As the coronavirus pandemic continues to expose weaknesses in the global supply chain, logistics companies are engaged in a massive effort to build out solutions that can better absorb current and future shocks to the system.
Neurored, a digital supply chain solutions provider native to the Salesforce CRM platform, is responding to the crisis by launching a network on which companies can find and source critical supplies, such as personal protective equipment (PPE), as well as speed production and shipping.
This “critical supply chain network,” according to Joe Hudicka, Neurored’s managing director, expands the 10-year-old company’s service offerings, adding a new layer of resilience to its existing software platform.
“We wanted to continue providing a way for customers to be digitally connected with their customers and partners,” Hudicka told FreightWaves. “But we wanted to add resiliency to that, so customers could adapt to unanticipated market conditions and find and establish new relationships.”
Headquartered in Madrid, with offices in the U.S. and Asia, Neurored’s software provides end-to-end visibility and supply chain management to a wide range of companies: freight forwarders, manufacturers, terminal operators, carriers, sourcing specialists and more.
Shipments can be tracked globally across all modes of transport, and with real-time data access, users get immediate notification of any changes and can take corrective action easily on any device, including smartphones, tablets and PCs.
The new network, Hudicka explained, addresses continuing demand for PPE, with new manufacturers, shippers and purchasers entering the market daily. But these emerging buyers aren’t used to having to look for and source product, he said, and current supply chain relationships can’t keep up.
“This is at the heart of why we established the critical supply chain network. Because you need a way to network in new and emerging buyers and suppliers and ethically responsible transportation specialists that aren’t going to price gouge in critical times.”
The system connects manufacturers, sourcing agents and freight forwarders to more quickly supply PPE to health care facilities, nonprofits, NGOs, government agencies and businesses.
As such, it operates as a kind of private freight marketplace, one that allows each customer to invite its own participants into the system. Additionally, Neurod offers a more open network that customers can choose to join — “a network of networks,” Hudicka said.
The critical supply chain network officially launched on May 27, but in a press release Neurored said Kaelis Group and DG International have already created networks on the platform to source and ship millions of units of PPE to their respective customers, including businesses and health care organizations in the U.S., U.K., Spain and Mexico.
With the new system, Neurored aims to bring together participants in “vital” industries, Hudicka emphasized. Nevertheless, he added, we’re living in a “transformative” time, and the network is expected to endure after the pandemic ends.
At some point in the future, Neurored expects “the word ‘critical’ to fall off, yielding, simply, “the digital network,” a feature that gives companies an easy and secure way to find each other and keep goods flowing in an increasingly complex global supply chain environment.