intelligent Data Orchestration.

Last week, Entopy attended the Retail Technology Show 2022 in London Olympia. The event was dubbed the ‘great meet up’ considering for the past two years, RTS has had to be cancelled. It’s been a long time coming and it certainly didn’t disappoint. Olympia was packed, full of excited and curious leaders from across the retail sector.

Entopy was attending in support of its partner Infinite Edge, whose innovation stand was attracting interests throughout the event. Whilst we were there with a purpose, that didn’t stop us from looking around and here, we share some of our key takeaways.

The impact of Covid – commerce is now online: Obviously C-19 has had a profound impact on the retail sector, case in point, this was the first RTS in 2 years! But amongst the negative, we heard many success stories. We heard of many businesses who innovated and thrived during the pandemic. Those retailers who were agile and open to new ideas managed to capitalise on consumers changing behaviour. Much of that behaviour was a change in where commerce was done – online. A big theme throughout RTS was helping traditionally physical retailers to transition and stand out in the digital world of e-commerce.

The rise of the marketplace: Choice and convenience seem to be the standout differentiators online. Whilst service is coming, offering greater choice is a major driver in consumer loyalty. Marketplaces enables e-tailers to offer a much broader range of product, leveraging a network of suppliers to increase the number of SKUs available. The technology to underpin these marketplaces was on show at RTS, with providers such as Mirakl demonstrating how modern marketplaces can be established.

Less about point solutions, more about future proofing the organisation: Another interesting theme was the mentality of innovation and IT leads, especially in supply chain. Historically, point solutions have been seen as the answer to achieving visibility, unlocking transformational insight, and driving automation. Yet, at RTS, speaking with many industry leaders, there is a growing recognition to deliver foundational systems that provide much broader capabilities than the restricted, pointed solutions such as RFID and isolated shipment tracking.

Retailers continue to drive innovation, bringing some exciting technology to their customers: The level of innovation on show was immense. From Amazons ‘Just walk out’ stand to the new instore screens bridging the physical and digital commerce experiences. What’s more, the level of excitement and intent to bring these innovations to consumers was clear to see. Retailers really are trailblazers.

RTS you were great. Until next year!

A recent report indicated that over 85% of UK-based commercial organisations (that utilise fleet) either have or plan to invest in telematics technology. Why? Telematics enables fleet operators to monitor and improve driver behaviour; gain peace of mind by knowing where their assets are; monitor and improve fuel efficiency; etc.

However, there are many other stakeholders involved in a supply chain network that would benefit greatly over visibility of goods in transit yet struggle to access the data they need.

Who, what, why?

For the past 10 or so years, supply chain visibility has been recognised as a top priority. Leaders across the supply chain ecosystem, from retailers to manufacturers to hauliers strive to achieve greater visibility of goods throughout the network. High adoption of telematics means that hauliers/3PLs have visibility of the vehicles transporting goods, but, for those stakeholders at either end (the sender or receiver of goods), the ‘in-transit’ part of the supply chain remains a dark spot.

Organisations such as retailers and manufacturers don’t have access to the same levels of data that the hauliers or 3PLs they contract to move goods have. When a consignment leaves a manufacturer’s warehouse, both the manufacturer and the receiving retailer have no visibility of the consignment.

In today’s world, if the retailer, manufacturer, etc. wants to know the whereabouts of a consignment in transit, they must contact the haulier. This can be quite the merry-go-round, involving many phones calls between the retailer, manufacturer and haulier and can cause major disruption.

A lot has been invested over the years into new and innovative technologies that provide the sender of goods with visibility. But this is often stand-alone technology, at significant cost, and brings with it many other challenges. Why can’t these guys access the data that hauliers/3PLs have, leveraging it to achieve the visibility they need?

Why don’t hauliers share their data with the other stakeholders?

Whilst the organisations work together, as part of a network, they are separate organisations. Each performs a function that helps to move products through the supply chain network.

The systems that each organisation deploys are specifically designed to aid their respective operations and meet the requirements they have. They are also owned and operated separately by each organisation. For example, the telematics system is paid for and used by the haulier to manage the fleet. Just like the Order Management System is paid for and used by the manufacturer. The data that resides within these systems is therefore owned and controlled by the respective organisation.

Any kind of data sharing between organisations needs careful thought. One can’t simply share all data with external organisations as this would cause all sorts of issues, not least because one organisation may work for multiple others and therefore, sharing all data with another would be a major breach of privacy.

