During the pandemic, shortages of components for high-tech devices and automotive industry products have proliferated. But it’s not easy for most shippers to have visibility into the process before finished-good shipments are sent out around the globe. The issue? The concept of end-to-end supply chain visibility should not be limited to freight shipment transparency. The industry needs to look beyond visibility to freight in motion, seeking to provide transparency to materials being manufactured as well.
The key to end-to-end supply chain visibility is not just transparency to goods being shipped on the ground and in the air, and this is one of the reasons Blume Global has acquired LiveSource. Acquiring the leading multi-enterprise supply chain business network for complex manufacturers helps Blume bolster its commitment to supply chain execution, agility and visibility solutions. The company, which has offices throughout North America, Europe and Asia, provides sourcing and procurement orchestration technology, among other solutions, to the automotive and industrial manufacturing sectors.
Traditional shipment visibility does not go far back enough in the supply chain to answer questions critical to today’s logistics stakeholders, according to Pervinder Johar, CEO of Blume Global. These crucial questions, he said, include: “What components are needed? Will they get there in time or not? And if they don’t, what’s really the impact on my finished goods?”
Johar continued, “It’s not enough for us to know that a component is not going to be available or it’s running late. It’s also about the alternatives. A big part of LiveSource’s focus has been on sourcing – not only the suppliers customers are sourcing from today, but all of the backup suppliers and all of the places you can source that component from.
“This is actually helping you solve problems when you run late, not only just telling you that you’re going to be late.”
Blume’s acquisition of LiveSource mirrors a market trend that has become more pronounced during the pandemic. Customers want a single point of entry where they can orchestrate their logistics execution processes.
Three years ago, customers were “looking for a purchasing solution, a quality solution, and an order management solution,” said LiveSource head Bo Hagler, who has joined Blume Global’s executive leadership team. “In 2021, all the RFPs we responded to required an integrated solution. … We’ve seen the market move in this direction for the last several years, and I think we’re really hitting it at the right time.”
While Blume and LiveSource have partnered in the past to present united solutions to prospects, combining the two companies made more sense in the current supply chain environment. “Customers prefer to have a single vendor and a single solution and not have multiple partners,” Hagler said.
A single, integrated system also allows these major manufacturers to sunset disparate systems that had been cobbled together over the years.
“An integrated solution can better derive the value from the data you’ve collected,” Hagler said.
With this deal, Blume Global expands its functionality in the supplier management, sourcing and quality fields, but we also vastly expand the Blume Global network, bringing new connections and business opportunities to all our existing customers.
Of course, visibility is just the start. It’s really what an organization does with that freight and item transparency that is the key. Blume’s TMS and logistics execution capabilities allow users to act on this real-time supply chain visibility insight, allowing them to adjust their plans midstream. And with the 60,000 suppliers in the LiveSource network incorporated into Blume’s platform, the benefits are endless.
“What we are now focused on is complete supply chain orchestration and how to optimize a customer’s supply chain between their separate logistics and manufacturing processes.”
For more information about LiveSource, a Blume Global company, visit www.livesource.com.
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