In the wake of a global pandemic and production delays, companies are naturally keeping a closer eye on their supply chains.
Supply chain disruption is currently ranked as the top third economic risk, according to the latest McKinsey Global Survey, only after geopolitical instability and inflation. The risk is even more apparent in certain industries, such as consumer and packaged goods, pharmaceuticals, and automotive and assembly.
To gain better control over their operations, companies have started investing in supply chain visibility. Tracking inventory as it moves between locations to the final customer helps address any issues before they happen and strengthen the overall supply chain.
What is supply chain visibility?
Supply chain visibility (or SCV) is the ability to track any part, product, or other physical assets in real time as it moves along a company’s supply chain.
For manufacturers, this usually means tracking raw material procurement from suppliers to wholesale distributors. For retailers, on the other hand, supply chain visibility usually spans from distributors or wholesalers to end customers.
No matter what the process, supply chain visibility involves thorough tracking across all locations, including those operated by partners or other third parties. Some of the data typically collected are customer information, order status, shipment rates, delivery schedules, audit records, and the like.
By increasing transparency at every step, supply chain visibility gives companies the information needed to prevent potential disruptions, streamline workflows, and fulfill more customer orders.
4 Benefits of supply chain visibility
Modern supply chain strategy has grown increasingly complex. As more companies continue to outsource key functions and expand their products and services, end-to-end supply chain visibility becomes even more important to managing operations.
Prevent potential disruptions
Even the simplest supply chains involve a succession of steps to get products to customers. The more links in the supply chain network, the less control a company has at each step and the more vulnerable it is to blind spots and oversight.
Supply chain visibility brings all critical details and real-time data in one place. By
providing clarity across the entire supply chain, it becomes easier to catch any shortages or bottlenecks before they happen, preventing greater disruptions down the line.
Ensure regulatory compliance
As with other areas of business, there are legal requirements that need to be met for a company to operate in certain locations. Trade agreements, labor laws, and local government tariffs are particularly important to the supply chain as companies expand their operations.
With full visibility across your supply chain, it becomes easier to pinpoint local issues and come up with solutions specific to the area.
Meet customer expectations
As customer demands shift and expectations heighten, it’s a company's responsibility to adjust its supply chain.
The current industry standard of providing fast delivery with real-time notifications can only be achieved with an optimized supply chain. Supply chain visibility enables companies to discover opportunities to speed up processes, improve communication, and build a system that effectively increases customer satisfaction.
Stay ahead of the competition
All products sold to customers pass through the supply chain, which makes it the perfect area to establish a competitive advantage. For example, there may be ways to consolidate shipment routes or streamline the total steps needed to fulfill customer orders.
By creating clarity across the supply chain, companies are able to reduce in-transit costs and inefficiencies, respond to market forecasts at a faster rate, and increase competitiveness in the market.
How to get a clearer picture of your supply chain
There are several ways to increase visibility throughout the supply chain, depending on how your business is set up. Here are a few proven methods to add more clarity to your supply chain operations:
Review all existing processes
Before working on visibility, a company needs to map out its supply chain from start to finish. Get all departments on board to discuss what necessary metrics to track and how each step connects through the supply chain. By showing key stakeholders the importance of supply chain visibility, it enables the entire company to continue improving its process.
Establish dedicated visibility resources
While visibility is a company-wide effort, it can be easily neglected once routine operations are underway. Putting key supply chain leaders in charge of the initiative, and giving them clear objectives and KPIs, ensures that supply chain visibility remains a priority and will drive continued benefits for your company in the long run.
Implement software that offers supply chain visibility
The right type of supply chain management software is highly dependent on your company. Do you handle a high number of shipments that require GPS traceability? Or does your warehouse use scannable barcodes or other RFIDs to track inventory levels?
It’s important to find a management platform that not only integrates with your current processes, but also offers a way to pull data from external suppliers or partner systems. The right tool will seamlessly align with every step and l deliver the detailed analytics needed to optimize your supply chain processes.
How QuickBooks gives you clear visibility into your business
The key to effective supply chain visibility is having all the right information in the right place. With comprehensive order management software like QuickBooks, companies have a full view of the entire supply chain at their fingertips.
All the inner workings, from warehouse and inventory management to complete cost tracking, are instantly monitored on the platform. A selection of tools and automations are also available to adapt to your specific supply chain, no matter how simple or complex the existing structure.
By combining all major areas of the supply chain and tracking every data point in real time, QuickBooks offers an effective supply chain visibility solution and increases awareness throughout your business.
Final thoughts
Every company can benefit from having greater visibility into its supply chain. While it requires some initial planning and effort to implement, the added transparency and access to supply chain data are well worth it.
By taking steps toward end-to-end visibility and aligning your teams with accurate data, your company is better equipped to improve its supply chain resilience, customer satisfaction, and sustain profitability as it grows.
