How Does Your Business Rank in Supply Chain Visibility?

Although supply chain visibility (SCV) has been in existence in some form or another since the 1990s, businesses have not used it to its full advantage. There are many reasons for this, among them:

- Supply chain management is a big investment for a business, especially when it’s not a core growth function.
- Businesses don’t have a clear grasp on what SCV means.
- It’s difficult for businesses to gain total insight and control of supply chain visibility.
- SCV continually evolves based on business demands and market trends, so businesses can't keep up with it.
- Businesses do not have the internal IT infrastructure to support it.

If your business is weak in supply chain visibility, your best option may be a third-party logistics (3PL) provider. Here are some guidelines to use to help you make that decision.

Supply Chain Visibility Definition

First, let’s start with a basic definition and then delve deeper into what SCV is and isn’t.

Supply Chain Visibility is the process of tracking parts, components, and products from the manufacturer to their final destination.

Supply Chain Visibility IS:

- A real-time means of knowing where your inventory is at any given moment.
- A method to capture and integrate data, sense environments, validate the information, and create intelligence for making materials, capital, and other informational decisions pertinent to the supply chain flow.
- Actionable information that can help those along the supply chain, from supplier to end customer.
- A means to enhance the supply chain by making data more readily available to all, including stakeholders and the customer.
- A way to facilitate quick responses to change by empowering users to take action, such as redirecting supply or addressing demand.
- A process that can be measured for effectiveness.
- A support function that can improve processes and remove redundancies.
- A return on investment (ROI).

Supply Chain Visibility IS NOT:

- The same thing as business intelligence.
- Technology, software, or an application, although they do make it easier to perform.

Evaluate Your Company’s SCV

There are five key components necessary to achieve effective supply chain visibility. See how high your business ranks in each category. A “yes” response means your business is ready to take full advantage of supply chain visibility.

- *Do all departments within your company work collaboratively? *By working collaboratively rather than in silos, your company can better define where it needs to be and how it can get there. With open lines of communication, you can identify the extent of visibility that’s important to the customers you serve.
- *Does everyone in your business understand the visibility needs of each stakeholder in your supply chain? *This is vital for determining how to better manage the data to identify gaps, optimize processes, lower costs, and reduce inefficiencies. Before enhancing SCV, you need to know how your decisions will impact all parties involved in the supply chain.
- *Does your business invest in technology? *Supply chain visibility requires a technology infrastructure and corresponding resources to gather the necessary information and act upon it. If your business doesn’t have the infrastructure to execute SCV, partnering with a third-party logistics (3PL) provider would be the best route to take.
- *Has your company established key performance indicators (KPIs)? *Clearly defined goals with measurable benchmarks are necessary to determine the effectiveness of your supply chain visibility efforts.
- *Do you have a trusting relationship with your vendors? *Your business needs to have a secure and trusting relationship with the service providers who are part of your supply chain, for example the raw materials vendor, the manufacturer, the distributor, the public warehouse, distribution, etc. By sharing this data with them, you are trusting these parties to do their part in helping you achieve your KPIs.

The 3PL Role in Supply Chain Visibility

Since SCV tasks are generally handled by warehousing, distribution, and logistics, business may be better served in this capacity by a third-party logistics provider.

Some of the benefits you can realize are:

- Unified logistics;
- Preventing issues from occurring;
- Faster processes;
- The ability to make real-time adjustments to keep your supply chain on track;
- Savings in time and money.

Brendamour Warehousing, Distribution & Services can show you how we can enhance your supply chain visibility so your business runs more smoothly in the most effective and efficient manner.

Contact Brendamour today to make sure your business gets the most out of its supply chain visibility.