INTERVIEW
Flex has built several Pulse centres worldwide ; in Europe and the Middle East these are in Czech Republic , Poland , Austria and Israel . In addition , more than 6,000 staff have Pulse software on their phones so they can react immediately .
A key tool Pulse uses is Source , which identifies the physical location of a customer ’ s suppliers . It then monitors Twitter feeds , fire departments , police scanners and anything relevant on the internet relating to these locations , thereby ensuring Flex will know immediately if something occurs that could disrupt supplies .
Flex has also partnered with Elementum to create new digital tools that use technology such as GPS tracking to provide real-time information on the location of goods . Historically , visibility in transportation networks was provided through tracking numbers that trace shipments through a barcode – the product was scanned when it leaves a warehouse or lands in another warehouse . But this method only records points in the supply chain , rather than tracking something along the entire route .
The Elementum software tracks the movement of goods on ships ,
trains , planes and trucks so customers know precisely where things are and when they ’ re going to arrive ; this level of transparency will be disruptive to current business models .
“ You might be informed you ’ re going to get your box in two days , but what if you found out your box is sitting one block away in a warehouse and it ’ s not being delivered to you because they centralised the shipments and only deliver them once every two days ?” says Linton . “ That visibility changes the way you think about how fast you want something . If you know that it ’ s a block away , you want it today .”
Transparency can also alter working relationships within companies . “ Transparency is a one-way bridge , you can ’ t go back . You can ’ t say , ‘ I want to be less transparent ,’” Linton continues . “ When information is no longer controlled and metered out piecemeal , we democratise it and make it easily accessible in a digestible and understandable way . Then , the company can move faster , rather than relying on this process of getting information , retrieving information , reporting information ; instead we see it all in real time . ‘ Live , fast , and intelligent ’ is what we have to focus on .”
14 September 2017