A dynamic supply chain is one that makes the most of market opportunities and minimizes the impact of seasonal bottlenecks, downward swings, increased tariffs, transportation delays, weather events and all the other things that keep supply chain managers up at night. At the heart of that is flexibility.
“If you don’t have it, you’re going to be stuck in the same flow, regardless of what changes,” said John Joyce, Project Manager, Solutions Design & Implementation, at ArcBest. “If you’re buying warehouses and setting up full-blown DCs, that may be good for the short term, but it might not be what’s needed five years down the road.”
Keeping the supply chain dynamic in the 21st century involves an approach similar to crowd-sourcing, or what’s known as the “Uber Effect,” said Joyce. The basic proposition of third-party logistics services has been attractive for decades — pay only for the assets, space, staff and services you need. It’s just that technology has made that value proposition far more available.
