Article; Leapfrog Logistics https://www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/leapfrog-logistics/
The growing economic significance of infrastructures and logistics, on the one hand, and digital platforms on the other, are increasingly interdependent trends. Since the logistics revolution of the 1970s, highways, ports, road networks, utility systems and advanced logistical mapping and forecasting have become central to securing the huge volumes of commodities flowing through the global economy—especially as production processes have fragmented and trade in parts and components has expanded. Global shipping volumes doubled from 5,984 million tons in 2000 to 11,071 million tons in 2019. Moreover, digital platform firms increasingly control physical logistics infrastructure, by taking ownership of cloud computing and data centers, internet cabling, telecoms networks, transport systems and satellites.
LiveEO; Company Website https://www.live-eo.com/
LiveEO uses satellite data and AI to monitor infrastructure such as railways, power lines, and pipelines.
PDF; LOGINK: Risks from China’s Promotion of a Global Logistics Management Platform https://www.uscc.gov/sites/default/files/2022-09/LOGINK-Risks_from_Chinas_Promotion_of_a_Global_Logistics_Management_Platform.pdf
As part of a broader effort to become a transportation superpower,* China aims to create an efficient, integrated platform for the transmission of logistics data called the National Transportation and Logistics Public Information Platform, branded as LOGINK. Beginning as a Chinese provincial initiative in 2007, LOGINK became part of a regional network in Northeast Asia in 2010 and a global platform after 2014. The state-sponsored and -supported platform has now expanded to partner with over 20 ports worldwide as well as numerous Chinese and international companies.
LOGINK provides users with a one stop shop for logistics data management, shipment tracking, and information exchange needs between enterprises as well as from business to government. China’s government is encouraging global ports, freight carriers and forwarders, and other countries and entities to adopt LOGINK by providing it free of charge. In addition to offering LOGINK itself as a platform for data management, China is promoting logistics data standards that would support the platform’s widespread use. A second generation of LOGINK, now under development, would offer a cloud-based suite of enterprise software applications, such as advanced data analytics and business partner relationship management tools. These upgrades would afford LOGINK even greater access to global commercial data, potentially giving China’s government an unparalleled window into commercial transactions and trading relationships.
Widespread adoption of LOGINK could create economic and strategic risks for the United States and other countries. As with other Chinese entities sponsored or subsidized by the government, LOGINK could undercut U.S. firms that provide more innovative products at higher costs without state support. LOGINK’s visibility into global shipping and supply chains could also enable the Chinese government to identify U.S. supply chain vulnerabilities and to track shipments of U.S. military cargo on commercial freight. Though LOGINK claims users can share only the data they want, the security of the platform is unclear. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could potentially gain access to and control massive amounts of sensitive business and foreign government data through LOGINK.
o9 Solutions, Company Website https://o9solutions.com/
The o9 Digital Brain is a game-changing planning platform helping global companies across industries transform their supply chain, commercial, finance, and sustainability decision-making for digital age volatility and complexity.
Project44, Company Website https://www.project44.com/
Movement by project44 is a visibility platform that helps shippers, carriers, and logistics professionals manage supply chains by delivering visibility, workflow, and insights for goods in transit.
Blue Yonder, Company Website https://blueyonder.com/
A real-time platform that provides a single, trusted view of supply and demand and a competitive advantage to your business.
How to Turn a Supply Chain Platform into an Innovation Engine https://hbr.org/2022/07/how-to-turn-a-supply-chain-platform-into-an-innovation-engine
In early February 2020, when its home country of China was coping with the first wave of Covid-19, Haier Group, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of home appliances, faced a challenge and an opportunity. A customer—Heji Home, a Chinese home-furnishings company—asked Haier for help in producing mobile isolation wards that it wished to donate to a hospital in Wuhan, the site of the first outbreak of the novel coronavirus. These units required fresh-air, sterilization, and sewage-treatment systems that met stringent medical standards. Neither company had produced such equipment before, and neither had the design resources and supply chain capabilities necessary to go it alone. So they teamed up, and despite widespread lockdowns because of the pandemic and other business closings for the Chinese New Year, they managed to develop a working prototype of the unit and deliver it to the hospital in two weeks.