What is Supply Chain Visibility (SCV)?
“The visibility of the flow of goods gives the flexibility to expand, move, and manoeuvre around that situation.”
Bernard Hor, CEO of Hatio
Products, as well as the activities and processes that transport them, must be visible at every point in the supply chain.
Supply chain visibility provides business owners with information about the status, location, and movement of commodities at every stage of the supply chain, from the production inventory sourcing to the delivery of finished goods. It is possible to track the movement of items and operations throughout the supply chain with a high degree of SCV.
How increasing SCV can help your business
- Improves overall efficiency
Identifying inefficiencies and optimising the supply chain is considerably easier when you know exactly where, when, and how things are moving. In order to increase supply chain efficiency, a company must identify bottlenecks and delays as soon as possible.
Your supply chain agility and robustness are also boosted by high SCV, as having eyes on important activities enables you to react more quickly to emerging trends or unanticipated calamities.
2. Reduces costs by minimizing waste
Overspending, losing time and missing out on optimization opportunities are all possible if you don’t know how your supply chain works.
For businesses, visibility into inventory management, warehousing procedures, and shipping destinations can lead to significant cost reductions through the identification of areas where modest tweaks can have a significant impact.
You can reduce holding costs by identifying and offloading dead stock, and you can do the same for shipping costs by strategically storing inventory based on order destinations and transit times when you have access to inventory levels.
3. Real-time data = better decisions
Supply chain software that is constantly updated provides real-time data for important supply chain processes. Businesses can make better judgments when they have real-time visibility.
It’s a good illustration of how real-time inventory management can help businesses get the most accurate inventory counts possible, so they know exactly when and how much to order.
A company’s ability to meet consumer demand more effectively can be improved by having real-time data on shipment destinations available.
Components of the supply chain that could benefit from visibility
Increasing supply chain visibility can have a favourable impact on nearly every aspect of the supply chain, although certain areas benefit more than others from SCV.
- Order tracking
As the supply chain becomes more visible, tracking orders from processing through last-mile delivery becomes easier, which benefits both you and your consumers.
When it comes to business, having complete insight of supply chain processes helps you better estimate fulfilment and shipment timelines, and reduce the risk of an order being lost. Order status may be viewed in real-time, orders can be filtered based on status, particular orders can be searched for, and shipment details can be modified on the fly with the correct SCV software.
More accurate delivery time estimates create client expectations and improve satisfaction when satisfied. Good SCV software allows firms to provide tracking numbers and periodic messages to reassure buyers and establish confidence.
2. Inventory management
Many ecommerce organisations rely on unreliable inventory receiving methods, manual stock counts or audits, and speculating about stock levels.
Improving supply chain visibility requires brands to forsake outdated inventory management habits and adopt new, easier ones.
Many firms use inventory management software (IMS) to gain supply chain insight across sites and sales channels. This level of visibility reduces miscounts, helps time restocking, and prevents stockouts.
As your company grows, it’s crucial to improve inventory visibility. With high SCV, you can control operations at every site in your supply chain network, see the entire supply chain and inventory, and boost your business’s efficiency.
Implement warehouse and inventory automation
In order to improve supply chain visibility, automation removes many of the human processes and manpower that make maintaining supply chain visibility difficult.
It’s important to automate inventory activities such as stock counts to maintain shelves stocked and organised while keeping warehouse processes like order processing and pick list generation running smoothly to ensure accuracy.