Different needs, different visibility requirements

Additionally, the visibility requirements of each stakeholder are different. The telematics system used by hauliers/3PLs provides visibility of all vehicles, all the time. This is needed as they need to monitor vehicles all of the time.

Whereas the requirement of the manufacturer and retailer in this instance is much more specific. They want to know where their consignment is. This could be achieved by capturing the GPS data of the vehicle that is moving that consignment. But this would only require visibility of a specific vehicle for a specific period of time.

Enter the ‘Digital Twin’

Visibility for all stakeholders across the supply chain network can be achieved and it can be achieved by leveraging data that is already present within the supply chain. This of course requires a solution to enable the various organisations to share specific bits of data, securely and in a controlled way.

Entopy’s software platform can provide that solution. Entopy connects to the various supply chain systems used by the various stakeholders. From these systems, it captures specific pieces of data and uses this data to build a ‘Digital Twin’ of the consignment. The intelligent and autonomous Entopy platform decides which bits of information to capture, processes that data and establish the ‘Twin’.

Now, the ‘Digital Twin’ of the consignment resides within Entopy and the ‘Digital Twin’ is separate within Entopy from other ‘Digital Twins’. Ironically, each ‘Twin’ is individual.

Access to each ‘Digital Twin’ is controlled on a permissions basis, meaning that all stakeholders can interact with the data they need to without breach of privacy, in a secure way, and without compromising the control of any organisation of their data.

For example, a ‘Digital Twin’ of the consignment being sent by a manufacturer to a retailer can be created. This ‘Twin’ will have various information such as what the consignment is, where it’s going, which haulier is transporting it and on which vehicle. The GPS data for the vehicle that is moving the consignment can be captured from the haulier’s telematics system.

The manufacturer, the retailer and the haulier can all be given access to this specific ‘Digital Twin’, therefore obtaining the visibility they need. However, the data captured is highly targeted. The GPS tracking ceases when the consignment is delivered (or by other triggers if required) meaning no stakeholders other than the haulier can see the location of that vehicle once the target consignment is no longer on board. Nor can they see any of the other vehicles operated by the haulier. Equally, the retailer and the haulier cannot see any data regarding any other consignments that may reside in the manufactures order management system.

Once the visibility has served its purpose, the ‘Digital Twin’ can be spun down or stored in a specific location (or multiple).

Of course, other data can be added to the ‘Twin’ to enhance the visibility provided. Conditional data, additional inventory information, documentation, even customs paperwork.

A game-changer? 

This capability does have profound possibilities. Take an automotive manufacturer as an example. There is a need to have shipments arrive at exactly the right time so as not to disrupt production processes. So much so that significant penalties are often incorporated into the contracts of supplier organisations.

By overlaying Entopy onto the supply chain network of the automotive manufacturer, visibility of all consignments could be achieved for all parties. The manufacturer can see all consignments, the suppliers can see only relevant consignments to them.

This capability could be used to optimise processes but also used to revolutionise the relationships between the organisations. It could even be used to modernise the SLAs in place, helping to assure the suppliers but also helping to reduce costs to the manufacturer.

The capability enabled by Entopy unlocks visibility across the supply chain network. It enables organisations to share their data to improve each other’s lives. It fuels collaboration and is unquestionably the next big jump in supply chain innovation.

Businesses today are faced with many challenges. From rising costs to corporate responsibility, leaders are continuously looking toward technology to find solutions to the next set of challenges. Some challenges are more immediate and obvious, some are less so. However, leaders must choose how they prioritise. The bets that they make will have a significant impact on their respective organisations.

Given the supply chain is at the core of most businesses, it comes as no surprise that it continues to get a lot of focus and attention. Leaders are continuously looking to technology to find ways of reducing costs, to build resilience and flexibility into their operations, to demonstrate corporate responsibility and meet green targets, to combat the ever-changing international trade landscape.

But even narrowing the focus to supply chain leaves a huge range of challenges and possible solutions. From automation to security to robotics to artificial intelligence. Even under the banner of supply chain, leaders must choose their moves carefully.

At the heart of many advances in supply chain sits visibility. Being able to see the entire supply chain network, in real time is a hugely powerful concept and one that offer significant competitive advantage. From quicker resolution (or even prevention) of issues, to improved communication with stakeholders, there are many aspects that visibility touches.

