Tips and Strategies for Achieving Full Supply Chain Visibility with Technology [with Insights from Our Team]

TL;DR 

• 13% of companies have a fully mapped supply chain network, while 72% have limited or no visibility beyond Tier 2 suppliers.
• Our client — an electronics manufacturer — improved efficiency by 30%, reduced costs by 25%, and increased customer satisfaction by 20% with a unified platform and RFID.
• To improve visibility, unify operations, collect real-time data using IoT and RFID, leverage AI for forecasting and disruption prevention, adopt cloud platforms for global access, and collaborate with suppliers for better coordination.
• Success stories:
  • Nike achieved $10B in digital revenue, with 24% coming from direct-to-consumer sales, by using AI and real-time inventory tracking. 
  • Unilever & Walmart Mexico reached 98% fill rates and on-shelf availability through AI, generating 3.1M daily forecast combinations. 
  • P&G automated 100% of data integration, enabling instant results and enhanced decision-making.
• Our team developed an AI solution that reduced costs by 25%, improved logistics efficiency, and enhanced real-time tracking, working across logistics, food delivery, and pharmaceutical industries to boost visibility and streamline operations.
• The future of supply chain visibility includes AI tools improving delivery time predictions, blockchain ensuring secure tracking of goods, and global platforms connecting data to make operations smoother.

How We Helped Our Client Achieve Improved Supply Chain Visibility and Increased Efficiency by 30%

Our client, a large international manufacturer of electronic products, faced significant challenges in managing its global supply chain. While they offered innovative products, the complexity of their global network—comprising hundreds of manufacturing partners, transportation companies, and warehouses—was overwhelming. The company needed a better way to track and manage their supply chain, but struggled with disconnected systems and limited visibility.

Pre-implementation challenges

The client faced several key issues:

• Different departments and locations used various systems for supply chain management, creating scattered data and preventing a clear view of the entire operation.
• Without a unified solution, the company lacked real-time tracking of goods, which resulted in delays and increased costs.
• Manual processes and the absence of automation contributed to errors, slowdowns, and low productivity.
• The global nature of the supply chain made it difficult to manage interactions with multiple suppliers, warehouses, and transportation partners.

Development of the unified platform

Our team built a unified platform that brought all supply chain data into one system. Drawing on our experience in database optimization, real-time tracking, and machine learning we developed a solution tailored to the client’s needs. Key features included:

• Unified database: We brought together data from all different systems into a centralized database, giving the client a single, transparent view of their supply chain.
• Real-time data integration: While the client implemented RFID tags and QR codes for product identification and tracking, we focused on integrating this data into the platform to enable seamless monitoring and management.
• Automation and machine learning: We automated key processes like order tracking and goods receipt, using machine learning to predict delays and optimize routes.
• Integrated web platform: We built a web platform that seamlessly connected to the client’s existing ERP system, allowing them to manage inventory and communicate with suppliers in real time.

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Implementation details

Our solution involved several key components that maximized efficiency and provided full visibility:

• We implemented advanced database techniques to manage a large dataset of over 500,000 entries, ensuring that transactions were processed smoothly and quickly—each one in just milliseconds.
• Our platform was designed to integrate smoothly with the client’s existing ERP systems, making sure it worked well with their established infrastructure.
• Built-in analytics tools used historical data to predict potential disruptions in the supply chain, allowing the client to make better decisions about production schedules and inventory levels.

Results and benefits

After we implemented the platform, the client saw significant improvements in several areas:

• Full Supply Chain Visibility: By bringing all supply chain data into one system, the client gained a clear, real-time view of their operations. This made it easier to track everything, reduce delays, manage inventory better, and make faster, more informed decisions.
• Increased Efficiency: Automation and optimized data processing resulted in a 30% increase in productivity, reducing errors and the need for manual intervention.
• Cost Reduction: Enhanced visibility and real-time tracking allowed the client to reduce logistics and supply chain costs by 25%, especially by improving route planning and inventory management.
• Improved Customer Service: Real-time product tracking improved delivery timelines and customer satisfaction. By scanning QR codes on product labels, consumers could access dynamic, product-specific content, leading to a 20% improvement in customer satisfaction.
• Data-Driven Decision Making: Advanced analytics dashboards provided real-time insights into inventory levels, production schedules, and overall supply chain performance, helping the client make informed decisions that improved operations.

