One word summarizes the state of today’s supply chains: disruption. Supply chain disruption, caused by everything from geopolitical events to trade tensions to environmental disasters, is causing major shocks to supply and demand across the globe. According to a Gartner Supply Chain Executive Report, nearly 70 percent of supply chain leaders have constantly been responding to disruptions since the beginning of 2019.i
Consumers are feeling the impact in a big way. New car sales have screeched to a halt as a semiconductor shortage has shut down auto plants. Food supply shortages, meanwhile, have led to empty grocery shelves and rising restaurant menu prices. These disruptions have exposed the vulnerability of global supply chains, even as many organizations have gained operational efficiencies. Many organizations face critical barriers that prevent them from overcoming supply chain disruptions. These barriers include:
- Limited visibility.
- Inability to predict.
- Data exchange limitations.
These barriers affect each step of the product journey: planning, procurement, manufacturing, distribution, order orchestration, and delivery.
Creating a resilient and agile supply chain
Retailers, manufacturers, and consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies are trying to solve their supply chain problems by investing in machine learning, AI, advanced analytics, and automation technologies. In a recent Gartner survey, 87 percent of supply chain professionals reported they are planning investments in supply chain resiliency, with 89 percent reporting they want to invest in agility.ii According to Forrester, 47 percent of retail and CPG decision-makers are focused on improving analytics capabilities to turn their data into insights.iii By using these modern technology solutions to enable more resilient and agile supply chains, companies can drive the following business outcomes:
- Enhanced supply chain visibility.Companies can respond intelligently to dynamic shifts in supply and demand by creating a digital twin: an accurate, real-time virtual model that performs what-if simulations, revealing the upstream and downstream impacts of decisions. Additionally, organizations can increase visibility by unifying supply chain data from multiple sources.
- Proactively overcoming disruptions.By inviting suppliers, partners, and customers to receive and share information in one place and collaborate in real time, companies can identify risks early. Companies can also automate risk response by taking advantage of machine learning and AI to drive process automation.
- Getting operational, fast.Getting up and running quickly requires that new investments in supply chain technology integrate seamlessly with existing systems and simplify onboarding for internal users, suppliers, and partners.
Enhancing visibility and mitigating risk with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Insights
Organizations can increase visibility and proactively overcome disruptions by implementing Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Insights, an out-of-the-box solution built on Microsoft Dataverse, Microsoft Power Platform, and Microsoft Azure. With more than 200 built-in connectors, Supply Chain Insights integrates with existing ERP and supply chain execution systems, helping businesses avoid complex development and become operational in weeks instead of months. Supply Chain Insights ingests operations, finance, and inventory data from existing systems and brings it into Microsoft Dataverse. Dataverse uses proven industry data models to harmonize and enrich the data so it can drive a digital twin of the physical supply chain.
Predicting supply chain issues before they happen
By using Supply Chain Insights, businesses can make better supply chain decisions quickly by enhancing visibility and proactively mitigating risk. For example, Daimler Trucks North America needed better visibility into its supply chain, which tracks hundreds of thousands of parts sourced from global suppliers. Daimler implemented Supply Chain Insights and can now predict supply chain issues earlier than ever before. “Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Insights will enable us to make the process more efficient end-to-end, reducing down time, reducing parts shortages, and helping us to automate more and more,” says Lutz Beck, the organization’s CIO.
By deploying Supply Chain Insights, businesses like Daimler can increase their supply chain visibility and proactively overcome disruptions. As a result, companies can reach their ultimate goal: getting products to customers on time, every time.
What’s next:
Listen to the Connected and Ready Podcast []
Contact us atsupplychainexperts@microsoft.comto discuss your supply chain transformation needs with a Microsoft representative or partner.
iGartner® Supply Chain Executive Report: Shaping Supply Chain Disruption in a Volatile Risk Environment, May 2021.
iiGartner®, Survey Finds 87% of Supply Chain Professionals Plan to Invest in Resilience Within the Next 2 Years, Feb 2021.
iiiForrester, The Digital Commerce Imperative. A Forrester Consulting Thought Leadership Paper Commissioned by Microsoft. January 2021.
Phil Koretz
Supply Chain & US Government Cloud Lead, Microsoft US Marketing & Operations, Microsoft
See more articles from this author
FAQs
Supply chain visibility is the ability to track every tier of your supply chain – from the raw materials to the customer. The goal of Supply chain visibility is to improve and strengthen the supply chain by making data readily available to all stakeholders.
How can you increase the visibility of supply chains? ›
How to Increase Supply Chain Visibility
- Map your supply chain network.
- Be proactive when sharing updates.
- Communicate often with suppliers.
- Offer shipping tracking.
- Provide real-time Shipping Updates.
