Page 51 - Plastics News November 2025
P. 51
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
time high towards the end of 2021. Similar be- Profitability for shareholders
havior was seen across road transport and air
cargo. For operations-heavy industries such as logis-
tics, most cost saving lies in ‘doing it right the
Although transport cost across all modes have first time’. The best way to achieve this is to
been trending downwards for the last few have a system that allows organizations to cre-
months, it merely represents a shift in bottle- ate the virtual twin, which predicts the future in
neck from containers and transport vehicles to the most realistic manner possible.
port handling and driver capacity.
Satisfaction for customers Capabilities that en-
The increasing number of incoming vessels at sure continued customer satisfaction are the
US coasts especially in the east has caused a ability to:
huge increase in the waiting times at the ports.
A similar situation exists in Northwestern Europe ♦ Ensure capacity for the most profitable cus-
and there are multiple reasons for it: tomers and products
♦ Calculate demand and supply for each stage
♦ Lack of workers at the port due to strikes
of the production process and optimize daily
♦ Declining number of truck drivers
♦ Take into account all the factors that influ-
♦ Lack of trucks and rail infrastructure to han- ence your capacity
dle incoming load
♦ Quote dates that optimize profitability,
The labor shortage is reaching crisis levels and is throughput and customer satisfaction
affecting large logistics companies that are cut-
ting their financial outlook—citing hiring difficul- Work-life balance for employees An integrated
ties. approach to logistics planning gives complete
visibility of all assets and people to make the
In March 2022, the United States had a record- best use of drivers and vehicles in an optimized
high 8.1 million vacant job openings. According way.
to the Worker Shortage Index, there are roughly
only half as many workers for every job vacancy Sustainability for the Environment A planning
as the average over the last 20 years, and the and optimization solution enables companies to
numbers are on a downward trajectory. include CO2 emissions as a planning KPI and not
just a reporting metric.
Addressing logistics challenges
Source – Plastics Business
To overcome a wave of disruption, several meas-
ures need to be taken. They must be carried out
with four broad stakeholders and objectives in
mind. In no particular order, they are:
November 2025 PLASTICS NEWS 51
