Van den Bosch is investing strongly in the applicability of data in the supply chain. This data, which comes from sources like Smart Load Units, the Quintiq planning system and the order management system, is made available by Van den Bosch via FreightInsight. “With this customised dashboard, we provide our customers with the information they need - both proactively and on demand. This includes detailed shipment data, current order statuses, ETA notifications, product temperature, container locations and access to transport documents,” says Van de Vorle.
Tripling
Van den Bosch's customer portal underwent a major upgrade at the end of last year. “Not only the layout has been improved, the tooling and data reliability have also been further optimised to make it easier to present and analyse data,” says Van de Vorle. “Commercial managers and customer service staff were also trained in its use. This has paid off, as since then there has been more than a threefold increase in the number of users, logins and exports of data lists. But above all, data is the foundation for our customer conversations. We put data to work to further optimise the supply chain.”
Commercial manager Marieke van Schijndel also sees the benefits: “Several customers have expressed their enthusiasm about the possibility of receiving daily automatic overviews of the status of their orders and ETAs at loading and unloading addresses. Thanks to the portal, they have complete visibility at order level, both operationally and administratively.”
Supply chain visibility
According to Van de Vorle, customers' need for supply chain visibility will only increase. That is why Van den Bosch is investing heavily in the further development of FreightInsight. One of the pillars is the integration of inventory concepts to ensure continuity in the supply chain. Developments in the field of Smart Load Units are also moving forward. “These smart containers automatically send transport data, which means our customers are better informed and can respond more quickly. We are continuously investing in equipping as many containers as possible with smart sensors.” Visibility is also being developed within the forwarding activities. “Thanks to our collaboration with the Transporeon cloud platform, it will soon be possible to provide live feedback from our subcontractors in FreightInsight. This is yet another promising development in the field of supply chain visibility.”
