Businesses cannot ignore the importance of supply chain management. Effective supply chain management is critical for smooth operations. It maximizes value and competitive advantage by streamlining the supply chain visibility.
So, what is supply chain management?
Supply Chain Management involves managing and improving each step of the supply chain. From getting raw materials to delivering the final product to customers.
Importance of Supply Chain Management
Effective supply chain management has several benefits. Some are
- Cost Reduction
- Reduced Quality Issues
- Improved profitability
- Competitive advantage
- Better Risk Management
- Improved Customer Satisfaction
Now, we know the importance of logistics and supply chain management. Let’s understand what makes it even better.
Any guesses?
Improving supply chain visibility is the top priority of 55% of manufacturing-based businesses. (Source)
Interesting, isn’t it? Let’s discuss the benefits of SCV in detail.
What is Supply Chain Visibility?
Supply Chain Visibility is the ability to track a Product or Order or Shipment.
From its source to its destination.
What does Supply Chain Visibility do?
SCV strengthens the supply chain process. (in simple words)
But here’s what it actually does.
SCV is a powerful tool that helps businesses manage all tiers of the supply network. It allows companies to keep an eye on each stage of their supply chain. It provides real time and user-specific data to the manufacturers.
Why should you consider integrating Supply Chain Visibility?
The increasing importance of supply chain management makes integrating supply chain visibility essential.
Doubtful? The next section will convince you.
Benefits of Supply Chain Visibility
Here are five ways Supply Chain Visibility can be beneficial.
1. Manage complex supply chain networks
Today, businesses operate globally. They may follow one of many models of logistics and supply chain management.
Bigger business = Bigger supply chain network.
As your market grows, the network becomes complicated. It could even lead to losing track of your products, their supply, demand, and processing.
Enter Supply Chain Visibility!
With the advanced technology of SCV you can supervise your entire network. You can keep close track of your products, supplier network, and market demand.
2. Stay up to date with policies and regulations
Business owners know that Government policies and regulatory demands are always changing. You have to follow the regulations of the country where you’re selling to. The more countries you operate in, the more rules you need to be aware of. Keeping track of changing regulations can be difficult. It may even lead to huge penalties in case of non-adherence to the policies.
Well, not anymore. Supply Chain Visibility to the rescue.
With Supply Chain Visibility, you can track the changing government policies. Even the regulatory demands of all the countries you operate in. Organizations can manage complex shipments across countries with knowledge of their regulatory demands. SCV is particularly helpful when dealing with changing government tariffs and trade agreements. Supply Chain Visibility can solve major issues like compliance failure and stagnant shipments.
3. Plan inventory
Each product follows a supply chain process. Businesses have lakhs of products. Tracking each product can be quite tedious. Without proper tracking, it is impossible to manage the inventory.
However, with Supply Chain Visibility, you can understand and predict the demand. You can manage your inventory in advance! SCV provides real-time data on products. It helps in fetching analytics like “most popular” and “best rated” products.
With the accurate data of every product, you can track and optimize your inventory. You can adopt an inventory model that suits your market, whether domestic or foreign.
Here are 13 tips to optimize inventory management for your business.
4. Gather Customer Feedback
You can get important customer insights and feedback with supply chain visibility. It lets you know what tools or information would be helpful to your customers.
How?
Simple. Email them a simple survey after product delivery. The survey can ask customers how satisfied they are with the delivery process. It can also get feedback about how your company can offer more support to your customer post purchase.
5. Minimize Supply Chain Risks
With supply chain visibility, it becomes easy to identify threats and mitigate them. Problems flagged to the relevant teams early on, can ensure timely interventions.
A transparent supply chain enables frequent and positive communication with purchasers and suppliers. This helps reduce risks and possibility of minor issues escalating to major problems.
Final Thoughts
Supply Chain Visibility has a range of benefits and is essential even with an in-house logistics team.
Every company must develop software to track their products throughout the supply chain. However, implementing it may pose a few challenges. These are solvable with better collaboration, responsiveness, optimization, and connectivity.
iThink Logistics understands the importance of logistics and supply chain management. That’s why we ensure maximum supply chain visibility for our clients. With advanced technologies and expertise in the field, we ensure a smooth integration. Sign up and experience it yourself!
