Complexity management

C. Novi: It is our approach at FedEx Express to continuously develop innovative, industry-tailored solutions to enable our customers to proactively sense and respond to the growing complexity of supply chains.

To enable customers to have unparalleled visibility into their global supply chain, FedEx has recently launched and expanded two critical solutions: SenseAware, a near-real-time monitoring service that combines the power of a robust web-based platform with a state of the art multi-sensory device, and Priority Alert, a solution that provides priority handling of critical and time-sensitive shipments with additional monitoring and recovery services.

These two solutions empower customers with near-real-time visibility into location and environmental condition of their shipments that they never had before, provides them powerful information and insight into the condition and effectiveness of their supply chain, proactively helps them identify weak spots and challenges, and provides a helping hand to respond to situations with speed that never existed before.

Sensor-based logistics' combination of environmental sensors, wireless communication, and management software is the basis of a powerful new central nervous system for the global supply chain. From our point of view, SenseAware is a great example of how sensor-based logistics provide the technology and solutions that companies need to meet the complexity of today's supply chains.

With profit margins riding on the success of the supply chain, increased visibility is highly valuable. The cost in lost goods, customer relationships, and future business from a weak supply chain can be significant. Supply chain leadership in the 21st century is as much about mastering the use of information and big data analytics as it is about physical control.