Velostics' Tech-Driven Logistics Automation Key to Food Supply Chain Woes
Velostics aims to fill the timely food supply chain gaps. The digital logistics platform focuses on solving problems related to visibility, communication, and execution. The Houston based startup launched earlier this year and has since stepped up to offer free installations to numerous organizations amidst COVID-19. The company hopes to further assist with supply chain continuity. Most recently, Velostics is focusing offerings to the hard-hit agricultural and food supply industries. With access to infrastructure limited it is important to understand the impact on key nodes in the food production value chain and how to best achieve efficient management of operations and logistics in the current environment.
HOUSTON, April 15, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The supply chain has taken a number of hits in the few weeks since COVID-19 became a concern to the U.S. Grain elevators and ports are operating at reduced schedules. Plants are closing until further notice. Farmers, truck drivers and employees in the industry are worried about how continued operations impact them and their families and are making tough choices about balancing the threat of contagion with the need to put food on the table. With access to infrastructure limited it is important to understand the impact on key nodes in the food production value chain and how to best achieve efficient management of operations and logistics in the current environment.
The epidemic has put a stranglehold on the agricultural supply chain. It has directly impacted traders responsible for trading corn, soybeans, rice and other critical crops and protein, logistics personnel coordinating the movement of product, and back-office administrative personnel entering ticket data and maintaining contracts. The virus has confined them to working remotely, and away from their offices, separated from established work practices and comfort zones and reduced productivity dramatically. To complicate things even more, having to balance work with childcare at home has further impacted their ability to accomplish their work. Economist Nicholas Bloom from Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR) calls it a "real productivity disaster for firms" that is reducing productivity by over 36% in the short term.
With planting season upon us and harvest not too far away, the busy season for the American countryside is kicking into high gear. This means critical contracts are being filled and goods moved. This is a challenge even in normal times, but it is now even more challenging to stay on top of all the contracts, loads, carriers, drivers, and tickets that already take days to weeks to collect, reconcile, scan and enter into GrainSmart or other systems.
Houston based, Velostics, developed a load scheduling and logistics system that significantly reduces manual work necessary to manage agricultural contracts and loads. Velostics simplifies the coordination of shipments across contracts with tens or hundreds of loads. Ticket data is captured digitally in real-time and is immediately available for contract settlement, invoicing, and payments to suppliers. With the goal of reducing low-value manual overhead to accelerate logistics, Velostics leverages digital automation to minimize time-consuming activities such as scheduling and status check calls, data entry, error checking, and reporting. Traders, logistics, back office data entry, and accounting teams benefit from efficiency. With the easy to deploy platform, shippers and 3PL providers can be up and running in as little as a few minutes.
"Velostics makes it easy to work with suppliers and vendors to eliminate errors and reduce overhead costs. It makes it possible to invoice and get paid faster and to pay our own suppliers faster." stated, Amit Bhandari, CEO of BioUrja and WestPlains LLC - a Houston-based global grain and commodity trader, terminal and elevator operator and a Velostics customer.
Logistics for the agri-food industry is amidst mounting strains. It is vital that the quality of raw materials is upheld and that they reach the destination intact. Retailers and manufactures can benefit greatly from the correct logistics technology. End to end process visibility is necessary to ensure the correct product(s) are delivered, in the right condition, to the correct place, in good time in order to maintain cost efficiency for all parties. Implementation of technologies such as Velostics has garnered the early adopters' monumental advantages over the competition. Velostics stands ready to support the American agriculture industry in today's challenging environment.
To learn more about Velostics, email [email protected] or visit http://www.velostics.com.
About Velostics:
Velostics was created for Logistics Managers looking to improve their cash cycle. Velostics is a SAAS platform that enables collaboration between shippers, customers, brokers, carriers, drivers, and disjointed systems.
Unlike siloed TMS, Dispatch, ELD, and Track&Trace systems, Velostics gets you and your partners up and running in less than a day with:
- Cash cycle improvement
- Demurrage/detention/dwell time reduction
- Error reduction
- Admin overhead reduction
- Faster shipment processing
Velostics delivers continuous innovation, comprehensive security and access controls, and standards-based integration APIs. Velostics powers the world's leading industrial supply chain and logistics network for error-free transactions and high data fidelity.
Velostics' mission is to eliminate risk in the supply chain, streamline logistics and slash overhead costs in half via logistics automation and collaboration.
SOURCE Velostics
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