Supply Chain Brain - March/April 2012

industry, Chatha says. When used in concert, they can truly transform.

“The biggest opportunity for companies to improve performance
is by optimizing the performance of its employees,” he says.
“Social media, even though it is seen as a consumer technology,
has the potential to provide a great benefit to all companies in
making employees more productive.”
Cloud computing has been used for years by IT departments,
but companies now are starting to move operational informa-
tion to the cloud, he says. “For example, all companies have lots
of historical data that can be moved to the cloud, not just from
one plant or location but from all locations worldwide.” A com-
pany can’t use the cloud for systems that control plants, but it
can move just about all other applications to the cloud, which
would really simplify plant operations, Chatha says. “Could
computing has a great use and can bring a lot of benefits to
manufacturing companies.”
Chatha’s third top technology is analytics. Analytics have
been used in retail for a long time, but applications were very
complex, very expensive and slow, he says. “Analytics now can
companies deploy a good collaborative platform that makes it easy
for managers to communicate, and if they deploy these four tech-
nologies together, they will have a really powerful combination that
can truly transform the business.”

Redundancy Planning in Seaport Gateway Selection

Properly planning for the unplanned—a supply chain disruption of any kind and for whatever reason—means optimizing your distribution center network, having the right modes lined up to transport your goods to market, and ensuring that you choose the best ocean port, says John A. Moseley, general manager, trade development, at the Port of Houston Authority. It also means having a backup port just in case.

Redundancy planning is the term Moseley uses when he speaks of
insuring that a company’s bottom line not disastrously affected by
an event. That, of course, can be something like the catastrophic
earthquake-tsunami combination that ravaged Japan, the recent
flooding in Thailand or it
could be a labor dispute
that shuts a port down.
Planning for such
events should include
gateway selection, Mose-
ley says, because being
unable to call your
intended port, regardless
of the reason, could cost
a bundle. “Port selection
plays into your distribu-
tion center network opti-
mization,” he says.
“Insuring that you
have the right kind of
gateways in play, have the
different modes you need
to transport your goods to
market, on a shelf for the
consumer, that's proper
redundancy planning,
making sure your busi-
ness is uninterrupted and the bottom line is protected at all times.”
Moseley sees port selection as just one part, though a vital one,
of an agile supply chain. Where true agility exists, the effects of dis-
ruption can be minimized, but how does one obtain that degree of
nimbleness?

execute algorithms in seconds or minutes and programs are much more affordable, so we are recommending that manufacturing companies start to deploy good analytical solutions.” If historical information is moved to one location in the cloud, custom analytics can mine that data for all kinds of useful information, he says.

The fourth technology about which Chatha is excited is the mobile internet. “Smart devices are not just for individuals,” he says. “Companies now can have smart sensors that are connected to the internet in transportation vehicles. Soon we will have refrigerators and washing machines and thermostats that are connected.