If you’re considering a similar project, the first step is often the discovery phase, which allows us to understand your business needs before diving into full development. If you’re looking to test ideas quickly, consider our MVP development services.

Our Tips on Achieving Supply Chain Visibility Through Technology in Your Company

As Halide Alagöz insightfully puts it, one of the toughest challenges in global supply chains is the constant uncertainty of “not knowing what will be coming next.” Every day, companies encounter new obstacles, and keeping up with these changes can feel overwhelming. Preparing for every potential disruption isn’t feasible, but there are strategies that help businesses stay agile and resilient.

Halide’s advice is a good reminder—embrace long-term strategies that make your supply chain resilient. With the right approach, unpredictability becomes an opportunity, not just a risk. By strengthening your supply chain, you’re equipping your team to respond to surprises with confidence.

Investing in supply chain visibility is one of those key strategies, and here’s why it matters: real-time tracking and monitoring give you a clear view of goods and materials at every stage, from suppliers to customers. When you can see what’s happening in real-time, it’s easier to spot risks early on and make proactive decisions. This kind of visibility empowers you to optimize operations, cut down on unexpected costs, and stay competitive. 

“Visibility is like having a roadmap in uncertain terrain. It gives us the control and insights we need to keep things moving smoothly, no matter the challenge.” 

— Nazar Kvartalnyi, COO of Inoxoft

Nazar, along with our Technical Specialists, will share insights and key considerations for investing in supply chain visibility, helping you make strategic decisions that drive success for your business.

Unify all your operations in one system, from order to warehouse management 

To get the full picture of your supply chain, unifying all operations into a single system is key. This means integrating order management, tracking API, and warehouse operations into one streamlined platform. 

For example, many companies use enterprise resource planning systems to create a single, consistent view of their entire supply chain. By connecting data from different departments and locations, ERP systems help eliminate silos and ensure that information flows smoothly across the organization.

“Before we implemented the above mentioned unified platform, our client struggled with fragmented systems across departments and subsidiaries. With integration, they finally had a clear view across the entire supply chain, just like an ERP system that consolidates data into one database.” 

Ready to transform your supply chain? Contact us today to explore how our solutions can enhance visibility, boost efficiency, and drive growth in your organization.

Collect the precious data

Collecting the right data is the foundation of supply chain visibility. Tools like IoT devices, RFID tags, and barcode scanners can capture real-time data on inventory, shipments, and other critical metrics. For instance, RFID tags automatically track product movement in and between warehouses, giving you a precise view of each item’s location.

“QR codes in one of our projects gave our client real-time insight into third-party manufacturing processes. While the client already had RFID and QR tags for tracking products, our solution focused on integrating and optimizing the data they collected, offering full visibility into the supply chain. This allowed them to respond quickly to any issues, just like RFID tags help track products within a warehouse.” 

To start tracking your products more effectively, consider tools like RFID tags or IoT devices— that will enhance your visibility and control.

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Extract insights from data analysis 

Simply collecting data isn’t enough; real value comes from analyzing it to uncover insights. Advanced analytics and machine learning help you spot trends, anticipate potential disruptions, and fine-tune supply chain processes. For instance, machine learning can analyze past demand and supply data to predict future needs, helping you manage inventory levels much more effectively.

“Our platform provided real-time visibility into third-party production. By feeding this real-time data into analytics tools, we ensured that predictions were based on the latest information.” 

