Transportation might seem a reasonably straightforward process of moving a specific object from one place to another with the help of particular vehicles. However, upon inspecting the transportation phenomenon further, one will realize that the specified task involves an array of additional concerns that need to be addressed to implement the transportation process successfully. The choice of the vehicle type, the identification of the core properties of the transported items, the selection of the best available route, and the design and improvement of the infrastructure, in general, represent some of the significant sources of concern. Therefore, adequate transportation management strategies must be introduced based on agile principles, innovation, and sustainability to mitigate emergent risks associated with the target economic context.
The significance of proper transportation management cannot possibly be underrated. In the organizational context, an organization’s ability to choose the transportation framework that aligns with its current potential and the amount of available resources is genuinely priceless. Specifically, with the help of adequate transportation, proper management of a supply chain and timely delivery of goods to end customers become possible. Therefore, the focus on minimizing delays across the transportation framework and integrating the latest technological tools for reducing cost while promoting innovation will be required.
When developing an effective transportation strategy that would meet most supply chain contexts and allow maximizing the extent of positive outcomes, one should ensure that it helps take account of essential aspects of SCM, particularly in relation to data management. Specifically, several characteristics of an effective transportation strategy can be identified. Firstly, and most evidently, a functional transportation framework should be conducive to the cost efficiency of the supply chain and lead to a drop in the extent and amount of expenses spent on the transfer of items from the starting point to their final destination (Nilufer, 2020). Among the core approaches to minimizing costs, one should mention the introduction of limits on how much the organization should pay to the third party for providing transportation-related services. Illustrated by Walmart’s approach to cost-efficient transportation, the described framework encourages an organization to create a control system that increases transparency across the supply chain and, therefore, minimizes the threat of delays, information mismanagement, and the associated losses, particularly increased costs (Kamath, 2018). Therefore, minimizing the impact that the third party has on the transportation process and enhancing the extent of control over transportation quality while reducing the distance that must be covered help adders the issue of expenses (Kamath, 2018). For this reason, the proposed change should be introduced into the target framework. Specifically, the emphasis on cost-efficiency should be placed accordingly by controlling the distance, costs, and time spent on transportation.
Another aspect of the proposed approach to managing the transportation of goods, raw materials, and related items across the target supply chain suggests that the threat of damage to the transported items should be reduced. The specified concern is linked to quality assurance issues and, therefore, should involve changes to the physical process of transportation and the mindset with which the parties involved approach the task at hand. Namely, the importance of quality management must be enshrined in the corporate policies and communicated clearly to the parties involved, including suppliers, retailers, and intermediaries engaged in transportation (Serrano & Kazda, 2020). The specified change should be facilitated by a combination of an appropriate leadership approach based on the Transformational and Situational frameworks and the introduction of a proper quality assurance strategy and tools. Specifically, digital applications allow for tracking the transportation process in a significantly more manageable fashion since it offers comprehensive tools for controlling each stage (Serrano & Kazda, 2020). Furthermore, due to improved communication carried out with the help of IT and ICT tools, the extent of control rises significantly.
The specified approach to transportation has a plethora of advantages, transparency being the key one. Additionally, the chances to minimize accidental damage to products, raw materials, inventory, and related items transported within a supply chain should be interpreted as essential advantages the specified framework offers. With enhanced communication and collaboration among core participants within the supply chain, the threat of mismanaging the items that are being transported is reduced to zero (Serrano & Kazda, 2020). Another essential advantage of the specified approach to transportation and the associated processes within an organization’s inbound and outbound logistics framework concerns costs. Specifically, with the incorporation of the framework within which the impact of a third party is minimized, the threat of additional expenses is also nearly nonexistent.
Finally, making forecasts within the specified transportation framework becomes comparatively easy due to the controlled range of internal factors affecting the performance of the relevant processes. Specifically, since an organization does not allow the interference of a third party in the process, the success of the transportation-related tasks’ completion depends mainly on the company in question and its decision-making. At the same time, it is crucial to recognize the weaknesses of the proposed approach and the opportunities to improve it so that the organization can perform successfully in a more complex economic environment. For instance, the restricted range of options that a company may enjoy in relation to the choices of transportation and the associated issues signals lower flexibility levels. Consequently, the chances to adjust to abrupt changes within the target market are also limited for the firm.
Thus, alongside the use of the inbound freight control approach that has been utilized to manage transportation issues, an extended framework for exploring g greater range of opportunities should be advised. Specifically, a company-specific fleet that will be used for the processes associated it the delivery and pickup of products, raw materials, inventory, and other transported items is strongly advised to be retained. The specified approach aligns with the established framework, where the corporate resources are utilized to the maximum of their potential. The expansion of the specified framework in accordance with the requirements defined by the globalization process will be carried out once relevant participants are introduced; however, ensuring that another legal entity manages a portion of the logistics processes within the company in question will allow for minimizing the extent of uncertainty and the associated risks, thus, keeping the management of transportation consistent.
