Lack of information is bad business, plain and simple. Decisions based on assumptions and guesstimates wastes money and can cost you valuable business relationships and customers.
For shipping and logistics managers, the path to information is through supply chain visibility (SCV).
SCV refers to the ability to track and control every single step in the delivery of goods to a business or customer - from the order taking process to manufacture, inventory control, transit, and delivery. The more cohesive each phase is, the better you can mitigate issues and make improvements in any of the phases.
The objective of SCV is to enhance and empower the supply chain by making
information easily accessible to each and every stakeholder, including customers.
- Techopedia
Without full visibility into your supply chain, you cannot prevent costly problems or communicate real-time information to manufacturers, carriers, or customers. Monitoring where your product is contributes volumes to your bottom line.
A Guide to Digitizing Logistical Supply Chains
Thankfully today’s technology makes SCV possible. Cloud computing, application program interface (API) tools, and AI learning help businesses collate and share information and data like never before.
Today’s digital technologies enable the supply chain to attain situational
awareness and context-sensitive decision making. In this way, it becomes
customer-driven, personalized, agile and responsive.
- Forbes
Shipping software, or a Transportation Management System (TMS), integrates the supply chain phases, from procurement to shipping, and offers this information on one platform. TMS supports visibility throughout the supply chain through data integration and analysis. A TMS is the tool to gain competitive-edge visibility into your supply chain.
Typical TMS features include:
A good TMS platform improves warehouse efficiency, makes new delivery options possible, improves shipping partner relations, and increases customer service.
To learn more about how TMS and how they can reduce shipping and freight costs, please see below.