Adopt cloud-based solutions 

Cloud-based platforms are game-changers for supply chain management. They provide scalability, flexibility, and real-time accessibility, ensuring that everyone—from employees to partners—has access to the same up-to-date information. With cloud solutions, you can integrate various systems, enjoy automatic updates, and simplify coordination across the board.

“With a cloud-based platform, our client’s team and partners could access a unified database in real time, making collaboration easier and helping with quick decision-making.” 

Invest in suppliers collaboration

Building strong, data-driven relationships with suppliers is essential for better visibility and trust. By implementing a collaborative platform, suppliers can share real-time information on production schedules, inventory levels, and shipment status. This not only improves communication but also significantly helps in planning and managing supplies.

“With real-time visibility into production schedules and inventory from suppliers, our client could better plan and adjust to reduce risks of shortages or overstocking.” 

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Leverage AI 

AI can automate and enhance many aspects of supply chain management, from demand forecasting and inventory optimization to predictive maintenance. AI tools can identify patterns and potential disruptions, allowing you to take preventative action before issues escalate.

“The way to look at this technology is through the lens of an example. For instance, if you combine artificial intelligence with an emerging technology like a graphic neural network, you can start thinking about the impact of a disruption within the supply chain itself. Imagine your product is stuck at the Suez Canal—can you take that disruption and examine what it would mean across your entire network? What does it mean when products aren’t reaching customers? How does it impact industries, even the economy as a whole? Network propagation, as an example, is a crucial theme in supply chains. It lets us take a small disruption within the supply chain and understand its impact across the entire network.”

— Sanjay Sharma, Supply Chain Strategist

Improving Supply Chain Visibility: Insightful Examples from Leading Companies

Leading companies know that investing in technology isn’t just about staying current—it’s about shaping their future outcomes. With the right tools in place, they’re anticipating them, ensuring they stay one step ahead from their competitors. 

Let’s dive into how some of the world’s top companies are making these strategic investments and reaping the rewards.

Nike’s Success: $10 Billion in Annual Digital Revenue and 24% of Total Revenue After The Pandemic 

Nike’s story is a powerful example of how investing in digital transformation and supply chain visibility can pay off, especially in times of uncertainty. The global pandemic hit many businesses hard, but Nike had already set the stage for success by pivoting to a digital-first, direct-to-consumer model. This shift, part of their “Consumer Direct Acceleration” strategy, allowed Nike to manage supply chain disruptions better than most.

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Key to Nike’s success was their use of advanced supply chain technologies, including radio frequency identification (RFID) tags to track inventory with precision, AI and machine learning to predict consumer trends, and robots in their distribution centers to speed up delivery. The company also introduced an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to connect all these capabilities, providing real-time visibility across their entire network.

As Nike’s EVP and CFO, Matt Friend, pointed out: 

“As we accelerate our consumer-led digital transformation, we are developing and refining new capabilities that are transforming our operating model, quickly becoming a competitive advantage for Nike.”

Despite facing challenges like factory shutdowns in Vietnam, which led to a loss of 130 million units, Nike’s digital supply chain transformation helped them maintain a competitive edge. The company is now seeing the fruits of their labor, with their direct-to-consumer business growing faster than ever.

“From early in the global pandemic, we knew that our recovery and return to growth would neither be linear nor intuitive. We believed that the immediate and significant shifts we were seeing in consumer engagement would be systemic. So we took decisive action and began building a digital-first supply chain to power Nike’s more direct, faster and precise service of consumers, all while prioritizing sustainability.”

— Andrew Campion, former Nike Chief Operations Officer.

Key takeaways: 

• $10 billion in annual digital revenue was achieved through investing in supply chain visibility.
• The direct-to-consumer model now accounts for 24% of Nike’s total revenue, more than double the pre-pandemic level.
• Technologies like RFID, AI, and machine learning enable Nike to track inventory accurately, predict trends, and respond faster to demand shifts.

