Supply chain visibility of the future

Complexity in the supply chain leads to indecisiveness, and disruption leads to dependency. Such challenges worsen with the lack of visibility and transparency across the supply chain. Decreased productivity and proficiency, increased organizational and operational costs, etc., all affect a brand’s reputation because of unsatisfied customers. However, if a logistics provider has control over their operations with complete visibility into every movement of their supply chain system, the game is changed.

As per a survey mentioned in Statista, most of the electronic manufactures cited 2-4 weeks delay in their supply chain.

In another report, Parisa Kamali and Alex (Shiyao) Wang from International Monetary Fund (IMF) shared the association between longer delivery time resulting from disruptions. The chart demonstrates the supply chain turmoil in the US and EU due to longer delivery times.

Also, note that the delay is just not getting introduced at the transit, but is a result of multiple factors such as raw material shortage, manufacturing delays, labour problems, etc

The rising emphasis on end-to-end visibility is being talked about by every supply chain expert now. Given the current pandemic situation, it has become the need of the hour. As an operations manager or supply chain lead, you cannot proceed if you cannot view your process. It is as simple as saying you can’t improve something you can’t see. The current visibility solution also demands just not the visibility on the overall supply chain, but also requires visibility on the events impacting the supply chain and associate milestones.

So, what is end-to-end visibility in the supply chain, and why is it so important. In an ideal situation, it is having access to detailed order status data such as order receipt by the supplier, status of raw materials, the status of the manufacturing process, the status of delivery, the status of shipping, custom and regulatory information, in real-time. You may think that is given in almost all logistics organizations, but data shows that only a few fully achieve this degree of sophistication.

So how is this possible? How can supply chain managers attain complete real-time visibility into their operations?

I would state Lora Cecere here. In one of her articles, she points that for enterprises to attain a “true” supply chain visibility, they need to move beyond what is happening there. In other words, leveraging prescriptive analytics will inform about the status and help with “informed decision making”. The new-age technologies play a significant role here. With the world moving online, supply chains of today are forced to face large data inflow, and hence increased need to organize, analyze, and predict. Technologies such as ML and data science, help with analysis, and prepare for fluctuations, and cushion the blow.

The traditional process of monitoring the inflow and outflow of goods might become inefficient in these changing times. Information powered by a visibility solution that proactively delivers a real-time status with smart reporting is the future of the supply chain. In most cases, the involvement of new-age technologies can also reduce human error and help operators with tedious and error-prone workflows. Where does your supply chain control tower stand? Do you have visibility into your systems, or you are those few companies who have the power to analyze the future along with complete end-to-end visibility? Either of which, you are on the path to success. However, if you still do not have visibility of your operations in real-time at all, it is time to invest in new-age technologies and leverage historical and real-time data and events to pave the path for supply chains of the future.
Cozentus supply chain experts and consultants have been simplifying the supply chain for over 25 years and changing the game of logistics enterprises. Our resilient, agile, and flexible approach has successfully modernized the supply chain and logistic processes of global 3PL and 4PL leaders. We have developed algorithms to analyze historical data and come up with accurate predictions on various supply chain events helping organizations plan effectively.   Learn how we adopt smart principles and deliver end-to-end visibility into the supply chain ecosystem. Request a meeting with our supply chain consultants and discuss ways we can power up your supply chain. Join our conversation on LinkedIn.