Supply Chain Visibility

Supply chain visibility is the broader discipline of tracking and understanding the movement of goods, data, and dollars across your entire supply network – not just the transportation leg. It encompasses inbound raw materials, production schedules, warehouse inventory, outbound freight, and last-mile delivery. When logistics professionals talk about "visibility," they often mean shipment tracking specifically, but true supply chain visibility connects those shipment events to upstream orders and downstream customer commitments.

In practice, supply chain visibility requires integrating data from multiple systems: your ERP or order management system (where orders originate), your TMS (where shipments are planned and executed), carrier tracking feeds (where in-transit updates live), warehouse management systems (where inventory is received and stored), and customer-facing portals (where delivery confirmations close the loop). The challenge isn't just collecting this data – it's normalizing it across dozens of partners who all use different formats, cadences, and quality standards.

The cost of poor visibility is well-documented. A Descartes survey found that 37% of companies still rely on spreadsheets and emails for visibility – leading to reactive decision-making, inflated safety stock, missed delivery windows, and strained carrier relationships. Shippers who invest in centralized visibility platforms consistently report faster exception resolution, lower freight costs through better planning, and stronger OTIF performance. The trend is moving from passive visibility – dashboards you check – toward proactive, AI-driven visibility that surfaces problems before they escalate and recommends corrective actions automatically.