But the ultimate answer as to why supply chain visibility should be a top priority for business leaders lies in the definition of what ‘visibility’ is. Visibility is data. Supply chain visibility technology either generates or extracts (or both) data from the supply chain, presenting upstream to operators or systems. Data is the fuel of the next generation for supply chain technology and without it, there will be no revolution.

Many leaders may have their sights on the ‘sexy’ trends, such as automation and intelligence, but without visibility, will lack the fuel to power those technologies. And given more than two thirds of supply chain leaders admit to having limited to no visibility across their supply chain networks means that many businesses will find themselves losing ground very quickly on the few that do.

In previous blogs, we have highlighted the need for bespoke visibility. Especially in the area of real-time transportation visibility, an area of the supply chain that involves many independent stakeholders, operating across unique networks, with a variety of potential use cases.

Entopy enables bespoke visibility to be achieved. Whilst we have a technology platform, how it is deployed can change, and importantly, it can fit around and within existing systems operating across the supply chain.

Our ability to deliver this, quickly and cost-effectively, is proving to help our customers achieve true competitive advantages, deliver specific requirements, and operate across complex and multi-faceted networks.

First, we have to start with hardware…

To explain how we deliver bespoke visibility with a single platform, we must start with our journey, and more importantly, the development journey of our platform. Entopy has always grappled with the question: if visibility is widely recognised by many supply chain leaders, and there are many companies offering supply chain visibility tools, why do most businesses not have the visibility across their supply chains that they need?

Our starting point was a lack of data, or specifically, a lack of the right data and a viable means of capturing it. This led us down the path of hardware development. We recruited some great engineers and set about developing our supply chain monitoring device. The device we developed monitored location, temperature, shock, and speed using multiple sensors and communicated this data over the cellular network. The device was designed to fit on supply chain handling units, as close to the product/consignments we were monitoring as we could get.

Alongside the hardware that we were developing, we developed our software platform. The main function of this was to turn sensor data captured into meaningful data through association with what it was monitoring. This is where our digital twin concept was born.

Throughout that hardware development process, many iterations were made to the device, changing the way it communicated, changing the format of the data that we received, changing the communication frequency. The software had to be able to cope with severe interruption throughout the testing process but still gather highly valuable insights to aid the development process.

It was here that the flexibility of our platform was embedded – quite simply because it had to be. On the software/platform side of things, the team had to be able to react in real-time to unexpected changes, unforeseen events. Our ability to do this was critical to having any chance of meeting delivery timeframes. The flexibility of the software, born out of necessity, is a key component in what differentiates Entopy today.

As Entopy and our platform has evolved, the software platform has taken over and the hardware has become redundant. The platform has been developed to be able to receive data from a whole range of systems and devices making it completely open and capable of using data present within the supply chain today. The hardware development process provided immense value and has meant that our team have developed a deep understanding of how target systems work. As we have evolved, we have built on the early learnings, developing our now proven data framework that allows us to implement our digital twin foundation to any business.

A smart architecture. 

The digital twin foundation is the key that enables us to deliver highly flexible and bespoke outputs – we call it Entopy core. Data is brought together in a way that we have individual, independent virtual objects, each representing a target ‘thing’ within the supply chain network (typically a consignment).

This data is captured, and subsequent objects are created within the platform core. Our core is dynamic, building in much of the learnings from our hardware development process, much of the flexibility required throughout that time to enable targeted data capture. Our architecture allows us to dip in and out of connected systems, pulling relevant data to relevant objects in a targeted way.

This of course can be configured to meet specific business requirements. Maybe you want a location update every minute, maybe every 10 minutes. Maybe you only want to monitor consignments of a certain value or consignments that are going to a certain customer or place. All do-able.

But critically, the applications and other interfaces we deliver sit on top of the core. This means we can deliver bespoke applications very quickly; we can deliver customised dashboards, search tools, API suites and tools. The way our platform has been developed allows us to be incredibly dynamic, not just when we start, but throughout a customer’s time with us.

Non-restrictive commercial framework.

Above all else, we value innovation and customer success. We want to be able to do the things others can’t and deliver outcomes for our customers that create genuine competitive advantages. We have been very careful to ensure our commercial framework doesn’t get in the way of that.

Therefore, we have a fully consumption-based pricing model that provides our starting point. Because we start at such a granular level, we maximise flexibility on the commercial side to ensure that we can align with who we are working with. It also ensures value and cost are aligned.

A collaborative, long-term approach to business.

