Mining Weekly

The African logistics indus-try can benefit from using new logistics information technology (IT), as this will enable companies to make business decisions based on facts and not assumptions, says supply chain industry specialised software solutions provider Dovetail.

“Logistics IT enables com-panies to maintain appropriate and accurate data capturing. It also leads to decreased costs, as a result of route optimisation, as well as to automatic stocktaking, tracking and tracing capabilities and automatic delivery notifications,” says Dovetail business development director Shermandra Singh.

He tells Mining Weekly that some of the challenges currently facing the African logistics industry include a lack of road and rail infrastructure and a shortage of skilled professionals to manage and maintain new developments and technologies.

“Owing to the condition of the road infrastructure, it is costly for transport and courier companies to maintain fleets, leaving companies with limited options regarding transportation modes,” says Singh.

He adds that it is important for companies to ensure that their staff receive adequate training to use new technologies to ensure a return on investment.

Another challenge is that supply chains in Africa are mostly still manual. “This affects efficiency and limits the ability to be cost effective,” Singh says, adding that, in First World countries, warehouses use minimal physical labour and processes are automated.

Solutions
Singh believes logistics com-panies in Africa need to imple-ment logistics software, such as document management and billing management software, to help them automate administrative processes, enabling them to save time and be efficient in their operations.

“They also need to use track-and-trace technologies, such as transport and warehouse management software, to monitor the goods in their supply chain and automatically feed this information into their in-house systems to help reduce the costs of operations and make administration processes easier. It also increases the security of the goods.”

Singh adds that fleet manage-ment software will also enable companies to control driver behaviour, fuel costs and vehicle maintenance. “A company’s vehicles can thereby be operated in a way that helps it save money and increases productivity.”

He tells Mining Weekly that using the appropriate technology makes a big difference when it comes to managing and streamlining a supply chain. “It is, therefore, a positive development that Africa has made great strides in increasing Internet access, with the continent’s bandwidth mark constantly increasing.”

Singh highlights that the increasing bandwidth not only makes it easier for African countries to communicate with global stakeholders but also makes information more accessible to the African business environment, subsequently enabling companies to become aware of the technologies available, how their supply chains need to improve to compete in global markets and the technologies being used to streamline supply chain processes.