Supply chain disruptions have become a significant hurdle for new data center builds, creating a ripple effect across the high-tech industry. For a variety of reasons, critical components such as semiconductors, servers, and networking equipment are facing significant delays, pushing project timelines back, and escalating costs. As a result, data center operators are reevaluating build strategies, seeking alternative suppliers, and investing in resilience planning to mitigate these impacts. Trangistics’ Hannah Harrer recently sat down with JSA TV to discuss some of these issues in the data center space, and how Trangistics is addressing them.
Meeting The Challenge
In the interview, Harrer discusses how high-tech construction developers and construction contractors are scrambling to adapt swiftly to maintain expansion pace and meet the surging demand for digital infrastructure in the face of mounting logistical obstacles. “The main challenges we see are supply chain delays, costs related to supply chain, and lack of schedule predictability,” notes Harrer. “Timing of material deliveries is a huge issue as delays cost money as well as congestion. Lack of planning can bog the job site down, create chaos, and lead to further delays”. For Harrer, the solution to the risks and costs associated with supply chain disruptions can be mitigated by using a logistics service provider (LSP) like Trangistics, which can reduce shipping costs, create efficiencies in project management, and provide visibility into all charges.
The benefits of an LSP extend to storage, too. Having an LSP manage warehousing and laydown space also provides flexibility and additional savings. Simply put, it’s more affordable to have materials nearby at a warehouse than not have them at all with supply chain delays extending out months or years at times. Perhaps, the biggest advantage, though, is peace of mind. “Having the expertise of our team to handle the heavy lifting for your team means you can have increased time to focus on other areas of their business,” says Harrer, “having a logistics provider like Trangistics allows your team the time and space to focus on the things they do best.”
The Trangistics Way
The secret to Trangistics’ success with high-tech construction is tailoring solutions based on the client, making sure each project receives custom solutions—offering as many or as few logistics services as needed. Oftentimes, a developer or contractor will experience logistics challenges on a large project and, in response, look to Trangistics for a fix. The Trangistics team will then work with the contractor to scope how they can help solve their challenges, examining the problem areas and attacking them first.
These challenges may even include language and culture-based ones. Harrer explains: “A great example of the Trangistics process would be the large semiconductor project we are currently serving in Arizona. We oversee critical inbound logistics, last-mile delivery, warehousing, and inventory management for one of the general contractors.”
The contractor, with many Taiwanese staff and operational aspects, faced an element of cultural divide on their American-based project. To address the issue, Trangistics enlisted the expertise of a professional with 27 years of experience in Taiwanese manufacturing and fluency in Mandarin. “This strategic addition to our team allowed us to bridge cultural divides”, says Harrer “By quickly adapting, we could then facilitate communication in large-scale meetings, improve understanding, and align everyone with a unified understanding of project objectives”.
To learn more about Trangistics and how they’re solving logistics issues for tech construction projects, watch the entire interview here: