Rivals appear ready to collaborate

Rivals appear ready to collaborate    Most manufacturers and retailers would be willing to collaborate on supply chain activities with a direct competitor, according to a panel organized by the U.K.-based Shippers' Voice at the Multimodal Exhibition in Birmingham, England this week.
   The panel included analysts from Transport Intelligence and Drewry Shipping Consultants as well as from The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA).
   The panel's consensus was that companies were seeking collaboration, but that the definition of collaboration 'was not so clear.'
   Joel Ray, a director with Transport Intelligence, presented the results of a survey that showed 94 percent of respondents would be willing to collaborate with a major competitor in terms of their supply chain.
   “About 40 percent had already done so in the past and most saw transport, rather than warehousing, as the main area with potential for collaboration,” he said.
   Ray added that the vast majority of those who would consider collaboration said they would need to do it through a third party in order to maintain commercial confidentiality.
   “Ninety percent say that 3PLs could play an important role in brokering and managing the process,” he said.
   Daniel Fernandez, secretary general of TIACA, said new security rules would also drive more visibility and closer collaboration through the supply chain. But he stressed that “lots of sacred cows,” in terms of cooperation and collaboration, would have to be looked at again for it to work in any meaningful sense.
   There was one dissenting voice. Philip Damas, director of Drewry Supply Chain Advisors, said that while everyone talks about partnership and collaboration, it very rarely happens in the true sense.
   “In many cases it is simply a vendor-supplier transactional relationship,' he said. “Collaboration is a mostly marketing speak. Maybe about 10 percent of it is real collaboration and added value.”