As the sun went down on a Friday evening and everyone in the office started rushing home, Michael Eisenberg, logistics manager at World Direct Shipping, LLC (WDS), found himself glued to his desktop. He kept his glasses down on the table and stared at the whiteboard in the boardroom. He envisioned how one wrong data entry could jeopardize the entire system resulting in the hold of cargo by Customs and Border Protection (CBP). One of the containers that arrived in the morning was full of plantains, but because of the inaccurate data entry, the documentation for CBP listed bananas and not plantains. Since the commodity was entered incorrectly, CBP placed the entire shipment on hold until further notice. The customers were waiting, and the plantains were rotting.
By implementing a better solution for shipment tracking, Michael wanted to facilitate better overall delivery service between WDS and its customers. The hardest question was that he did not know where to start. The quick solution of implementing Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) system would solve the majority of problems related to copying and pasting data. However, it might not help in the long run because the company is expanding. To address market trends and prosper in the next few years, WDS needs to make significant updates to its logistics systems including RFID implementation and create a better solution for Enterprise resource planning (ERP).
Authors: Maria Khilkovskaia, Snehil Tiwari, Alexandre Seiti Miguel, Chad Cowan, Michael Eisenberg
Link: https://doi.org/10.28945/4499
Khilkovskaia, M., Tiwari, S., Miguel, A.S., Cowan, C. & Eisenberg, M. (2019). A dedication that drives the growth. Muma Case Review 4(16). 1-28. https://doi.org/10.28945/4499