The platform network: mutual communication, trust and support
The good news is that proven digital network technologies can now help chemical businesses plan and operate a more resilient, collaborative and profitable supply chain alongside their partners.
These solutions are not confined to a slide deck in a conference room. They are already out there, making a difference in the real world and validated by major names such as Shell and Dow.
Resilience, resilience, resilience
Demand fluctuations, sudden tariff changes, capacity shortages – every organisation in the chemical industry must deal with exceptions induced by background volatility. To mitigate effectively, you need the flexibility to react and communicate at lightning speed, with the confidence that your decisions are based on reliable evidence.
Where do you source such flexibility? The answer is a fully-networked digital platform that provides a roster of capabilities, backed by data, to facilitate fast planning, decision-making and communication you can trust, from procurement to execution to settlement.
There are several platforms available. The key is to source the platform that works best for your needs.
"It’s important to consider exactly what you are trying to achieve and select your platform accordingly.”
— Kiona Leeraert, Logistics Leader, Digitalisation, Improvement and Analytics, Dow
The ability to find a trusted carrier at short notice to meet an exceptional circumstance is a good illustration.
USE CASE 01 Use on-demand procurement to counter disruption
Chemical logistics is a highly specialist area, which means that the number of carriers available to shippers is typically less than what might be available to a more mainstream sector. What matters is that those carriers are also well-known to shippers, and their methods and operations are trusted. Relationships are therefore long-term, based on contracts. The spot market is used less often in the chemical industry compared to other sectors.
Disruptions happen. Sometimes a quick fix to address an exception is essential.
In those circumstances, you may need to find a carrier to carry a specialist load at short notice. Given the time constraints, how can you be confident that the price quoted for the selected lane(s) is fair and competitive?
Traditionally, spot market procurement against the clock makes planners and buyers nervous. They have to haggle on price, carriers are unfamiliar and knowledge of up-to-the-minute rates in the chosen lanes is incomplete.
In short, you are potentially switching to a carrier you don’t know, at a price you may have agreed under pressure to meet a deadline, in the hope that your customer service promises will be met.
Choose the right platform and the power of the network vanishes those worries in one click. The best platform for you will only feature trusted carriers that are proven, vetted and validated by that platform, and the rates you pay will be informed by the most comprehensive data set of real-time lane-by-lane pricing information available. It’s all easy to read and implement on an intuitive interface.
In this example, the network is used as a back-up plan, but it has already become a core strategy for many companies across the sector.
Real-life example: Dow uses network-based spot bidding platforms to ensure continuity for customers when contracted carriers are unavailable.
A potential crisis for shipper and customer is solved in one click because network data is reliable. The new carrier is a trusted member of the network, and the price is fair because it is backed by data corroboration of relevant transport lanes. Another cost-saving, time-saving benefit? No phone calls, no emails, no delays.
Solve silo setbacks: Everyone is in the room
Fragmented silos are the biggest source of frustration for modern globalised organisations. Disparate regions or departments that use assorted data models and IT systems are prone to information gaps and damaging delays to accurate communication. It’s understandably hard to make confident choices from that base.
To react fast and well when disruptions occur, you need to be truly agile in your decision-making. And you can only do that when everyone has a true understanding of the global network—when everyone is on the same page, with access to identical, trusted information at the same time.
In chemical logistics, making a strategic shift to a global, unified, network-based transport management system will solve the silo setbacks.
The benefits include holistic visibility to all participants, in real time, providing instant global data comparison and verification.
The single global platform is a game changer. You can make data comparisons on the spot. In the past, with regional ERPs and translations, it took days and weeks before you were all looking at the same data set.
Business Process Manager
Global Energy & Petrochemical Corporation
Single source helps single standards
A sometimes overlooked benefit of the single-source network is the impetus provided towards process standardisation, whereby all regions (when appropriate) begin to adopt the same processes globally.
Innovations that require consistency at all levels, such as the implementation of circular economy protocols, are thus adopted more successfully.
Our teams in Europe and the US are now adopting the same ways of working, facilitated by using a single global platform. We have been building key relationships with selected carriers as part of our plan to minimise the effects of disruption, and a platform network is an important part of building that sustainable success.
Jasper Odijk
Information and Digital Technology Manager, Supply Chain & Logistics, Shell