Another opportunity associated with the offered transportation approach within the supply chain network concerns the integration of technological innovations associated with minimizing costs while retaining the efficacy of the infrastructure within the supply chain. Similarly, the proposed framework for handling the transportation process suggests that innovations related to green technologies should be considered a necessary ingredient of the framework. Indeed, over the past couple of decades, the importance of sustainability-based approaches toward transportation has risen tremendously (Kogler & Rauch, 2018). The observed change has manifested itself in the establishment of significantly more rigid and uncompromising regulations regarding transportation-related waste and pollution management, such as CO2 emission standards (Kogler & Rauch, 2018). Therefore, the use of technological advances that will help the organization maintain its transportation management processes in a way that will allow minimizing waste must be seen as instrumental to ensuring that the organization remains successful in the target context. Specifically, the use of technology that helps reduce the level of CO2 emission must be integrated into the transportation framework. Notably, digital tools such as the use of 3D mapping and the integration of smart technologies will help control the vehicle miles traveled (VMT) range as one of the core factors contributing to an increase in CO2 emissions (Kogler & Rauch, 2018). Namely, innovative technology, including the use of AR and VR tools for modeling the core routes for the vehicles to follow, must be integrated into the framework to minimize the extent of the impact that the transportation process has on the environment.
In addition to controlling the levels of CO2 emitted by vehicles run on petrol, the use of electric vehicles as the primary transportation resource must be considered on the organizational level and integrated into the transportation management process wherever possible. Admittedly, the inclusion of the specified equipment into the list of a company’s inventory will demand massive expenses, which misaligns with the general transportation strategy described above. Therefore, appropriate changes must be made to the financial framework so that the transport management approach can meet the specified requirement. Specifically, the focus on innovation and the enhancement of a cost-efficient model will be required, which will imply reducing costs for specific issues that may not require particularly close attention or the provided extent of resources presently.
Finally, the integration of blockchain technology will cause a significant change within the target transportation framework and contribute to its improvement. Implying that all processes within the infrastructure in question are streamlined and coordinated across the organization, blockchain will introduce opportunities for avoiding risks and making credible forecasts. Specifically, the integration of artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR), and augmented reality (AR) tools into the planning phase of transportation will create a plethora of opportunities for improving the process and making the outcomes more favorable. Specifically, the use of AI as a part of the blockchain approach toward transportation will lead to a significant improvement in the forecasting outcomes, as well as an increase in the efficacy of modeling and the resulting identification of risk management opportunities.
Moreover, the incorporation of blockchain technologies will contribute to a significant change in the management of the corporate inventory, particularly the range of vehicles that an organization possesses. As a rule, the extent of vehicles a company can purchase and maintain to perform transportation-related tasks is relatively limited due to the associated costs (Gayatri & Wirasedana, 2021). In turn, adopting the less-than-truckload shipping principles that blockchain technology provides will cause a company to utilize the range of its resources most effectively (Gayatri & Wirasedana, 2021). Specifically, with the introduction of options for seamless transitions between transportation- and logistics-related activities, more effective use of the corporate inventory, particularly the available vehicles, will become possible (Gayatri & Wirasedana, 2021). Consequently, the integration of the proposed tools will minimize expenses while supporting active technological development within the organization’s transportation framework.
Since the complete refusal to involve any third party in the process appears to be affecting the company negatively, limiting the range of its opportunities in terms of cooperating with other organizations, the careful introduction of external support is recommended. It is vital to ensure that extraneous factors that the described change will introduce to the SCM framework of the organization do not affect the overall performance. Additionally, one must make sure that it does not cause a sharp increase in the extent of uncertainty within the company’s transportation framework and its supply chain at large. For this purpose, one will need to reinforce communication and collaboration across the supply chain. Thus, the transportation issues will be adequately addressed, and the core processes will take place smoothly.
In order to enhance the efficacy of transportation within a company, technological advances must be incorporated as the means of minimizing costs, encouraging collaboration across the supply chain, and reducing damages and related risks. Due to the necessity to incorporate the principles of sustainability and cost-efficiency into the framework, the choice toward green strategies and agile frameworks for resource management within the transportation framework should be applied. Furthermore, innovative technology allowing for making forecasts and modeling the target environment must be integrated in order to make forecasts and prevent crucial risks from affecting the transportation process must be incorporated into the proposed framework. Moreover, the promotion of innovation within the transportation process as the key to enhancing its efficacy necessitates the integration of the latest technological advances, particularly in the realm of IT and ICT. Specifically, blockchain must be included in the set of tools to be utilized in order to increase the efficacy of the transportation framework. With the specified strategies in place, one can expect a substantial improvement in the quality of the transportation process, the speed of delivery, and the management of damage occurring in the process.
References
Gayatri, N. S., & Wirasedana, I. W. P. (2021). The influence of tax planning, company size, and cash holding on earnings management in the infrastructure, utilities and transportation sectors. American Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences Research, 5(2), 261-267. Web.
Kogler, C., & Rauch, P. (2018). Discrete event simulation of multimodal and unimodal transportation in the wood supply chain: a literature review. Silva Fennica, 52(4), 1-9.
Kamath, R. (2018). Food traceability on blockchain: Walmart’s pork and mango pilots with IBM. The Journal of the British Blockchain Association, 1(1), 1-7.
Nilufer, N. (2020). Critical assessment on business strategy from aviation to retail industry during COVID-19 pandemic: A Walmart case.International Journal of Business Ecosystem & Strategy (2687-2293), 2(2), 8-14. Web.
Serrano, F., & Kazda, A. (2020). The future of airports post COVID-19.Journal of Air Transport Management, 89, 1-8. Web.