Unilever and Walmart Mexico: Achieving 98% Fill Rates and On-Shelf Availability through the “One Supply Chain” Model

Since 2009, Unilever and Walmart Mexico have worked together through a collaborative planning, forecasting, and replenishment (CPFR) program. However, in 2022, they launched the Sky program, designed to disrupt their existing model and take their partnership to the next level. Regina Montes, Lead for Customer Experience at Unilever Mexico, explained:

“The basic concept of Sky is to connect with our customers, in this case, Walmart, to a point where we don’t notice where one supply chain starts and the other one ends. Getting us closer to our consumers and getting our customers’ needs into the backbone of everything.”

The Sky program’s success is rooted in the use of a powerful AI system that ingests Walmart’s data by SKU, store, and day, accumulating up to five years of historical information. Unilever feeds promotional plans into the system, and the AI model factors in price elasticity, trends, special events, and other relevant metrics. These systems can generate millions of forecast combinations to optimize stock levels and on-shelf availability, pushing the boundaries of real-time shipment tracking and enabling smoother and faster last-mile delivery.

“This technology is enabling growth from improved stock and, as one supply chain, it’s enabling the delivery of profit, as well as the possibility to work with Walmart’s logistics capabilities more efficiently to become true value creation partners, unlocking the concept of ‘One Supply Chain’ across both companies.”

— Regina Montes, Lead for Customer Experience at Unilever Mexico

Key deliverables:

• 98% fill rates and 98% on-shelf availability achieved through the Sky program.
• Over 3.1 million forecast combinations are generated daily, feeding data back into the Walmart system.
• 12.5 billion computations per day conducted by the AI system to optimize inventory replenishment.
• Pilot program represents 30% of Unilever Mexico’s business, with plans for global expansion.

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P&G and phData: Achieving 100% Automation of Data Integration

Procter & Gamble has long faced complex challenges in managing its vast global supply chain. With over 5,000 products and 22,000 individual components to manage, the company was often bogged down by siloed data systems and the complexities of coordinating across multiple divisions—manufacturing, supply chain, marketing, quality assurance, and laboratory information systems. This fragmentation made it difficult to quickly assess the impact of disruptions such as hurricanes, canal blockages, and the COVID-19 pandemic on its supply network.

P&G partnered with analytics provider phData to develop a cutting-edge, AI-powered solution leveraging KNIME’s open-source analytics platform. By fully automating the integration of data across the company’s diverse systems, P&G was able to streamline operations and enhance real-time forecasting and supply chain visibility.

Key steps in the solution’s development included:

• Data integration: P&G consolidated data from five different divisions into a single, unified repository. This eliminated the need for numerous experts to manually verify and integrate the data, saving valuable time and resources.
• Real-time analysis: Automated data collection and integration allowed for real-time analysis of critical supply chain metrics, such as current inventory levels, supply and demand risks, and potential bottlenecks.
• Demand forecasting: Using machine learning, the platform accurately forecasted demand and inventory needs, ensuring P&G was prepared for future market shifts and disruptions.

As a result of these innovations, P&G saw remarkable improvements in their supply chain operations:

• Elimination of 10+ experts previously required for data verification.
• Reduction in response time for supply chain inquiries from over two hours to immediate results.
• Streamlined decision-making by consolidating multiple regional meetings into one global meeting.
• 100% automation of data integration, eliminating manual tasks and improving operational efficiency.
• Immediate results for supply chain inquiries, reducing response time from over two hours to seconds.
• Consolidation of regional meetings, improving decision-making processes across the organization.

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What Does The Future Hold For Supply Chain Visibility? 

As businesses face increasingly complex and unpredictable global supply chains, the importance of visibility has never been clearer. Our team has gathered the most relevant trends and predictions that will shape the future of supply chain visibility. 

The rise of data aggregators 

Data aggregators are set to revolutionize how companies track and predict supply chain performance. By integrating data from a wide array of sources, such as vessels, weather information, and communication systems, these aggregators will leverage AI to improve the accuracy of Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA) predictions. Additionally, real-time notifications will alert businesses to any supply chain disruptions, enabling them to take immediate action.

