What’s in this Sustainable Supply Chain article:
- The problem of carbon emissions and waste derived from supply chains.
- The value of using technology to reduce wasted time and miles that contribute to higher carbon emissions.
- Seven ways Turvo helps build a more sustainable supply chain for third-party logistics providers (3PLs), shippers of raw materials and finished goods, and their end customers.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reported that carbon emissions from heavy-duty trucks are the fastest-growing contributor to overall emissions in the U.S. Another study by the EPA, titled Fast Facts on Transportation Greenhouse Gas Emissions, noted that “according to the Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks 1990–2018 (the national inventory that the U.S. prepares annually under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change), transportation accounted for the most significant portion (28%) of total U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2018.”
Moving and storing products requires technology that delivers more than standard visibility to optimize efficiencies for sustainability in areas such as decreasing dead mileage and time spent waiting to unload and load trucks at the dock. The market is loaded with outdated, on-premise, traditional supply chain software that helps track a shipment on a map. But they lack the real-time collaboration tools needed to address issues and take advantage of opportunities as they arise.
This is where the Turvo Collaboration Cloud and TMS (transportation management solution) are transforming supply chains and making companies leaner, greener, and operationally more efficient. Turvo brings together shippers, 3PLs, freight brokers, and carriers onto one real-time, interactive network for streamlined operations through collaboration. All systems and data are unified, integrating large volumes of data from multiple data sources such as TMS, warehouse management (WMS), dock scheduling, accounting, enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer resource management (CRM), and visibility applications.
Unified data enables analytics to create efficiency and reduce emissions in several ways. Analytics platforms monitor data generated by day-to-day logistics activities. This includes analyzing volumes, distances, and mode selections, and documenting inefficient modes, routing, and empty miles that flow from poor utilization. Experienced logistics managers use data analytics to consider the impact of fleet planning and routing, dwell time and detention tracking (trucks sitting idle while waiting for scheduled pick-ups and drop-offs), and a myriad of other factors that impact carbon fuel utilization.
How Turvo Helps Shippers and 3PLs Tackle Sustainability Challenges
- Unify data streams. The first step to prioritizing sustainability within the transportation network is to unify electronic data interchange data streams (EDI) and application programming interfaces (APIs). EDI helps streamline logistics services and allows partners to communicate directly, allowing easy, standardized record-keeping and sharing of files. APIs allow two applications to talk to each other, enabling more automated and seamless data sharing within the network.
- Avoid extra miles by extending mobile, self-service scheduling tools to drivers. With Turvo, shippers and 3PLs extend their appointment scheduling solution to carriers through the Turvo Driver App. Drivers know their schedules best. Communication between the driver, shipper, and 3PL aids in optimizing warehouse pick-ups. Drivers collaborate directly with the shipper or 3PL to reduce idle times by picking a time that works for both parties, ensuring pick-up happens more efficiently, reducing emissions and productivity losses.
- Eliminate deadheading. By sorting available carriers based on distance, past interactions, and other saved data, the Turvo Driver App allows shippers and 3PLs to communicate in real-time to ensure timely pick-up by working with the driver to reduce empty miles and keep freight moving.
- Turvo Links remove blindspots in the shipment lifecycle. Turvo Links improves collaboration and visibility with tracking links to provide real-time insight into shipment status for everyone in the supply chain. A shipper or 3PL can configure rules to automatically share links with customers and other stakeholders or share on an ad-hoc basis in seconds. Through real-time visibility between shippers and carriers, customers are informed of delays.
- Measure carrier performance for improvements and new opportunities. Turvo helps everyone on the network improve critical supply chain metrics through carrier analytics. This includes recognizing the carriers that avoid empty backhauls and have good on-time performance. Shippers and 3PLs can track carbon emissions data based on miles saved through ongoing route optimization, reduced use of the number of trucks needed through inventory optimization, unnecessary trips, and more.
- Reduce waste through real-time collaboration and inventory tracking at the order level regardless of location. Turvo is the only solution that provides this level of tracking with the tools to take immediate action on problems. Tracking at the item level helps solve many challenges. Stockouts are reduced. Customers are less likely to order a product that’s currently delayed or unavailable. Unnecessary moves are avoided because of clear lines of sight at the facility, at the dock, in the yard, and everywhere else.
- Cloud computing is environmentally friendly and adds to profits. In the supply chain, the use of off-site data centers amounts to leveraging the increased energy efficiency to reduce costs of building and maintaining servers in-house. Additionally, cloud-based systems can cut the energy costs of in-house data management by up to 87%, says AgileIT.
Get Even More Logistics Insights Now.
Download “The Road to Sustainable Supply Chains” White Paper
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Sustainability is not some far-off initiative for supply chain networks. It’s here. Leading brands, manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, retailers, and 3PLs have focused Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) plans with the technology to cut waste and reduce emissions. Think about how your organization can get started or expand current goals to reduce the global carbon footprint and still meet business objectives.
Contact Turvo for a quick online demo and get your business on the road to a greener supply chain that delivers profitability, reliability, efficiency, and customer satisfaction.
