According to True Value, FLOW offers a “forward-looking lens”

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When True Value joined the Freight Logistics Optimization Works platform as a founding member, the company wanted to increase the visibility of its supply chain – especially after the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The company believes that any tool that provides better supply chain visibility, more forward-looking operations and improves planning capabilities would be extremely valuable, said Jennifer McNeill, senior vice president of supply chain operations at True Value, in an interview with Supply Chain Dive in May.

“The project is not meant to tell you what has already happened, but where the bottlenecks will occur,” she said.

McNeill, who also sits on FLOW’s board, spoke to Supply Chain Dive about how the home improvement retailer is using the federal platform’s data and how it can help with future disruptions.

The role of True Value and daily operations with FLOW

True Value shares its anonymized data with several other retailers that are members of the program, including Home Depot, PetSmart and GE Appliances.

McNeill said the data True Value contributes as a shipper and economic owner of cargo is just the starting point, as the data will continue to be refined as it moves further along the company’s supply chain.

“The tool’s ability to provide forward-looking predictions is what makes it so unique and novel,” she said.

The anonymized data would address competition concerns, McNeill added, adding that True Value would only disclose how many containers it expects to ship, when they will be shipped and from which port.

The program’s members do not disclose who orders come from or which factories they ship from. The portal simply collects data on the volume and timing of shipments of cargo from specific ports of origin.

True Value also uses FLOW data weekly to validate internal projects and trends identified by its analytics teams.

“As the data gets richer and better, I think it will be much more applicable and people will feel more confident making decisions based solely on the FLOW data,” McNeill said.

How FLOW can be used in case of disruptions

True Value uses real-time data from FLOW and can detect load shifts, especially during disruptions.

For example, True Value was little to unaffected by the bridge collapse near Baltimore because the company does not operate any ports near the tragedy. Nevertheless, the company used FLOW to look for spikes in the ports it uses because some shipments were diverted during the crisis.

With the International Longshoremen’s Association’s contract with East and Gulf Coast ports about to expire, True Value is also using FLOW as one of its data sources to monitor the situation and plan for any cargo shifts if any occur. “We still have a few months to go, so we’ll continue to monitor the situation and adjust our strategy as it develops,” McNeill said.

The data also helps answer questions that shippers often have when cargo delays are a possibility. “We have a very recent example right now as we see capacity in Asia getting a little tighter and spot prices in Asia increasing,” McNeill said.

Using FLOW as a tool, you can “see in advance if a port is going to be congested or if there aren’t going to be enough chassis or whatever the situation may be,” McNeill said. Once the situation is clear, future cargo can be rerouted to another port or expedited.

McNeill added that if there are no viable options for freight shipments, the company at least knows what to expect and can notify customers in advance of out-of-stock or delayed products.

True Value also wants to leverage the real-world scenarios available in the FLOW data and is committed to continually providing additional data to make these events clearer as they occur, McNeill said.

“Part of our vision for the future is to not only observe the supply chain, but also to influence it by having a broader view of everything that is happening,” she said.