“Supply chains are some of the most unpredictable systems, where a single day can change everything. The pandemic proved this point vividly, as we witnessed global port shutdowns that disrupted industries worldwide. However, with access to diverse sources of information and the power of AI, businesses can make far more accurate predictions. This means you’re not just reacting to surprises—you’re anticipating them and staying one step ahead, ready to adapt when the unexpected strikes.”

— Maksym Trostyanchuk, Inoxoft’s Head of Delivery

Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLTs) and Digital Money

DLTs, such as blockchain, are emerging as powerful tools for enhancing supply chain visibility and security. By creating a secure, transparent ledger for each transaction, DLTs can track every movement of goods across the supply chain. This technology helps improve traceability, reduce fraud, and streamline processes for managing complex cross-border trade documentation.

According to a recent report by KPMG:

“The ability offered by DLTs for data visibility, to trace every transaction, and identify the actors involved can enhance the reliability and accuracy of product traceability and tracking.”

This transparency is crucial, as many companies currently lack visibility into their Tier 2 suppliers—only 28% report clear visibility into their Tier 2 suppliers, and 43% have little or no visibility into their Tier 1 suppliers.

Our CTO emphasizes:

“At its core, this is blockchain technology—and it’s set to transform supply chain visibility. Let me provide an example: when a company ships goods, every detail about the product’s location and status is securely recorded on the blockchain. This means everyone involved can track the goods in real-time, knowing exactly where they are at any moment. And if something changes—whether it’s a delay or a route shift—everyone gets an instant notification. This level of transparency ensures that no one is left in the dark, giving businesses the ability to respond swiftly and keep everything running smoothly.”

Cross-border visibility platforms

As the complexity of global supply chains continues to increase, companies are looking for comprehensive cross-border visibility platforms to integrate data from various departments—logistics, finance, production, and warehouse teams. These platforms will allow businesses to make better decisions and react more quickly to supply chain disruptions.

Gautam Prem Jain, Co-founder and CEO of GoComet, predicts:

“Companies will adopt these comprehensive platforms to enhance decision-making and respond more effectively to global supply chain complexities. The integration of multiple data streams will provide businesses with a clearer, real-time view of their operations, allowing them to tackle challenges head-on.”

Inoxoft—Helping Logistics Companies Tackle Supply Chain Visibility Issues 

We know firsthand the challenges logistics companies face when it comes to supply chain visibility. Having worked with several global leaders in the logistics space, we understand how complex and fragmented supply chains can hinder operational efficiency. From advanced inventory management systems to AI-powered route optimization and shipping integration tools, our diverse expertise enables us to build powerful solutions that solve real-world logistics problems.

We recently worked with a pharmaceutical distributor to improve their inventory tracking and order accuracy across multiple locations. Our team developed a system that lets them monitor stock levels and storage conditions in real time, automatically processes orders, and ensures each step meets regulatory standards. The client cut fulfillment time by 40%, reduced errors, and gained a reliable, efficient way to keep sensitive products safe and customers satisfied.

Eager to optimize your logistics operations? Get in touch with our logistics software experts today. Let’s discuss how we can create a custom solution that will elevate your supply chain management and operational efficiency.

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Summing Up

Navigating the complexities of today’s global supply chains requires more than just staying organized—it’s about being prepared for the unexpected, from sudden delays to shifts in demand. Our experience demonstrates how the right logistics visibility platform can make this possible. 

We’ve helped companies across logistics, manufacturing, and beyond take control of their operations. Whether it’s designing custom platforms that integrate seamlessly with existing ERP systems or developing AI models to improve forecasting, we empower businesses to make proactive decisions based on reliable data. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution—each project is tailored to address specific challenges.

As supply chains grow more complex, we believe technology has the power to simplify them. If you’re ready to elevate your operations, we’d love to discuss how our solutions can boost supply chain visibility, reduce costs, and optimize your business.