New emergency logistics service helps automakers get their supply chains Back on Track more cost effectively

Disruption management service keeps production lines running with reduced need for repeated aircraft charters

A new service designed to allow component suppliers to manage the transition between emergency and normal supply chain operation has been introduced by automotive emergency delivery specialist, Evolution Time Critical. The new service, Back-on-Track, reduces the need for repeated aircraft charters and can cut delivery costs by 60 percent in a typical automotive supply disruption situation.

Fines for stopping a car production line through failure to deliver parts on schedule can be as much as 1million per hour. As a result, suppliers often overcome manufacturing delays using chartered aircraft to meet the immediate demand. A significant delay can require repeated charters, however, as the supply chain rolls back into action, leading to spiralling costs.

While aircraft charter is usually the fastest way of getting goods delivered, it is only one of a range of critical delivery modes, explains Brad Brennan, managing director of Evolution Time Critical. The companys new Back-on-Track service makes use of a planned and optimised combination of aircraft, night freighters, express delivery and road transport to ensure that deadlines are met in the most efficient, cost effective way, easing the supply chain back into normal operation.

With Back-on-Track, Evolution Time Critical analyses part availability and the customers required schedule to develop a phased delivery plan. This could mean initial fast, expensive charter flights to deal with backlog, followed by shipments on the companys Europe-wide night freighter network, conventional express air freight services and high speed road deliveries. Finally, the customers standard distribution system takes over as supply schedules return to normal.

The Back-on-Track service is already enabling our customers to quickly and cost effectively recover from supply chain problems, explains Brennan. Recently, a client approached us with a major production delay. They thought they would need more than a week of daily aircraft charters, but our phased delivery plan cut the number of required charters to two, fulfilling the rest of the schedule by other means. The customer met all their deadlines at a fraction of the anticipated cost.