Companies face a wide range of challenges in bringing their products to customers. Shifting global policies, fluctuating consumer demands, and operational bottlenecks are just a few bumps in the road that enterprises face along their lengthy supply network. Companies need a clear view of the terrain to help them complete their journey — they need end-to-end supply chain visibility.
Also known as E2E, end-to-end supply chain visibility provides full transparency into each node within your supply chain, and how each link works in relation to one another. This guide will walk you through the ins and outs of E2E supply chain visibility, including some key benefits, challenges, tools, and strategies for implementation, so that you can achieve total supply chain visibility.
What Is End-to-End Supply Chain Visibility?
E2E supply chain visibility refers to a company’s ability to track, monitor, and analyze the location and status of all their raw materials, products, components, and commodities across every phase of their supply chain. No silos, no blind spots, no oversights — E2E means total supply chain visibility.
Maximizing your supply chain visibility is essential for overcoming many business challenges. In addition to identifying cost-saving opportunities and areas for improving operational efficiency, maintaining supply chain visibility lets you anticipate and avoid future disruptions, optimize your inventory management processes, and exceed even the highest customer standards. Achieving your business goals becomes far more difficult when you have limited insights on the health of your supply chain, and E2E removes the barriers that keep you from reaching new heights.
Benefits of Achieving Full Supply Chain Visibility
From procurement and inventory management to sales and return processes, end-to-end supply chain visibility benefits every stage of your operations. A few benefits of supply chain visibility are:
- Improved decision-making
- Reduced disruptions and risks
- Increased operational efficiency
- Better customer service and satisfaction
- Enhanced collaboration and accountability
End-to-end supply chain visibility has an especially significant impact on your inventory management processes. Monitoring your inventory levels at each fulfillment or distribution center can help you see which items are running low and which ones are staying on the shelves too long. Armed with this knowledge, you can manufacture more of your most sought-after products, create promotions to sell those that are less in demand, and ensure that each location is stocked with the right quantities of the right inventory at the right times.
Common Supply Chain Visibility Tools
From embedded systems that yield insights about the status of your equipment and inventory to supply chain management (SCM) platforms with cutting-edge AI algorithms, achieving full supply chain visibility requires a range of technologies. A few supply chain visibility tools to integrate into your infrastructure are:
- RFID (radio frequency identification) tags and barcode scanning to easily locate and monitor your inventory at key locations
- GPS tracking systems to prevent even the most strategic cargo theft
- IoT (Internet of Things) devices for real-time data collection
- Visibility platforms and control towers, such as Surgere’s production control tool
- AI and predictive analytics software for smarter supply chain decisions
It takes a holistic approach to reach end-to-end supply chain visibility. Passive systems such as RFID tags and IoT devices provide the data you need to gain actionable insights into your supply chain ecosystem, while AI-driven platforms convert that data into real-world recommendations on how you can strengthen your network and adapt to disruptions. It takes a team to accomplish such comprehensive supply chain visibility, which is why having a partner that can provide the full range of solutions is a must.
Core Components of E2E Supply Chain Visibility
Each technology in your supply chain ecosystem should help tear down the silos that segment the core components of your processes. The main components of your supply network that your tools should address are:
- Real-time tracking and monitoring: Supply chain visibility tools should give you a clear picture not only of your inventory’s location, but of its status as well.
- Demand and supply forecasting: Your SCM platform should enable accurate demand forecasting so that you can anticipate trends and prepare accordingly.
- Procurement and inventory management: Better demand forecasting lets you optimize inventory levels across your supply chain, avoiding stockouts and overstocks.
- Collaboration and communication: Collecting data on raw materials or product components from distributors or manufacturers upstream can help you brace for disruptions and execute alternative strategies.
Whether it’s monitoring your inventory’s status, predicting demand spikes based on historical data, or working with vendors to meet deadlines, E2E supply chain visibility elevates your logistics operations at every level.
The Challenges of Supply Chain Visibility
Despite all the benefits, achieving full supply chain visibility can be a challenge. The main obstacle is ineffective implementation, as integrating new solutions and monitoring techniques can be a challenge for legacy supply chain environments.
Working with an expert who specializes in developing and deploying solutions that address your most pressing supply chain challenges can go a long way toward solving any implementation difficulties you may face, so consider working with an expert as you upgrade your supply chain visibility.
Key Strategies
Key strategies you can use to reach complete E2E supply chain visibility include:
- Integrating data sources across systems so that you can better analyze your supply chain KPIs
- Building collaborative partnerships with suppliers and logistics providers to foster clearer communication
- Investing in scalable visibility platforms, which let you monitor your inventory systems as you grow
Leveraging AI also lets you forecast demand more accurately, and prescriptive analytics capabilities can help you construct “what-if” scenarios to mitigate risks and plan for disruptions before they occur. If you want to turn your supply chain visibility data into a proactive system that’s ready for tomorrow’s logistics challenges, integrate AI into your environment.
Get Full Supply Chain Visibility With the Help of AI
E2E supply chain visibility is sometimes termed the Holy Grail of logistics because it’s proved elusive to so many companies — but it doesn’t have to. Implementing the right techniques and technologies can help you oversee your supply network at every stage, elevating your agility, resilience, and innovation. The result is a streamlined supply network that can adapt to even the most adverse conditions while still satisfying ever-increasing consumer demands — and ultimately, higher profitability.
If you’re going to achieve end-to-end supply chain visibility, you need an end-to-end supply chain solutions provider. From RFID tags and Bluetooth scanners to AI-powered SCM solutions, Surgere delivers the hardware, software, and experience you need to build visibility into every layer of your supply network. If you’re ready to see how we can give you a 360-degree view of your operations, contact Surgere today.
