Today’s Supply Chain Secret Sauce: More Visibility, Fewer Silos

Visibility is a priority for many supply chain executives. It assists management in the following ways:

• Creates more accurate inventory data by means of automated data capture
• Allows data to be shared with collaborators in real-time, making the data more meaningful and representative of current stock levels
• Assists executives pinpoint strengths and weaknesses to inform future investment decisions.

The benefits are plentiful, and a large majority of supply chain leaders made visibility a priority this year. In fact, in a May 2011 survey by Capgemini, 45 percent of supply chain executives indicated that improving visibility throughout the supply chain was their top priority for the year.

Is there something holding supply chain leaders back from achieving great visibility? For many, it’s the sophistication - or the lack thereof - of their technology systems. Many managers are still using spreadsheet programs like Microsoft Excel to collect, organize and analyze their inventory data. These collection methods result in data silos - collection mechanisms where data is delayed, prone to inaccuracies and difficult to communicate.

To dissolve these silos, however, it takes more than adoption of modern supply chain software solutions. Rather, a network of solutions must be adopted to form a centralized "supply chain hub." With this supply chain hub, leadership members and floor workers alike have some form of access to inventory information, increasing the potential for collaboration.

A core feature to making these hubs possible is data collection and sharing. Managers should focus on investing in solutions that feature the following:

• Automatic identification and data capture (AIDC) to improve inventory collection speed and accuracy
• Visibility portals that vary based on the user’s credentials
• Notifications and alerts to allow specific groups instant knowledge of events

With end-to-end visibility throughout the supply chain, benefits are not confined to one specific department. Visibility allows the supply chain to connect and collaborate, and improve in ways that it couldn’t when it was segmented. Examples of this include:

• Improved policies for inventory that involve ditching “rule of thumb” parameters. This group within the supply chain, from purchasers to warehouse managers.
• Improved analysis of suppliers for more knowledgeable sourcing and procurement. Visibility allows leaders to more accurately look at spending, and work to improve the weakest areas.
• Improved communication through the value chain. The ability to communicate and send information seamlessly throughout the entire value chain network - manufacturing, distribution, and logistics.

Michael Koploy is an ERP Analyst at Software Advice and reviews warehouse systems at WMSG.com. He can be contacted at michael@softwareadvice.com. For more information on this topic, check the full article here.