Supply Chain Visibility

“Visibility” is a commonly used term in business. However, visibility can mean different things to trading partners in the supply chain or providers depending on their usage. Despite the diversity, there are some common requirements for visibility and common building blocks for attaining it. For an object to be visible in a business process, the item or event must first be identified, its activity captured, and the information shared in a common way so that all who need information about the item or event can understand it.

Visibility then is the collection of every event about something. This means knowing

Supply chain visibility means the ability of collecting, integrating, analyzing, and responding to information about the movement of goods throughout a business process. It improves the power to be well informed about the status of goods flowing through the supply chain. For every industry, supply chain visibility offers a unique perspective that provides the ability to prepare and respond quickly if events don’t go according to plan. Furthermore, by knowing what has happened, hidden problems and opportunities for improvement are made visible.

The technologies and processes used to identify, capture and share(exchange and query) information vary considerably, but these core elements are present in all successful visibility programs.There can be no visibility of a physical asset (i.e., trade items, reusable assets, fixed assets, and work-in-process) until there is a standard way for all stakeholders in the supply chain to identify, capture and share information about it.