MPO Improves Service Levels By 15% with Multi-Tier Inventory Visibility Optimization

The Logistics Process Bottom Line

Establishing a consistent and cost-effective logistics process during economic and geopolitical uncertainty is nearly impossible without the proper technology.

MPO is a full-suite logistics and order management platform vendor that integrates planning and execution functions on a single user interface to support distribution channels for mid-sized and global enterprises.

Nucleus Research interviewed multiple MPO customers and found common benefits such as common multi-tier inventory visibility and improved route selection from a margin and service-level perspective.

One company increased its on-time full rate by 15 percent with MPO’s Supply Chain Visibility platform.

Supply Chain Visibility Overview

Lack of supply chain visibility, transportation delays, material shortages, pandemic-related restrictions, and inflation fuel the adoption of supply chain technology, specifically Control Tower solutions.

Organizations lacking Control Tower functionality often encounter bottlenecks caused by disparate communication networks, placing organizations in a constant state of catch-up that makes it difficult to balance supply and demand across industries.

Nucleus found that companies benefit from adopting Control Tower technology by consolidating internal data and partner information from multiple tiers to create a single data layer for planning and execution functions.

Download: Nucleus Research Control Tower Value Matrix 2022

Operating on a single data layer creates a single version of truth (SVOT) for the organization, its suppliers, manufacturers, transportation providers, and other trading partners, enabling key stakeholders to enhance their decision-making and encourage collaboration.

Organizations struggle to collaborate without an SVOT because they are limited by siloed data, which in turn erodes stakeholders’ confidence in reported figures and the ability to make data-driven decisions.

Addressing these concerns, MPO is a Control Tower vendor that centralizes operational and financial data, from an organization and partners to the nth tier, to provide a complete view of the order lifecycle to relevant parties.

MPO - A Global End-to-End Supply Chain Provider

MPO is a global end-to-end supply chain provider, headquartered in The Netherlands with a North American headquarters in Boston, MA.

MPO offers cloud-based logistics and order management solutions for companies looking to improve delivery times, reduce operational costs, and create standardized inventory and transportation practices.

MPO covers the wholesale, retail, healthcare, high-tech, and logistics service provider industries. Customers often choose the MPO Multi-Party Orchestration platform for its Control Tower functionality, which provides organizations with a holistic view of their global supply chain. Combining planning, execution, finance, and analytics functions on a single platform, MPO provides end-to-end insights to improve decision-making for planning and execution capabilities.

Typical Benefits

Nucleus analyzed MPO deployments and found that users increased transparency, reduced operational costs, and improved employee productivity.

Increased Transparency. MPO eliminates disparate data silos to provide a single data layer for planners and transportation analysts to operate on. A single data layer creates more transparency for employees in separate departments to inform route and carrier selection, provide accurate ETAs, increase OTIF rates, and improve margins.

Several customers noted that the MPO Multi-Party Orchestration Platform enabled the orchestration of inbound, outbound, and reverse flows across multiple parties. Granular inventory visibility allowed users to monitor real-time inventory levels across its various distribution centers, which improved their allocation and replenishment activities, resulting in reduced distribution costs.

Reduced Operational Costs. MPO gives end-users more visibility into their operational processes. Increased visibility into different departments within your supply chain allows for better decision-making and reduces operating costs through improved route selection, carrier selection, and inventory management. Receiving real-time updates on inventory levels and properly allocating inventory to meet demand allow organizations to shorten cycle times and reduce penalties and fees associated with international and delayed shipments. Nucleus found that several MPO customers avoided stock-outs and decrease lead times with the platform.

Improved Employee Productivity. Eliminating manual entry through MPO's task automation feature streamlines the data entry processes. Automating invoicing, reminding, data entry, and payroll allows employees to focus on more value-added tasks. Operating on a single data layer will enable organizations to make faster route selection, carrier selection, supply planning, and warehouse management decisions. Time saved through automated AI-enabled prescriptions allows planners and analysts to focus on high-priority shipments.

Customer Experience

Nucleus interviewed MPO end-users to examine the benefits of deploying the Supply Chain Visibility and Control Tower platform.

Global Logistics Provider

This organization is a global supply chain solutions provider and a leader within the European automotive logistics market. The company is headquartered in France and offers a fully integrated service and multimodal network to design efficient supply chain practices. They service aviation, automotive, fashion, food and beverage, retail, high-tech, life science, healthcare, agriculture, and other industries. The organization employs over 100,000 people across 170 countries and generates €18 billion in revenue annually. With a top-down directive to improve planning and transportation processes, the company considered MPO, Blue Yonder, Cablewise, and Oracle Transportation Management.

