DSV's Adam Jones on the changing role of logistics service providers and how trusted partnerships unlock greater agility for OEMs

As the supply chain landscape changes in response to disruption such as geopolitical instability, extreme weather conditions and more, so too must the relationships between OEMs and their supply chain partners change.

"I think the role of 3PLs or supply chain companies has changed," said Adam Jones, senior commercial director at DSV, joining Automotive Logistics on the Red Sofa at the ALSC United Kingdom event. "Instead of just being transactional businesses that you deal with, they're actually becoming risk avoidance for businesses now."

He pointed towards capacity as one example of this. "Capacity is no longer fixed – everybody's wanting flexible capacity, especially in the UK," he said, noting that DSV is also redesigning networks to avoid disruption, exploring opportunities with multimodal freight, for example.

What does a good partnership look like?

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When it comes to establishing a valuable partnership between an OEM and its logistics partner, Jones stated that the biggest priority for the logistics company should be to become a "trusted enabler", convincing the OEM to trust it to make decisions quickly with the OEM's best interests at heart.

However, he noted that this is not always easy, as shifting away from more traditional transactional partnerships takes time and trust between the two parties. Being proactive – anticipating and adapting to potential disruptions – is key to earning that trust and developing more agility in the supply chain together.

"It's hard for OEMs to let go," Jones said. "The more you demonstrate agility, deliver a good quality service and show that you're looking after the customers and the business, the more you get trusted to make some of those decisions."

The control tower approach

As disruption becomes more frequent and harder to predict, Jones argued that logistics providers need greater visibility across the entire supply chain in order to respond quickly and effectively. This has prompted DSV to move towards a control tower approach.

"Because DSV does air, sea, road and contract logistics, we can see things happening before they happen or while they're happening," Jones explained. 

This visibility allows DSV to flex capacity, switch transport modes and reroute freight away from congestion when necessary. It also enables more intelligent prioritisation of shipments, ensuring the most critical parts reach production lines or aftermarket operations when they are needed most.

"We are working with customers to prioritise freight," Jones said. "Some things need to be on the production line, need to be in an aftermarket environment. But there's some areas that actually can hold them at point of origin or you can reroute them and use a maybe slower method of transport."

By taking a holistic view of the supply chain rather than managing individual shipments in isolation, Jones said companies can improve resilience while maintaining service levels during periods of disruption.

"We've seen a lot of benefits of looking at supply chain as a whole and making sure we're prioritising the right things at the right time for customers," he said.

Managing congestion through smarter inventory and transport decisions

International supply chains continue to face pressure from geopolitical tensions, changing trade flows and growing volumes moving through key transport corridors. According to Jones, these challenges are making inventory management and transport planning more important than ever.

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He pointed to the growing presence of Chinese vehicle manufacturers in Europe as one factor increasing pressure on existing trade lanes.

"If you look at the influx of Chinese OEMs that are coming, it's definitely put more pressure, more volume into those trade lanes," he said.

Rather than simply reacting to bottlenecks once they occur, DSV works with customers to assess inventory requirements and determine the most appropriate transport mode for different shipments. This can involve shifting freight between air, sea and road transport, delaying non-critical shipments or adjusting inventory strategies to prevent congestion.

However, Jones stressed that these decisions are only possible when customers are willing to share information and trust their logistics partners to act in their best interests. 

And the benefits of more flexible planning, Jones said, can extend beyond resilience and service continuity; it can also lower costs and help companies reduce emissions.

Decision-making is the real bottleneck

Looking ahead, Jones argued that supply chain leaders should focus less on transactional supplier relationships and more on empowering partners to act quickly when disruption occurs.

According to Jones, many of the delays and inefficiencies seen during supply chain disruptions are not caused by transport constraints themselves, but by slow decision-making processes.

"We definitely see the most blockages, when it comes to risk or anything that happens in supply chain that causes issue, is a decision-making process about what to do about it," he said.

Rather than waiting for OEM approval on every operational adjustment, Jones suggested companies establish clear boundaries that allow logistics providers to act independently when disruptions arise.

"Give them that little bit of control and guidance that if some things happen, they make the decision but if other things happen, they should come and talk to you about it," he said.

By empowering logistics partners to be proactive, companies can often mitigate disruption before it affects production or customers, sometimes even before partners know about it.