The final, and most important point here is our approach. We invest in each of our customers and partners, taking the time to understand the challenges, the requirements, the data flow, the desired outcomes. This approach, alongside our development resource to mobilise the platform to ensure long-term alignment and success.  

Entopy’s open real-time transportation visibility platform has become hugely flexible, built on our learnings from an in-depth hardware development process and ensuring we stay focused on flexibility and our capability to deliver bespoke visibility. The platform captures and combines data from disparate supply chain systems to create digital twins at consignment level. This capability will help supply chain leaders to drive real transformation and gain true competitive advantage through visibility technology.

The need for visibility across supply chains has been reported for many years, and by many analysts, as a key strategic objective for supply chain leaders. The topic of supply chain visibility, more specifically, real-time transportation visibility is one people are widely aware of and have at least an intuitive understanding of the need. The ability to see and act in real-time or even ahead of problems occurring is powerful. It is especially powerful in areas of the supply chain that rely on so many independent stakeholders performing a variety of roles to move goods from A to B.

Sitting alongside the clear need and apparent understanding of the visibility topic and its potential advantages, there are many supply chain visibility platforms. Software tools that can provide visibility of vehicles on maps, Internet of Things applications which can provide deeper and closer monitoring at asset level.

However, the adoption and use of technologies to deliver visibility remains largely sporadic. There are some use cases where adoption would appear stronger than others. Very specific and confined use cases such as the monitoring of temperature-controlled goods are where visibility technology has mainly been applied/implemented. A sensor stuck to the product monitoring location and temperature is helpful, not least to mitigate disputes if something were to happen to that product whilst in transit.

But beyond these specific and more confined use cases, visibility technology hasn’t really taken hold. At least, not to the levels that had once been predicted and certainly not in a way that fulfils the early vision of supply chain visibility and its transformational impact on global supply chains.

You see, monitoring certain products or assets through the supply chain offers very narrow and limited value. The real power of supply chain visibility technology is that it can start to move the supply chain to a point of autonomy. Decisions can be made, processes can be started or paused autonomously. Predictions can be made at much more macro levels than on whether as opposed to on a more individual level such as whether and individual product will arrive on time and in the right condition. To achieve the larger vision, the more transformational impact, technology needs to be far more embedded to the business and its operation.

Businesses today are striving to find ways to remove costs from the supply chain whilst increasing flexibility and resilience. They are looking for ways to remove complexity whilst involving more and more suppliers and partners. They are looking to mitigate incoming legislation and friction brought about by global changes. They are looking to find ways to reduce their overall carbon impact on this planet and demonstrate corporate responsibility.

These challenges cannot be solved by the ‘traditional’ approach to real-time transportation visibility. Visibility needs to offer more than a dot on a map. Businesses need to be able to connect every system they interact with. The data needs to flow back into the business to drive automation. The data needs to be structured in a way that lends itself to macro analysis enabling smarter and more precise macro decision making in the future. This requires a new, further reaching, and more radical approach.

Visibility technology needs to go further than it has before. For the full vision of visibility to be realised and the truly transformational impact to be seen, Technology needs to be built into a business, integrating across various systems in ways that are unique on a business-to-business basis. Essentially, the technology needs to be capable of being built into and around each business. How the technology captures data needs to be configurable and targeted, the outputs delivered by the technology need to meet specific businesses requirements. The technology essentially needs to be capable of being deployed at a more unique and specific level to each adopting business.

The future supply chain visibility technologies need to deliver bespoke visibility. Visibility that is built specifically for each business. It’s obvious really… If every supply chain is different, and every business has different requirements and a different vision for how they want to use visibility, one-size-fits-all really doesn’t make much sense.

Now, achieving this is complicated and poses new challenges to technology folk. Of course, building each business a brand-new platform will be both costly and time-consuming. So much so, it will stunt adoption, not accelerate it. Instead, real-time transportation visibility platforms need to be built in a way that enables and maximises flexibility.

Technology can be built in a way that delivers the flexibility required to work in and around existing systems and processes. It can be built in a way that enables unique outputs, unique interfaces, unique automation. Not only can the bespoke approach help to deliver unique advantages for today’s challenges, but it can allow future developments and iterations to maintain competitive advantage. The approach from vendors needs to match the technology requirements. Long-term, collaborative, and innovative models need to surround each deployment, working closely with end-users to ensure the exact outputs are achieved.

The platforms and companies that can deliver bespoke visibility, and therefore deliver true competitive advantage, will revolutionise supply chains both today and tomorrow.