- Partner With an Online Shopping Assistant.
- Gather Customer feedback.
By creating a digital model that behaves exactly as its physical “twin,” engineers are able to virtually visualize, simulate, and predict supply chain operations—gaining insights that drive better products, optimized operations, reduced costs, and breakthrough customer experiences.
How can improving supply chain visibility reduce supply chain risks? ›
Visibility in every tier of the supply chain has many benefits. These include: Lowered risk through increased knowledge of potential disruptions. Increased communication across tiers, which allows for rapid responses to changes or problems.
What is an example of supply chain visibility? ›
Supply chain visibility allows managers to see challenges when they arise and quickly act. For example, supply chain managers can receive an alert if there are significant changes to demand or the flow of goods so they can react quickly to balance supply and demand.
What is the main objective of supply chain visibility? ›
The broad goal of SCV is to collect better information about supply chain operations, improve efficiency, reduce risk, boost customer satisfaction and increase profits.
What causes poor supply chain visibility? ›
The bottom line is, companies of all sizes struggle with a host of supply chain visibility challenges, such as:
- Disparate management systems and siloed teams.
- Lack of real-time data on supply chain operations.
- Poor communication between supply chain stakeholders.
- Unauthorized subcontracting and/or raw material sourcing.
What are the key metrics and indicators to measure supply chain visibility and security performance?
- On-time delivery rate.
- Inventory accuracy. ...
- Shipment status visibility.
- Shipment security incidents. ...
- Customer satisfaction score. ...
- Supply chain visibility and security index. ...
- Here's what else to consider.
Enterprises can achieve end-to-end supply chain visibility by first defining their objectives. This, in turn, helps in selecting the appropriate technology. The third step is to put in place the right team.
How does Microsoft manage their supply chain to ensure that it responsibly sources raw materials? ›
We drive responsible sourcing through our extended supply chain by surveying our in-scope suppliers' sourcing of raw materials in their upstream supply chains by using contractual provisions and Microsoft specifications. We conduct audits of our contracted suppliers to verify conformance to those requirements.
PANASONIC PEGATRON CORPORATION PHILIPS PLDS PRIMESENSE QUALCOMM REALTEK SEMICONDUCTOR CORPORATION RF MICRO DEVICES, INC. RICHTEK TECHNOLOGY CORP. ROHM CORPORATION SAMSUNG DISPLAY SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS SAMSUNG SDI SAMSUNG SEMICONDUCTOR SEAGATE SHEN ZHEN JIA AI MOTOR CO., LTD.
Is MS in Supply Chain Management worth it in USA? ›
The US supply chain sector is expected to generate over 21,000 new opportunities each year. Graduates of MS in Supply Chain Management in USA can earn from USD 80,000 to USD 140,000 annually. Top employers of MSSCM in USA graduates are renowned companies like Amazon, Boeing, General Motors, and Deloitte.
How do you solve supply chain visibility? ›
You can improve communication by: Adding tracking to shipments: Tracking features let partners trace shipments in real time, which can reduce supply chain visibility gaps. They can monitor package movements without having to ask about their whereabouts manually.
How to mitigate risk in supply chain? ›
Mitigating supply chain risks involves diversifying supplier bases, adjusting inventory management strategies, considering scenario planning, and building strong supplier relationships to enhance resilience and minimize disruptions.
What is the framework for supply chain visibility? ›
The ABCDE framework links antecedents, barriers, challenges, drivers, and effects related to supply chain visibility. Tensions between drivers and barriers/challenges are discussed.
Why is visibility important? ›
Why is visibility so important? Humans have evolved to live and operate in physical space, and most people rely primarily on vision to understand their world. Up to 30% of our brains is devoted to visual processing, and even blind people rely on their visual cortex to build mental models of the world.
What are the benefits of visibility? ›
But investing in greater visibility helps you spot where inefficiencies are occurring so that you can influence a better outcome and hit your sustainability targets.
Is visibility throughout the supply chain a requirement? ›
By maintaining visibility, your business will have: Better Risk Management: Visibility allows businesses to anticipate disruptions and mitigate risks more effectively, minimizing potential impacts on delivery times and costs.
Why is visibility and transparency important? ›
Transparent businesses are able to rapidly identify issues, adapt to new challenges, build trust and accountability, and make reporting straightforward. In contrast, a business that does not value transparency and visibility ends up having a restrictive company culture that deters progress and growth.
One word summarizes the state of today’s supply chains: disruption. Supply chain disruption, caused by everything from geopolitical events to trade tensions to environmental disasters, is causing major shocks to supply and demand across the globe. According to a Gartner Supply Chain Executive Report, nearly 70 percent of supply chain leaders have constantly been responding to disruptions since the beginning of 2019.i
