Logistics Management 26

Opening a magazine with a title that could just as easily have appeared on a Suske & Wiske comic strip, it had to happen at some point. The plot is also quite good: according to the ever-growing army of logistics consultants, visibility and transparency throughout the supply chain are the solution to almost all problems that a supply chain manager can face. You don't have to be a visionary to come up with such a (not too bold) statement, but the fans of the genre are now getting fierce headwind from the London-based Virtualized Logistics. Yes, that's right, a consultancy firm. So we are – as in every good comic strip, by the way – in conflict. But who is right? It is beyond dispute that monitoring and tracking goods can ensure lower buffers, shorten lead times and therefore also bring about considerable savings. Can, but won't. According to Virtualized Logistics, a division of the logistics service provider SBS Worldwide, the result depends largely on what happens with the information gathered. What’s more, collecting incorrect or outdated data can even have a counterproductive effect for both the shipper and the transporter, according to the consultancy firm. According to Virtualized Logistics, it has become virtually impossible to obtain accurate data on logistics processes in the current, fluctuating market. Market intelligence should therefore never be considered acquired, but is a permanent process whose complexity is increasing daily. Under the motto: visibility is good, but vista is better. Or, as befits us ever-sober Belgians: seeing is believing.