
Innovating: why doesn’t it always succeed?
26 August 2022
The course of 2023 logistics trends
10 March 2023Saturday morning, 8:21 a.m.; the phone rings.
Still with a sleeping head, I answer the call. It’s a customer I’m working with, asking if I saw the email from last night in which the carrier mentioned that there is a delay with the train, meaning the scheduled deliveries for the weekend cannot take place. I haven’t read it yet, but I let them know that I will go through the delay notifications carefully and will contact the transporter to check the exact status so I can explore potential solutions.
Just a bit of background information: this customer runs production 24/7, and an added complication is that without supplies, production will come to a halt on Sunday afternoon. That’s a pretty serious issue, so I’m definitely awake now.
Luckily, the carrier has an emergency number that can be called for issues that occur over the weekend. I get in touch, and unfortunately, they confirm that the delays are accurate and they cannot provide a solution. One train did arrive, but the terminal is closed on weekends for container pickup and the other train is delayed to the point that it’s only expected to arrive on Monday morning.
Okay and now…?
Problem-solving has become second nature after nearly twenty years in logistics. Is the entire issue solvable or are there alternatives to offer the best possible solution? I grab the customer’s schedule again because I know we have deliveries scheduled for Monday as well. These deliveries are classified as direct truck shipments from Poland. I know these have already left because of the automatic emails I get from the factory when a shipment is loaded. It is now Saturday. The first delivery is scheduled for Monday 12:00 pm. Could that be a solution? I call the Polish carrier which is open on Saturdays from 8:00 a.m. to around 2:00 p.m. for handling issues, updating documentation and to do any work on their fleet. I explain the situation to him and he says he’ll check the options. He promises to call me back in fifteen minutes.
Exactly fifteen minutes later, he calls back after speaking with both drivers. One of the drivers is in the Bielefeld area and can be there if needed by 2:00 a.m. tonight. The other driver can arrive on Monday early afternoon. This is the news I was hoping for, so I’m optimistic the client will agree. I call the client with the update and they give their approval.
A delivery at 2:00 a.m. ensures that there is no production downtime over the weekend. To be safe, I also include Monday’s delivery in the plan, as I won’t know the status of the two delayed shipments until Monday morning.
The carrier sends a confirmation email with the appointment details, including the driver’s name, license plate number and copies of the documents. I forward the same information to the client.
Now my weekend can truly begin 😊.
Fortunately, this is not a situation that happens on a weekly basis, but it does illustrate the kinds of challenges you can encounter within the logistics chain.
The key here is to think in solutions, respond quickly and maintain good communication with one another.
#problemsolving #troubleshooting #supplychain #logistics #production #transport #logisticnomad