Prepare For Peak Season and Your Future Supply Chain Strategy

August 4, 2022

The supply chain has been through a lot over the past few years, and the instability, uncertainty, and volatility have not yet entirely subsided. Peak season pressure in the months ahead keeps the future of the supply chain atop the list of genuine concerns for many businesses. What have you done to prepare for peak season this year?

MercuryGate Founder and Chief Innovation Officer Steve Blough and supply chain expert Phil Melton discuss market trends in the supply chain and expectations for the future.

By highlighting real-world supply chain issues and MercuryGate services, this Logistics Landscape webinar provides guidance on the state of supply chain logistics.

State of Supply Chain Logistics

To understand how to manage peak season in the future of the supply chain, shippers, carriers, and management must understand the unique situation they face today.

The logistics sector must simultaneously contend with fluctuating levels of demand for inventory in some industries. In other sectors, worries persist over diminishing needs and downturns. As we highlight in the webinar, a sense of relative stability may not return to the supply chain for some time, if ever.

A July 2022 report from Logistics Management echoed these points of concern about the future of the supply chain.

“As the inflation rate hit 8.5% this spring, pressures for fiscal tightening became more acute. The Federal Reserve has acted swiftly with a series of interest rate hikes designed to tame inflation without hurting the overall economy. But while hospitality, restaurants, and airlines are recovering nicely, booming sectors of durable goods, retail, housing, home improvement, and e-commerce are beginning to see economic slowdowns and expectations of lower future inflation began to bite into current demand.”

The new normal is more than just a catchphrase concerning the future of the supply chain. It is a reality for many shippers and carriers. They continue to contend with inventory management, logistics, driver and capacity shortages, volatile markets, fluctuating customer demands, and other potential disruptions.

Managing these challenges comes down to business intelligence and the ability to scale and adapt to take advantage of rail, ocean, and air freight to compensate for truck and road-related concerns and obstacles.

Prepare for Peak Season

Another critical point addressed in the webinar is the concern over the ability of shippers, carriers, and parcel experts to meet the rising demand for peak season orders and traffic.

There has been a lot of talk regarding inventory levels; some organizations have too much, some too little. Fluctuations in the supply chain and the dreaded bullwhip effect bring concerns over the future of the supply chain into focus. Address several areas of focus to prepare for peak season pressure.

Need for data, flexibility, scalability, adaptability, and automation to deal with online shopping spikes and the ever-growing need for e-commerce shipping.
More demand for cargo space, drivers, retailers, trucks, and specialty shipping services presents an increased risk for disruptions and an opportunity to increase profits.
Shippers must prepare ahead of time to improve services, keep customer service high, and intelligently utilize data and market insights.

It is not feasible to get more trucks on the already congested roads. Improving peak season performance is about optimizing truck usage — finding availability, and being smart with logistics, rerouting, moving, and managing truck and driver availability.

Logistics managers must focus on the dynamic nature of the supply chain and individual routes. Daily and weekly changes and fluctuations in demand require flexibility, visibility, scalability, and business intelligence. This level of attention is essential to prepare for peak season.

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MercuryGate’s Response to Market Trends

In response to the “new normal” and the current supply chain and transportation environment, MercuryGate is responding by improving the access and flow of data across the entire global supply chain network.

Services based on market needs and demands – tracking, digital freight services, rate stability, better accessibility, faster communications automatic management, proactive anomaly detection, and improved customer experience – are at the heart of MercuryGate’s customer service.

Ultimately, the goal is to let transportation and logistics managers make the critical decisions and let the technology handle the mundane and routine processes with automation, innovation, and route optimization tools and software. The future may be uncertain, but with the right tools, data, and outlook, continued recovery, growth, and success are possible.

Get the latest transportation and logistics landscape updates from our transportation and industry trends. Be sure to watch the webinar for a deep dive into the state of the supply chain and tips to help you prepare for peak season.