ASHFONN

Replace flawed supply chains of the pre-CV19 era with digitalised platforms collaboratively sharing assets.They will be,connected,open, simple to use and drive savings of the order of 30%.

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Inspiration

The inspiration to take part in the Hackathon and to propose our project-ASHFONN is that unlike other industries such as ride-hailing (Uber, Lift etc), and travel, (Amadeus), the supply chain industry has failed to widely adopt the huge benefits which digitalisation has demonstrated in those other sectors. The inability for the logistics industry to step up and meet the challenge of the CV panmedic of delivering PPE to a vastly increased number of locations should not have been so difficult with the right systems and access to the >25% of trucks running empty. The ASHFONN project - (Asset SHaring FOr the New Normal) The hypothesis for the project assumes that the future (post -Coronavirus) will be very different from the (pre-Coronavirus past). This also assumes that there will be some forms of containment and restrictions in place even after we exit the current lockdowns. Pre CV supply chains will be broken at worst and compromised at least. It is almost certain that there will be more onshoring of mission-critical products. The good news is that this will grow the overall European logistics market but with pre-CV levels of inefficiency (where truck efficiency due to empty miles and freight imbalance is <50%).ooking at long term growth with the onshoring added, this is totally unsustainable in both infrastructure and cost. ASHFONN proposes to capitalise on these changed conditions to build a digitalised solution to drive efficiency for the “New Normal”. Using the expertise of ELUPEG Limited (Europe’s first and still market leader in Horizontal Collaboration in the supply chain), www.elupeg.com combined with TGMatrix’s Digital Freight Matching platform, to match supply and demand in close to real-time. www.tgmatrix.com, the output from the EU funded ICONET project www.iconet_eu which has researched the Physical Internet (PI) and how ICONET, can contribute such that ASHFONN will provide the logistics industry with collaborative tools to allow shippers and carriers to share assets and automatically optimise across the European road, rail and short sea shipping freight industry with a potential to reduce shippers costs by 5-50%, carriers to double their margins by increased asset utilisation, through reducing empty running by >30% and European citizens to reduce the effects of emissions of CO2e, NO2 and particulates by >20%.

Together this solution will allow European business to come out of the CV era with the potential to reach and then exceed pre-CV performance. With the potential to save >€150Bn, in operating costs, reduce emissions by 20% and congestion by 20%, the size of the prize is enormous. Whilst ASHFONN does not address the “here and now” of CV it will provide a basis of rapid and efficient recovery. Let’s use the time before lockdown exit to prepare ourselves for an efficient and resourceful New Normal.

The project is looking for AI & ML expertise. Other partners who can help to disseminate our hypothesis across Europe are also welcome. Brian Bolam FCILT Vice-Chairman ELUPEG Limited brian.bolam@tgmatrix.com +44 7770 546236

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Updates

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26th April 2020 Value Proposition Framework – ASHFONN – Asset Sharing for the New Normal.

For: Large, medium & SME businesses emerging from the Coronavirus lockdown into a changed, “new normal” environment of supply chain logistics

Who: We can be certain that the release of businesses from CV lockdown will be staggered and disjointed, businesses will emerge into at least, disjointed and at worst totally fractured supply chains? Recovery cannot be completely orchestrated, and people will be looking for fast supplier deliveries to make up the range of products they normally have on offer. Some stock may be out of date and best before dates and use-by dates will need to be checked. and there will be a measure of spoilt product to be removed and then replenished.

Our product: A highly automated, digital freight matching platform driving optimised use of transport assets (trucks, rail & ships) and a fully integrated blockchain freight settlement engine (FactR). Allows businesses to minimise the associated cost of otherwise fragmented supply chains and to increase their fulfilment of transport assets. Our solution accommodates less than truck/container loads (LTL/LCL) by matching freight from different shippers and driving a modal shift from road to rail & waterways. Transforms transport planning productivity (now one planner can manage circa 15 trucks daily whereas with the matching engine it rises to >100 trucks per planner). Current empty kilometres are >25% and “full” trucks are on average <60% full, leading to an average utilisation of ~43%.

That Provides: Greater speed and cost-effective recovery from the closure of businesses during CV pandemic. Offers the prospect of a “V” shaped economic recovery with one of businesses highest costs: transport, significantly reduced for the largest enterprises to SME’s. The savings are of the order of €150 Bn from the digitalisation /modal shift and a similar amount through not having to build new infrastructure to accommodate the forecast growth. Reductions in congestion (fewer trucks due to removal of empty km) circa 20% and similar reductions in CO2e, NO2 and particulates.

Unlike: Pre CV, inefficient and highly polluting supply chains with overall truck efficiency of <50% to the “New Normal”, underpinned by a fully digitalised solution that is fit for purpose and will allow the forecast future growth in freight transport of 40% by 2040 to be accommodated using existing infrastructure. The alternative approaches seem to be highly manual transport exchanges or e-brokers who add little value but add up to 30% on costs per transaction.

Our product/ solution: Points of differentiation from alternatives such as,

  1. pre-CV, inefficient, largely manual solutions
  2. from current <50% efficiency to >80% efficiency through real-time digitalised and algorithmic driven matching.
  3. highly automated and totally objective, algorithmic matching as opposed to highly manual, subjective, legacy IT systems.
  4. blockchain-based solution for financial settlement with <24 hours account settlement versus anything from 30-120 days settlement now.
  5. use of smart contracts to monitor the progress of supply chains in close to real-time for security and a single version of the truth to settle claims.
  6. Incorporate learnings from the EU funded ICONET research and innovation project which has researched the “Physical Internet” (PI). The Physical Internet is similar to the data internet but tied to physical objects moving around in the real world.

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