A SYMBIOTIC SUPPLY CHAIN
In the natural world, there are systems and environments where mutualism is not only beneficial but vital to survival. We find those same beneficial relationships within our communities and businesses in concepts like mutualistic sustainability, which incorporates natural elements into the structures of cities, or even startup businesses built on another’s technology platform, ensuring neither can grow without the other. 

And we also find mutual symbiosis in the supply chain. Distribution and transportation, naturally harmonized to the ebb of inbound and outbound workflows, require a balanced harmony to achieve peak productivity and efficiency of automation and workforce resources. Unfortunately, legacy portfolio supply chain architectures prevent that harmony.

The rise of early-generation warehouse management systems (WMS) and transportation management systems (TMS) also marked the beginning of the artificial separation of inbound and outbound into subcategories of distribution and transportation. The TMS only worked between shipment origins and destinations. Instead of considering outbound holistically, the WMS focused only on the efficiency and productivity within the four walls of the warehouse independent of the incoming or outgoing shipping activity, and vice versa.

Over time, these systems became more complex and more siloed in their processing. Not only were distribution and transportation separated, but even workflows within a single distribution center were being separated. Labor management and automation execution systems were often managed outside the warehouse management system that controlled inventory and demand. The result? A portfolio of solutions, often from different vendors with different architectures and version cycles, that require different approaches to integration, modification and upgrades. Access to innovation stagnated and the burden of support and management grew.

It’s time for something better.

A UNIFIED FUTURE
Manhattan’s Active supply chain management software represents a true future system convergence across every element of distribution and transportation. But nothing is possible without the extraordinary Manhattan Active technology that powers these solutions. Manhattan Active Supply Chain is a single, cloud-native application that includes Manhattan Active Warehouse Management, Manhattan Active Labor Management and Manhattan Active Transportation Management. It automatically scales when needed, never requires upgrading and is fully extensible at the UI, data and network levels with more than ten thousand APIs available. It also receives new features and updates every 90 days that never break your extensions, so it never ever needs upgrading.

Manhattan solutions (perfect for global supply chain management) are the culmination of more than a decade of work to bring the key elements of the supply chain back into harmony, to restore the natural flow of inbound and outbound. Unlike traditional ‘control towers’, Manhattan Active solutions have no integration and no delays. They offer rich, real-time data visualizations and the ability to act immediately because insight and execution are in the same solutions.

The ability to accept order changes right up until the trailer door slams shut, or dynamically adjust warehouse receiving labor staffing based upon real-time inbound transportation activity, are just the beginning of what is possible when you break down the silos of legacy supply chain.