The Consumer Brands Association announced that it has brought together 23 consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies and retailers to launch a new task force that will study the impact of a contactless pick-up and delivery protocol to create greater efficiencies and reduce employee risk during deliveries. The Contactless Delivery Task Force brings together manufacturers, supply chain partners and retailers to develop scalable, uniform standards for safely transporting and exchanging freight, with an initial focus on electronic bills of lading (eBOL).
“COVID-19 challenged CPG companies to keep their supply chains moving efficiently and their workers healthy in a tremendously difficult environment,” said Tom Madrecki, Consumer Brands vice president, supply chain and logistics. “As CPG companies identify ways to increase supply chain efficiencies and ensure employee safety, electronic delivery verification through a contactless pick-up and delivery process is a natural solution.”
Transferring from a paper delivery verification system to a digital platform provides safety, productivity and visibility benefits to every employee involved in bringing a product from a manufacturer’s warehouse to the store shelf. Digitization allows back-office personnel to receive real-time updates while working at home as well as lets drivers and recipients practice physical distancing at the point of delivery.
Consumer Brands will unite task force members in supply chain roles throughout the CPG industry to work with its supply chain partners, Accenture and Coyote Logistics along with Vector, a transportation digitization and workflow solutions provider, to implement an end-to-end contactless pick-up and delivery pilot program. The development of this solution will foster better understanding of the data and process standards needed to encourage industry-wide adoption at scale.
Henry Blum, supply chain and operations, Capabilities Network, Accenture, outlines the goal: “As shippers continue to build more efficient and resilient supply chains, the eBOL fills in a gap that many clients have been asking for. The touchless BOL will result in entry error reduction, increased visibility to OS&Ds, drive lower transportation costs and benefit their green footprint.”
