USC partners with U.S. Department of Commerce on the digital supply chain

It’s not every day that supply chains make national news, including an agreement with the government, unless it involves a product recall. Yet, an important partnership agreement between the U.S. Department of Commerce and the USC Marshall Center for Global Supply Chain Management signed on October 14 went largely unnoticed.

The signing event brought together U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, Nick Vyas, the executive director of USC Marshall’s Center for Global Supply Chain Management and James G. Ellis, the dean of the business school. The goal of the project is to “allow for collaboration on digitalization of the nation’s supply chains, including applications related to IoT (Internet of Things),” according to the press release.

“Through this new partnership, we hope to encourage ports around the country to increase efficiency by adopting new technologies that will provide more information on the flow of goods to port users and stakeholders,” Secretary Pritzker said at the time. “The ability to move cargo quickly through our ports is critical to national and regional trade, economic growth, and our nation’s overall competitiveness.”

I had a chance to talk by phone with Nick Vyas, a contributor to SCMR, after the event was over. I asked him what he thought were the challenges facing our country from a supply chain perspective and what were the opportunities going forward.

“The challenge is that over the last 20 to 25 years, we have lost our edge in the supply chain matrix,” Vyas said. “Infrastructure, innovation and automation: Each of these are categories where we used to be in the Top 10 globally and we’re no longer in the Top 25. So, the questions is how do we continue to innovate, evolve and became a leader again on a global basis.”

The opportunity, he added, “is that we have this digital world that has evolved over the last 20 years and continues to evolve at an incredible rate. In addition, you have the physical movement of goods because of globalization. If we can create the standards for the sharing of data, considering confidentiality and what has to be protected, then we will be able to connect the silos in the supply chain and the systems within systems.”

Vyas noted that there are efforts underway by individual companies, but the promise of this initiative is to create an ecosystem so that digitization can work within a company and outside of a company with its suppliers and customers. “We’ve never digitized the universe of the supply chain,” he said.

For those working or visiting Los Angeles next month, one of the first steps will be the Port Community IT Systems Exhibition and Technology Challenge at USC on November 18 – 20. As part of that event, the school will sponsor a Hackathon on November 19 where teams of startups and student developers can compete for $15,000 in prizes for innovative new applications and solutions for sharing vital information through Port Community IT Systems. For more information, visit http://www.uscsupplychain.com/digitalsc.