Manage Harrowing Port Gridlocks to Reduce Backlog and Stockouts

The Problem

Most of Centric Brand's manufacturing is done in Asia and Europe
Supplies are vulnerable to port gridlocks due to strikes and tariff deadlines
Planning is based on normal transit times but peak seasons and gridlocks require contingency measures
Centric Brand has to prioritize the containers to be moved to the warehouse yard as well as their subsequent unpacking
The prioritization relied heavily on the operations team's experience and was not always aligned to objectives like revenue/profit maximization or SLA adherence

Three distinct Centric Brand teams use this solution in different but effective ways. By instituting 'need date' Drayage team knows when a container needs to be received into the warehouse for effective distribution; Warehouse team knows how to effectively prioritize receipt when there are multiple 'hot containers' to receive; and finally with freight integration the Allocation team knows how to effectively plan fulfillment when goods are in the water.

-Manager, Business Analysis Group

The Solution & Impact

OpsVeda's Container Prioritization solution evaluates the priority of each container based on demand data, revenue/margin impact, stock-out possibilities, fill-rate or SLA commitments and port arrival date
Based on the priority, the containers are grouped for movement to the warehouse yard and unpacking
The solution also evaluates and prescribes rerouting to alternate ports based on congestion levels and demand alignment
The solution allows the user to review the prioritized container list for different objectives - Revenue maximization, Profit maximization, Market-wise stock-out avoidance or Customer-wise SLA adherence
This gives a clear picture of the trade-offs involved

Reduced inbound shipment backlogs and stockouts by ~50% (comparative to similar gridlocks in the past).

Manage Harrowing Port Gridlocks to Reduce Backlog and Stockouts

The Problem

The Solution & Impact

Solution

Objective

Relevance