Integrating Data Into Supply Chains

By Kevin Brink
Vice President
LTL Solutions

In today’s fast-paced, interconnected global market, supply chain efficiency is not just a competitive advantage; it’s a necessity. Foodservice equipment and supplies (FE&S) distributors and manufacturers face growing pressure to deliver faster, reduce costs and improve visibility across their supply chains — all while managing transformative disruption that changes daily. Rising to this challenge and achieving supply chain control and stability requires modern solutions that are made possible through digital integration and connectivity between dealers, suppliers and customers.

Focusing on technology that involves automation and visibility will play a pivotal role in navigating current and future disruptive influences. While every FE&S dealer and supplier has its own mix of systems and applications for exchanging supply chain information, more must be done to close the digital gap that still exists in the industry and among its most critical partners.

Recent global events, including the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighted the importance of logistics and transportation as part of the supply chain ecosystem. Those experiences and the shortages that followed made the need for technology showcasing real-time and risk-relevant data even clearer. Most transportation and logistics data are currently being transmitted through phone calls, emails, websites, or electronic data interchange (EDI). All these aging solutions are cumbersome to manage, implement and maintain. They rely on aggregated information that is a snapshot in history and do not promote digital or automated communication among users and businesses.

APIs (application programming interfaces), on the other hand, are faster to implement and are significantly more cost-efficient than the previously mentioned practices. API does require an investment in programming and master data; however, it makes use of flexible and scalable integration solutions that are real-time and promote visibility among distributors and manufacturers.

The ability to access data from anywhere at any time through an API is becoming increasingly essential in this age of digitalization and disruption, and the FE&S industry tends to trail behind other competing sectors that are vying for the same finite resources (like transportation and warehousing capacity). Therefore, it is paramount for FE&S distributors and manufacturers to work together to elevate the industry by enhancing its use of API technology.

Data Feeds Transportation Management Systems

One way to leverage API technology to advance supply chains is by using a transportation management system (TMS). A TMS is a digital platform that facilitates the planning, execution and optimization of the physical movement of goods. It acts as a centralized hub for transportation-related data, processes and communications, providing real-time insights and automation capabilities that streamline supply chain operations. When implemented effectively, a TMS can play a crucial role in driving supply chain transformation, mitigating risk and reducing costs among FE&S partners.

One of the primary benefits of a TMS is enhanced visibility across the supply chain. Through integration with enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, warehouse management systems (WMS) and carrier networks, a TMS consolidates data from multiple sources to provide a live, end-to-end view of inventory, orders and shipments. For FE&S dealers and suppliers, this visibility allows for:

• Proactive issue resolution by identifying delays or disruptions early
• Accurate delivery forecasting, improving customer satisfaction
• Real-time tracking, which enhances accountability and operational transparency

Automating Key Processes

An example of how TMS solutions are helping companies manage their supply chains is the renewed interest in reshoring and nearshoring prompted by ongoing geopolitical complications. This practice usually results in shorter distances between the point of production, distribution and end user, which can reduce supply chain volatility, increase velocity and help bypass tariffs. Reshoring and nearshoring accelerate the transportation segment of supply chains, removing anywhere between 10 and 40 days of transit (if importing commodities via sea freight from foreign countries).

Generally, a faster supply chain can be a significant advantage but nearshoring and reshoring come with a new set of challenges that force distributors and manufacturers to adapt their operations. Companies must be ready to quicken their reaction times to keep pace. For example, faster inbound transit times can lead to enhanced customer delivery windows and alternate inventory management strategies, but it also cuts a few weeks of manual planning time from the process. Without the proper tools, this compression can hinder operations.

A TMS helps address these challenges by automating essential functions such as carrier selection, route optimization, load planning, and freight auditing. This automation reduces administrative overhead while ensuring more efficient and cost-effective results — critical advantages under reshoring and nearshoring scenarios.

Integrating Data Enables Growth

Digital integration across the supply chain means breaking down silos and ensuring that systems communicate seamlessly. A modern TMS supports API and EDI connectivity, enabling smooth data exchange between internal systems (ERP, WMS, order management) and external partners (suppliers, third-party logistics providers and carriers). This integration:

• Facilitates synchronized planning between production, warehousing and transportation
• Supports collaborative logistics, allowing better coordination with partners
• Reduces data entry errors and improves data accuracy, leading to better decision-making

Once data is being shared with key partners and components across the supply chain, companies can focus on the next step: supply chain agility. A TMS platform supports supply chain agility by collecting and analyzing transportation data to provide actionable insights into costs, performance and efficiency. Dashboards and reports enable supply chain managers to identify trends, measure KPIs such as cost per shipment and on-time delivery, and uncover opportunities for improvement.

Advanced TMS solutions take this a step further by tapping into predictive analytics and artificial intelligence capabilities. Using those new technologies, a TMS can forecast demand, optimize shipping schedules and even suggest corrective actions in case of anticipated disruptions. When implemented correctly, these features can help distributors and manufacturers optimize their supply chains and operate more effectively with less human interference.

When supply chains are agile and responsive to changing market conditions, companies are better positioned for growth. But growth brings complexity, and some businesses struggle to make that leap forward. Scalability becomes critical. Fortunately, companies that embrace data integration are already equipped to overcome that bottleneck. Cloud-based TMS solutions are built on an elastic infrastructure, so they can scale resources up or down based on the current shipping or sales volume, without requiring costly physical investments in equipment such as on-site servers. Further, TMS platforms often include standardized APIs and integration tools that streamline the onboarding of new partners and simplify data sharing.

By offering complete supply chain visibility and heightening the ability to react to disruptions, TMS solutions can be a catalyst for digital integration between distributors and manufactures. Investing in the right TMS unlocks new levels of efficiency and agility while helping to elevate the quality of data within the foodservice equipment and supplies industry. By centralizing data, automating processes and enabling seamless communication across systems and stakeholders, a TMS empowers organizations to not merely keep up with the demands of the modern supply chain, but to lead it.   

About the Author
Kevin Brink is the vice president of LTL solutions for Kuehne+Nagel, a FEDA business services member that provides sea freight, airfreight, road, and rail logistics in more than 100 countries. Learn more at us.kuehne-nagel.com. Brink can be reached at Kevin.Brink@Kuehne-Nagel.com.