Supply chain visibility data and advisory company Altana is rolling out its next generation of Value Chain Management System in its effort to efficiently map the global supply chain. Customers will be able to keep track of, identify and manage each component of their supply chain.
The enhanced platform uses both AI and machine learning to connect companies’ supply chain data, documentation, internal knowledge, surveys and third-party analytics to create a unified view of their global value chain.
Evan Smith, co-founder and CEO of Altana, tells American Shipper that by breaking out each layer of a product’s full life cycle, shippers are able to be nimble and proactive in their supply chain needs and either pivot if necessary or manage their carbon footprint and Scope 3 initiatives.
Smith says the company calls all of these different layers the “value chain.”
He explained the value chain is the entire life cycle of a product, including not only the sourcing and production of raw materials, final assembly, sale and end use, but also financing, insurance and logistics.
“By taking hold of your value chains, you can go on offense and defense,” said Smith. “For example, we have a customer today in a medical device space that saw a critical tier two and tier three supplier that they, and others, depended on, and they started to see interruptions and bumpy activity that could have caused issues. With a better view of their value chain, they saw the full financial picture around that critical supplier, and it allowed them to inject some capital to ensure stability and then lock up production capacity with a forward contract. They were able to both control a critical supply of a specific alloy, at the expense of their competitors, and protect themselves from what definitely would have been a major multibillion-dollar impact.”
Altana customers include UPS, L.L. Bean, Boston Scientific, Maersk, and the U.S. Departments of Defense and Homeland Security. Their data and analytics have helped in identifying products made with forced labor as well as managing trade regulations.
Smith explained to American Shipper the value chain data comprises two data buckets. The first is supply chain production and risk data that is publicly available as well as their first-party data in the network. Combined, Smith said, customers are able to have deeper visibility into possible challenges or risks to their supply chain in real time.
“We have the experience to unify all the customers’ value chain information, products, bill of materials, suppliers, customers, revenue, stitch it all together and then connect it to the map of the world,” said Smith. “By mastering value chains, business interruption risks, like the COVID-19 supply chain disruptions, can be mitigated, or transferred financially via insurance. Demand and supply can be coordinated.”
The multitier map of the global supply chain can offer a company automated tracing and reporting of multitier value chains for specific products. Potential risks could then be flagged.
“In today’s global economy, there are big policy drivers that are pushing a need to know, understand and be accountable for the entire indirect value chain, and not just what you do and who you do business with,” said Smith. “There’s the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), Deforestation Regulation, Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), Supply Chain Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) and Forced Labor [Regulation.] Everything is hitting all at once.”
