The importance of supply chain stakeholder relationship in achieving real-time visibility

Whether it is chickens or chainsaws, the movement of a shipment involves many entities or stakeholders such as warehouse operators, truckers, railroad operators, ocean carriers, ports/terminals acting as a conduit between the seller and buyer in the movement of the goods from Point A to Point B..

In this era of modern supply chains characterized by and prone to several natural and man-made disruptions such as climate change, pandemics, port congestion, strikes, labor unrest, and theft, real-time visibility of the status of the goods is of utmost importance..

Real-time visibility provides all stakeholders in the chain with real-time insights into the shipment once it has left the area of control of one stakeholder and passes into another stakeholder’s control..

A recent survey by Tive, a real-time in-transit visibility provider providing customers with 24×7 visibility of shipments, found that 80% of shippers crave greater supply chain visibility despite the fact that freight tracking is widespread in the industry currently..

Although there are several real-time visibility providers in the market covering various modes of transport, the industry still remains fragmented because visibility could mean different things to different stakeholders..

Businesses are struggling to form stable, and reliable relationships not only with their downstream and upstream partners, but also internally.. These issues cause data and information to be siloed, reducing visibility and stakeholders’ ability to react to demand/supply volatility..