Image Enabled Supply Chain Promises Future Benefits

Some people think that the supply chain is behind in terms of technology. The technology, though, is
available. As an industry, we should start looking at the best ways of leveraging these technologies for
benefit.

Consider mobile devices. My nine-year-old daughter uses an iPad and FaceTime to video chat with me
and never gives it a second thought. In a distribution center, though, it’s not so easy. Not every operator
working in a distribution center can take pictures and or even send a text message. Many don’t even
have access latest mobile devices. The supply chain community is risk averse and the cost of failure in
such a mission critical function is high. The focus is on being timely, as well as complying with a variety
of regulations and standards.

When a box leaves the distribution center, getting it to the final destination requires cooperation
between a variety of entities. As it passes from the distribution center through Fed Ex to the United
States Post Office, it needs to be scanned for tracking by each party. If one party in the chain changes
the process, such as using a different label or label printer or barcode specification, it’s critical that the
change is workable for everybody. If the chain is broken, workers must manually intervene which takes
time and lowers accuracy. These dependencies make change daunting.

At the same time, technology is quickly becoming the key to remaining competitive. No organization can
afford to stay behind for too long. Let’s consider some easy changes that would be a reasonable place
for a supply chain organization to start the shift.

Today
Today’s smartphone users take selfies all the time. Pictures can also help solve many enterprise
mysteries, especially when there are multiple partners working together to ship a product to the end
customer. A picture can be a critical enabler to allow all parties to work together to accomplish a supply
chain goal.

Recently, I was discussing retail chargebacks with a fellow supply chain expert. Retailers impose
chargebacks to their suppliers and these suppliers treat these as a cost of doing business because they
don’t have any tools to better the situation. This fellow pointed out that retailers have buyers that work
with the suppliers, buy the product and then ensure the product is shipped to the store and available for
the customers to shop. Every retailer’s worst nightmare is not having the product when an anxious and
excited customer walks in to buy it. Not only is a sale lost, but it hurts the store’s brand. Unhappy
customers talk to their friends and often don’t return.

Consider a common scenario: a buyer procures a product, but the shipment arrives damaged. The buyer
is in big trouble because:
• The money spent on inventory is locked, because that merchandise that is sitting idle cannot be sold
at a retail store, nor can be shipped back to the supplier because it is damaged.
• The store can potentially run out inventory because the merchandise has not made it to the store,
potentially damaging both brand and store reputation.
• It can take weeks or longer to resolve the situation with the supplier. A complex process of
inspection and negotiation ensues about whether damaged product can be repaired and resold or
must be replaced.
As everyone jumps through hoops to resolve the situation, a problem in the supply chain is created.
Urgency is created with the buyer, the supplier, the logistics providers and more. The cost for urgency is
high. For example, air freight costs more than ocean freight, as much as six to 20 times more.

Tomorrow
Imagine if there were a process, where, as shipment arrived, the recipient took pictures of the products
and sent them back to the supplier as part of the all these shipments upon receipt, were taken pictures
and sent back to the supplier as part of the advanced ship notice (ASN) verification process. By including
pictures as part of electronic data interchange (EDI) transactions, disputes are avoided since all parties
understand and confirm the state of the delivered merchandise. Once verification is complete, the
retailer owns the merchandise.

Benefits
Imagine being able to tag with pictures all actions among partners including:
• Every single transaction, including shipment delivery
• Every single data element, including case number, pallet number, and tractor license plate number.
• Every single system of record, ASN, purchase order (PO) or sales order.
• Every single interaction

The benefits of image enabled supply chain transaction are many:

• A clear system of record is available in the form of a picture or a set of pictures for any associated
transaction.
• A clear set of criteria can be established to evaluate the state of the delivered product.
• A much better proof of delivery on the state of the product.
• Also any associated documentation such as a Bill of Lading or a Manifest or a Proof of Delivery
document can be added to the picture set as well.
• Exception handling can be managed better.

So how do you think an image enabled supply chain transaction might benefit your organization. Let us
know in the comments section below.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Puga Sankara is the co-founder of Smart Gladiator LLC. Smart Gladiator designs, builds, and
delivers market-leading mobile technology for retailers, distributors, and 3PL service
providers. So far, Smart Gladiator Wearables have been used to ship, receive, and scan more
than 50 million boxes. Users love them for the lightweight, easy-to-use soft overlay keyboard
and video chatting ability, data collection ability etc.

Puga is a supply chain technology professional with more than 17 years of experience in
deploying capabilities in the logistics and supply chain domain. His prior roles involved
managing complicated mission-critical programs driving revenue numbers, rolling out a
multitude of capabilities involving more than a dozen systems, and managing a team of 30 to
50 personnel across multiple disciplines and departments in large corporations such as
Hewlett Packard. He has deployed WMS for more than 30 distribution centers in his role as a
Senior Manager with Manhattan Associates.

He has also performed process analysis walk-throughs for more than 50 distribution centers
for WMS process design and performance analysis review, optimizing processes for better
productivity and visibility through the supply chain. Size of these DCs varied from 150,000 to
1.2 million SQFT. Puga Sankara has an MBA from Georgia Tech. He can be reached at
puga@smartgladiator.com or visit the company at https://www.smartgladiator.com and
www.loadproof.com Also follow him at www.pugasankara.com.