The Final Frontier Of Supply Chain Optimization

Most retailers are missing out on a major opportunity for cost savings in their supply chain. It’s not because the opportunity is complicated - quite the contrary. The idea is so simple most retailers probably think it’s already being handled.

But when you’re talking about shipping from Asia, what you think is happening and what is actually happening with your packaging material, performance specifications and freight utilization are rarely the same.

So, what do you do?

If you ask your team to optimize freight utilization, what do they say?

“we are focused on demand response and fulfillment - getting the product to the customer is the #1 priority”

“we have already standardized our cartons so they are supply chain efficient”

“adjusting the number of items within a carton will require some complicated change management”

“we know we ship a bit more air in the transit packaging than we want, but we can’t ask suppliers to keep an infinite number of box sizes to fit any possible variation”