Introduction
Our client, a leader in transportation equipment and logistics, set out to empower supply chain managers with a “single pane of glass” view of cargo movements that would provide improved visibility, predictability and responsiveness to dynamic conditions. The first endeavor of its kind in global shipping, the project would boost productivity and, in turn, result in optimized cargo flow.
The Challenge
Large amounts of data scattered across organizations
Our client faced some of the biggest challenges encountered in modern supply chain and logistics data processing:
- Siloed data, inefficient data sharing and the resulting slow, manual data retrieval processes added as much as an entire day to the length of the supply chain
- No advance visibility into cargo availability made it difficult to coordinate resources such as trucks, equipment and labor to move goods along the supply chain
- Inaccurate and out-of-date data limited the ability to know the exact status of cargo
- Visit times by road carriers inside the harbor yard were unpredictable and unreliable
The Objective
A single source of truth for supply chain optimization
The client required a way to deliver real-time data-driven insights through a single portal to partners across the supply chain. The solution needed to integrate data from across the port ecosystem to help stakeholders respond to dynamic conditions, align people and resources and proactively communicate across functions to maximize port throughput and delivery performance.
The Solution
A cloud-based application delivering real-time data-driven insights
HCLTech developed a data-as-a-service solution leveraging cloud-native components, as well as machine learning and deep domain expertise, to create a unified information portal that brings disparate supply chain data together into a single source of truth.
The highly scalable application uses technologies like AWS, ElasticSearch, Kafka and others to collect, store, cleanse, integrate, consolidate and refine data. It provides various consumption endpoints for customers, e.g. a RESTful API and a web-based dashboard for business users and provides data streams to give our client’s customers real-time operational information.
Key characteristics of the solution include:
- Cloud-based platform SaaS model that enables automated data ingestion, rapid deployment and seamless operation
- API-driven architecture promotes easy integration into existing IT systems (operating systems, appointment systems, etc.)
- Persona-based visualizations offer a flexible, modern user interface tailored to user personas with enterprise-grade access controls
- Customized, branded vector tile maps for visualizations and Mapbox API enable advanced spatial analytics
- Predictive analytics and data-driven insights reveal real-time vessel and container status and facilitate intermodal equipment planning and empty container returns
The Impact
Enhanced supply chain performance and predictability
The port where the solution was rolled out saw substantial improvement in four key areas:
- Visibility: Eliminated cargo speculation with ~14 days of advance visibility
- Predictability: Dynamic ETAs, ML and other analytics ensure peak predictive performance
- Throughput: Facilitated immediate improvements to cargo flow
- Productivity: As the solution scales, productivity is projected to increase by as much as 8-12%
