Shared Supply Chain

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Problem:

Auto assemblers and tier one suppliers in Valencia, Venezuela were having problems with an unstable, unreliable materials supply chain from their Colombia suppliers. The wrong parts were arriving at the wrong time and in the wrong quantities. Excess obsolete parts, poor first time through production, assembly line stoppages, higher inventories, and high parts follow-up costs (including excessive reliance on air freight), were symptomatic of the Colombia-Venezuela supply chain. Due to the low build rate environment in the Venezuelan market, single source suppliers were non-existent.

The Crowley Solution:

Supplier milk runs within a unique shared channel concept. 

Crowley designed and implemented a Colombian milk run and consolidation operation with the unique shared channel concept. Crowley received production schedules and weekly releases via the Internet, told suppliers what to ship and when to ship it, picked up these parts via milk runs, verified the parts at time of pick-up, issued ASNs, consolidated the parts in Bogot, and transported them over the road (via secure carriers) to the auto assemblers plants in Valencia. Internet inventory visibility was provided via Web-native software. Crowley also performed Colombia forwarding, Venezuela customs clearance, expedited services, and completed parts follow-up on each and every part. 

The uniqueness of this service was that each of the major auto assemblers, as well as tier one suppliers in Venezuela, shared in this service and the costs were spread out according to volume and participation in the shared channel.

Result:

For parts that originated in Colombia, line stoppages ended, first time through rates improved, inventories reduced, parts follow-up costs eliminated, expediting costs eliminated, and the added bonus of reducing plant receiving congestion.

These success stories are only part of how weve made business easier and more profitable for our clients. Considering issues from the clients perspective helps Crowleys people engineer logistics solutions to meet virtually any challenge.