How the russian-Ukrainian war affected supply chain tracking: challenges & solutions
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80% of supply chain companies couldn't digitally track the movement of direct and indirect materials across their enterprise network in 2022. Some of them are because of a lack of maturity. Оthers - because of the russian-Ukrainian war, it impacts connection and dangerous conditions it causes. Here you'll explore how the war revealed the tracking issue for supply chain businesses and what solutions can eliminate it.
Supply chain tracking in Ukraine during the war: how to map it on global business
Experts advise making supply chain processes transparent and well-designed, implementing innovations, and shadowing each shipment with modern technology. But unfortunately, it's not a panacea.
They say the russian-Ukrainian war led to a negative supply chain shift. The way from East to West is blocked. Sanctions against russia continue to operate and increase their destructive influence. Meantime, Ukraine can't deliver any shipment abroad without risks.
Ukrainian businesses are experiencing enormous challenges trying to set up a more or less secure supply chain inside the country. The assortment of goods in stores is not as wide as earlier since manufacturers can't deliver the items produced. The same goes for humanitarian aid since volunteers constantly face danger, especially when working in the Eastern and Southern regions of the country.
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Supply chain tracking is crucial in this process since it allows us to explore the accurate location of shipment, prevent fraud, and sometimes save drivers' lives. In Ukrainian reality, the last function is the most crucial. Because of the mess around and the enemy's military forces on the territory, drivers risk whenever starting their journey since shipments might not reach the final destination.
In Ukraine, it's impossible to perform the proper supply chain tracking we're used to because of:
regular blackouts that block the operation of the main tracking system
accidents that might happen and destroy the entire vehicle with a tracking device embedded
robbery by the enemy's armed forces, after which nothing remains of the vehicle with shipment
It seems that IoT, AT, and other technologies are powerless here. What does it mean for businesses? For sure, breach of contracts, material losses, and reputational risk.
In this case, the Ukrainian experience illustrates potential obstacles the global supply chain might face during any force-majeure situation, such as war, natural disasters, etc. So true maturity is getting ready for any scenario before it becomes a reality.
How to fix supply chain tracking issues: lessons learned
Despite significant obstacles, the Ukrainian supply chain business continues to operate and deliver shipments. Meantime, volunteers still provide people with the most needed goods in dangerous regions. If digital-based supply chain tracking is not working at a full scale, how do they ensure shipment reaches the final destination? How do they know the destiny of goods delivered?
A community for transparent supply chain
The main driver of transparent supply chain tracking here is the community. Businesses keep in touch with each other to report on the current situation. People are divided into small groups and deliver goods step-by-step to eliminate risks. Consequently, a shipment reaches its destination. Of course, such a type of cooperation is time-consuming, but it ensures the goal achievement in force majeure conditions.
When considering this approach from the business perspective, it's better to create a broad network of trusted distributors and delivery companies that will take care of large shipments providing you with timely and accurate information regarding the status of your shipment.
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Another solution that significantly supports proper supply chain tracking is a chatbot designed with a low-code platform. It's a sort of the above interaction between representatives of various companies. Due to the bot, they can read barcodes and report to the sender about the shipment's status and its further path to the end-consumer.
This approach is efficient in force-majeure conditions since it combines digital solutions with the power of the community. The chatbot allows businesses to:
track their shipment in real-time
ensure transparent relations with contractors
make sure the shipment will be delivered to the final destination in proper volume and quality
The convenience of a chatbot in Ukrainian reality is that it works using Telegram messenger and is accessible under any conditions. In case of blackouts, phone operation and an Internet connection can be supported with generators. Messengers are widely used, making building a process around them easier. It might be a helpful backup plan for global business in case of any potential disaster.
"The chatbot performs several actions: identifies contractors, determines their geolocation, and recognizes barcodes. Based on these data, a sender forms statistics on the types, volumes, etc. The company can define to what extent the actual result matches the plan."
Victor Kmita, CEO @ XME.digital
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Over 50% of logistics managers do not expect the supply chain to return to normal until 2024 or after because of inflation and other potential obstacles it might face. Meantime, you can still keep complete control over your supply chain using proven methods and lessons learned.
If you're looking for a way to ensure accurate supply chain tracking for any force-majeure conditions, contact our sales team to discover how to turn the idea into reality in 3 weeks with the XME.fast code platform.
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