How To Improve Supply Chain Visibility With OMS | Mintsoft (2024)

Improving visibility in complex supply chains is essential for reducing disruptions and costs as well as improving customer satisfaction. Supply chain visibility (SCV) enhancement is crucial for spotting and resolving weaknesses in the supply chain such as inventory shortfalls or fulfilment issues before they lead to major issues.

This article looks at supply chain visibility in detail and outlines ways companies can improve it.

Written by Mintsoft

Supply chain visibility is the ability to track individual components and final products as they travel from supplier to manufacturer to consumer. These specifics will depend on the product. For example, whether raw materials are included or whether the item will be tracked with both forwards and backward tracing.

Supply chain visibility can refer to both inside a company’s own operations and across a partner’s network. As expected, SCV within a single organisation is much easier to manage with the company having easy access to the relevant data sources.

To track the movement of a component manufactured in a factory in China to an assembly plant in the USA, then to a wholesale distributor and finally onto the customer or retailer is clearly a multifaceted operation that requires integration of various partner systems and data sources.

Supply chain management technology enables SCV by providing real-time data about logistics and supply chain operations. That data allows companies to make dynamic decisions to avoid or work around inventory shortages or bottlenecks, meet compliance requirements and accurately track products through to final delivery.

Technology such asorder management software, typically part of a company’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, makes SCV possible.

The aim of supply chain visibility is to have a greater understanding of supply chain operations through data and use these insights to improve efficiency, reduce risk, increase customer satisfaction and elevate profitability. Achieving these results via the level of insight and improved planning is made possible through the right software solution.

Success in this area is contingent on access to real-time, shared data across every node in a supply chain network.

We’ve identified the four most pertinent reasons supply chain visibility is important:

Complexity

Modern supply chains are often global and increasingly complex, increasing the opportunity for issues to arise. Improving visibility and the level of insight across a diverse supply chain network requires not only the right software and KPIs but also trust and transparency.

If your partners are unwilling to share data, this may be an early warning sign of logistical issues to come that can harm customer relationships and eat into profit margins.

Customers

The aim of fulfilment is to have the products available at the right locations and at the right time, and this is crucial for customer satisfaction, retention and acquisition.

With consumers now conditioned to expect fast delivery and detailed tracking information along the way, it is essential your SCV allows for this so as to not let down your customers.

Compliance

With the scale of regulation surrounding international supply chains, increased visibility will make it much easier to monitor and ensure compliance. Then there is also the consideration of brand reputation.

It is in your best interest to be sure your partners are behaving ethically. Increased supply chain visibility helps companies monitor and manage variables that could lead to shipment delays.

Competitiveness

As the supply chain makes up a significant part of many companies’ operating budgets, it is important to iron out inefficiencies which are impacting the bottom line. SCV helps identify these inefficiencies so they can be fixed and costs can be reduced.

There are a number of ways businesses can improve end-to-end supply chain visibility. It involves the collection and processing of real-time, relevant supply chain data across the organisation, with actions taken off the back of insights drawn from it. Below is the 3-step process for improving SCV.

1. Select and implement technology

Technology such as warehouse technologies and order management software can be configured to track the entire supply chain process, from raw materials to the finished delivery of goods to the consumer.

2. Process improvement

If you are investing in software, it is essential you make the most of it by ensuring your processes are as smooth as possible. Assess your current processes and workflows and identify areas that are manual, inefficient and lack scalability. It is likely these processes can be automated.

3. Efficiency

Once you invest in software and process improvement, your team will be able to gain much deeper insights into the supply chain, all the way from material sourcing and manufacturing, to customer delivery, and inevitably identify areas where improvements and efficiencies can be exploited.

As supply chains become increasingly digital, agile and reliant on cloud-based systems, let's look at some trends to be aware of as you upgrade your supply chain strategy.

Digitisation

Modern supply chains can no longer rely on manual processes and paper records, nor can spreadsheets suffice. By digitising your supply chain as much as possible, you increase the capabilities of your supply chain managers to make smarter decisions using demand forecasting, as well as improving inventory management.

Resilience

Modern supply chains must be resilient and able to handle real-time adjustments in the wake of disruptive events. End-to-end supply chain visibility and supplier relationship management are crucial in this regard, along with solid contingency planning, crisis management processes and incident response plans.

Reverse and circular logistics

Circular supply chains are gaining popularity as more companies aim to improve sustainability by reusing and recycling stock. Similarly, reverse logistics is about capturing value from or correctly disposing of excess goods. With returns an inevitability in any industry and supply chain, it is essential there is an adequate process in place to manage the reverse logistics process as profitably as possible.

AI and machine learning

AI is almost certain to increase supply chain efficiency through trend-spotting and self-learning capabilities. This technology will likely appear in logistics software moving forward to aid decision-making, planning and forecasting.

Improving visibility across the supply chain can have multiple benefits, from identifying inefficiencies to improving your business's ability to react to disruptions and maintaining positive customer relationships. One of the best ways to do this is by investing in anorder management system.

With Mintsoft’s order management software, you can improve your supply chain visibility alongside streamlining sales by automating processes, reducing costs and increasing efficiency.

Book a demo to find out more about how Mintsoft can support your business today.