As a senior pharmaceutical executive recently said, "The problem I have with a control tower is that I can see that there's a problem, but it's like watching a car crash in slow motion: I can't do anything about it."

There’s still much to be done to enable operators to take full advantage of the immense amounts of data being collected at every moment of the day within distribution centers.

The digital twin of a warehouse — a real-time, 3D virtual representation of an actual facility down to the space, people, equipment and inventory — lets operators monitor activity, respond instantly to disruption and model future scenarios to improve performance.

It's vitally important for companies to understand every touchpoint in their supply chains and third-party relationships, to ensure they don’t link to transnational criminal organizations trafficking in war materials or money laundering.

The partnership is part of a race among e-commerce platforms to build out logistics and fulfillment capabilities that can compete with retail behemoths such as Amazon.

Supply chain partners have never had greater access to tools for data collection and analysis than they do now, but many are failing to take full advantage of these resources. 

As global freight forwarders face falling freight rates, rising interest rates and geopolitical instability, they might be excused for pulling back on technology investments in 2023. But that conclusion couldn’t be further from the truth.