Schaeffler's Tuan Vi on addressing visibility gaps and fragmentation in Southeast Asia
At ALSC ASEAN 2026, Schaeffler's Tuan Vi joined Automotive Logistics on the Red Sofa to discuss visibility gaps and regulatory fragmentation across Southeast Asia, while explaining how the company plans to scale up a successful AI-powered data collection pilot in Vietnam to improve supply chain visibility across the region.
On the Red Sofa at ALSC ASEAN 2026, Tuan Vi, vice president of supply chain management and logistics for Asia Pacific at Schaeffler, continued to discuss some of the topics he covered during the panel discussion he participated in, which focused on reducing the visibility gap and enhancing end-to-end transparency in Southeast Asia.
Vi highlighted the challenges of managing supply chains across a region that is characterised by fragmented customs procedures, regulatory differences and varying levels of logistics digitalisation. He explained that these differences create visibility gaps in cross-border transport, particularly where shipments are subject to changes in trucks, drivers and regulatory fees.
However, he said that visibility challenges are not limited to external logistics operations, noting that Schaeffler also faces internal barriers when it comes to sharing information, with teams across the region holding information that is not necessarily accessible to colleagues elsewhere in the business.
"Of course, everyone is talking about that kind of control tower," Vi said, explaining that consolidating information held by individual teams would provide greater transparency across the region.
Standardising customs and data exchange
Vi said that greater standardisation of customs procedures and digitalisation across Southeast Asian countries would help address some of the external visibility challenges facing logistics operations.
He pointed to differences in logistics performance across the region, highlighting Singapore's comparatively straightforward customs procedures as an example of what other countries could work towards.
"From an external perspective, the first thing that would be great to address would be to make the whole customs procedure the same across every country – in terms of digitalisation as well," he said.
He also emphasised the importance of improving communication and information sharing between internal teams and external logistics partners. For example, when a customs broker in Vietnam confirms that a shipment has been cleared, that milestone should be visible to relevant teams across the wider regional network, rather than being accessible to just one individual.
Vi said that making such information consistently available would help establish a more standardised approach to shipment visibility, regardless of the country in which a particular logistics milestone takes place.
AI pilot targets fragmented inbound data
One practical example of Schaeffler's efforts to improve visibility is a pilot project in Vietnam, which uses AI to extract and organise information from unstructured inbound supply chain data.
Vi explained that important shipment information is often contained in emails and documents received from suppliers and logistics service providers. This information is also necessary for customs clearance, but extracting it and making it accessible to the wider team has traditionally required considerable manual effort.
He said the Vietnam operation receives around 2,000 emails per week, containing different documents and information that can change as shipments progress. For example, an invoice might be updated or the quantity of goods being shipped might change, requiring teams to manually retrieve and redistribute the latest information.
To address this, Schaeffler has adopted an AI tool developed in collaboration with German startup Holocene. The software reads information contained in emails and documents, converts it into structured data and makes it available through a visibility platform, allowing teams to monitor inbound shipments.
Vi said the project had progressed from a successful proof of concept to a successful pilot in Vietnam, with the ultimate aim of extending the solution across Southeast Asia.
He explained that the technology could also help Schaeffler consolidate information currently held by its geographically dispersed teams, enabling the company to establish a centralised control tower.
"With Holocene and that software, I see us being capable of running a control tower and enabling a centralised team to have this kind of transparency and take the necessary actions on each of the shipments," he said.
Vi said that scaling the Vietnam pilot across Southeast Asia would be a key priority over the next six to 12 months, alongside keeping pace with developments in AI and identifying further applications that could support Schaeffler's regional teams.
He stressed that the ultimate objective of improving visibility is not simply to know where shipments are, but also to be able to execute them and take the right actions when necessary.
Watch the full Red Sofa interview with Schaeffler's Tuan Vi from ALSC ASEAN 2026.