Ultimately, the company chose MPO because it could plan for the entire supply chain, regardless of the node. A key stakeholder said MPO offered a complete end-to-end supply chain solution that offered easy access for end-users. They also noted that MPO’s customer service and IT department are knowledgeable, and the software was the least expensive. Implementation began in mid-2021 and took three months to complete. The company reported that implementing an MPO instance to manage one of its customer’s operations averages between three to four weeks.

Read: DSV Rises to the Challenge: Optimizes Complex Fast-Moving Consumer Goods Supply Chain

Field reporting has been impactful, users can view supply chain events in real-time, improving decision-making with fewer resources and headcount. The company noted a 15 percent increase in its OTIF rate, from 85 percent to 95 percent. MPO allows the company to plan every shipment step and notifies teams of disruptions as they occur. The software was easy-to-use, and the company deployed MPO by members of the operations team, rather than a third-party IT firm.

US Logistics Provider

This organization is a third-party logistics provider in the US that employs 300 people to manage the supply chains of nearly 2000 clients, generating $90M in revenue. Before they moved to a dedicated ERP system, the company used Excel to facilitate order management and audit transportation data. The company wanted software that went beyond shipment status that it could use to develop a new line of service for inventory management. The organization prioritized real-time data on inventory levels and a SaaS product with top-end functionality at an affordable price. The company only considered MPO, which was chosen for its depth of inventory and distribution management functionality and ease of use.

The organization also chose MPO because of its supply chain design, transportation, inventory, and financial functionality. Based on its investigations into the Control Tower market, the company was confident of MPO’s reputation as a technology and professional services provider.

Currently implementing MPO, the organization recently completed the solution design phase, which took three months. The logistics provider has already implemented MPO for several of its customer-specific use cases. The company expects the initial benefits of improved productivity, ease of training, high employee engagement, and increased labor utilization. Upon go-live, the logistics provider can plan inventory levels against the transaction date, enabling self-adjusting inventory level forecasts.

Real-time visibility of its inventory levels will allow the company to automate warehouse replenishment, avoid stock-outs, and decrease lead times. MPO also visualizes inventory decrement over time, which will streamline the planning process. The company also noted that MPO would accelerate the order creation to settlement cycle, increasing its speed-to-value.

Looking Ahead

As organizations contend with fluctuating demand, increased operating costs, and long lead times, leveraging control tower functionality is vital to maintaining a competitive edge. Staying ahead requires a reliable and efficient order management system that balances profit margins, long-term plans, partner collaboration, and order lifecycle and inventory visibility.

Nucleus expects more companies to implement a full-suite SCM system over the next year to ensure execution and planning alignment, fortifying the organization’s supply chain against economic and geopolitical uncertainty.

Editorial Note: The text in this article is a transcript of the original Nucleus Report. You can download the PDF version of the report here.

Related Resources

Nucleus Analyst Report: MPO Improves Service Levels by 15%
This Nucleus Research paper reports on how the MPO cloud platform and how it improved service levels for its customers. Download Now!

---

Key Differentiators: The Control Tower for Supply Chain Orchestration
This whitepaper offers insight into what makes a holistic platform unique, and how expanding visibility and control to span order and logistics management across all order types and all order flows provides extraordinary business value. Download Now!

---

Supply Chain Control Tower & Visibility
This Supply Chain Control Tower and Visibility solution guide provide a deeper look into the platform's capabilities and benefits, as well as a practical overview of why a unified and converged approach will make all the difference in running an efficient and cost-effective supply chain that drives superior customer satisfaction. Download Now!

---

The Next Evolution of the Supply Chain Control Tower
This white paper explores why visibility is a core element of modern supply chain digitization, and a top reason to implement logistics technologies in your supply chain. Download Now!

---

Multi-Party Orchestration Platform
In this brochure, you'll find a guide to MPO's unified cloud platform for multi-party orchestration, including its rich and flexible solutions: Control Tower, Supply Chain Visibility, Digital Order Management, Transportation Management, Network Inventory Management, Returns Management, Spare Parts Management, and Supply Management. Download Now!

---

More Resources from MPO

Related Article: 5 Critical Trends for Supply Chain Control Towers in 2022