JUSDA, a supply chain platform that spun off Foxconn Technology Group, has raised $356 million in its Series A round – the largest private fundraising deal to happen in China this year. JUSDA works on business-to-business (B2B) supply chains, managing the movement of components to the manufacturing floor, and from the manufacturer to the end-consumer. The financing round was led by China Life Insurance Company with participation from China-based companies like China Railway Supply Chain Group, IDG Capital, and Ti Capital, indicating strong investor interest in unlocking value across the Chinese manufacturing market.
“JUSDA provides visibility across every step of the supply chain. The supply chains today witness a lot of delays, and if you peel back the layers, you would see that they are necessarily something that transportation companies, 3PLs, or warehouses cannot control – situations like bad weather, delayed ships and congested ports,” said Jack Chang, the managing director of JUSDA USA.
“But when you get to the manufacturing side, you see that if components showed up on time, then manufacturing could be on time, which means the products could have sailed early, and would have reached the market faster. So if no one is tracking the supply chain of components coming to the manufacturer, it delays production and assembly, and also delays freight from being available for pickup from the manufacturer to the end consumer.”
Manufacturing cycles are long, meaning that the forecasting on what will be manufactured is zeroed in many months before work commences on the floor. Chang outlined that if there is no visibility into the sourcing of components, it inevitably leads to delays across every supply chain node.
“JUSDA was founded based on the principles and guidelines of the Foxconn lean supply chain management, that calls for keeping things of the most optimal quantity to ensure that supply chains and inventories are lean, with the final outcome being the consumer getting the product as quickly as possible,” said Chang.
“Our deep domain experience with Foxconn helps us in managing the supply chain of raw materials coming into factories to be assembled. Since you have fixed costs with regard to manufacturing – in terms of labor, location, and power needs – you know when the finished goods will be assembled based on when the components arrive.”
JUSDA has more than a 1,000 direct customers and partners with well over 3,000 warehouses and hubs. JUSDA’s clients get actionable intelligence on when they will get their products, and if the manufacturers are keeping up with their manufacturing cycles. JUSDA is authorized to act as the supply chain and logistics arm of Foxconn, negotiating on its behalf with ocean and air freight, surface transportation, customs brokerage and warehouse solutions.
“When we have a need in the market that is not being fulfilled by a third-party logistics company, JUSDA takes the initiative and puts a warehouse in there to support Foxconn in expanding into that particular market.”
Chang spoke about how digitization of supply chains is a topic of intense contention in the industry today. He insisted that to effectively digitize the network it is crucial to trace every single component that goes to the manufacturing floor, without which a complete snapshot of the final product is not possible.
“In North America, you see a lot of concern related to national security with electronic products – on the brands, and where the materials to build them are sourced at the component level,” he said. “This is the type of visibility we seek at JUSDA, and it is very relevant to today’s day and age. This is a complicated problem, and we bring value by being able to help guide large brands evaluate their complete supply chain.”