Many Supply Chains Still in the Dark

Although technology innovations help shed light on additional insights into supply chains, some knowledge gaps remain. Up to 80% of executives responding to Verusen’s 2022 State of Supply Chain Management report say they can’t digitally track the movement of direct and indirect materials across their enterprise, which suggests that many companies may lack the technology resources needed to meet supply chain management goals.

Respondents note that reducing materials supply chain risk and avoiding delays and outages are top priorities in 2023.

Other key takeaways include:

• 76% of respondents say disparate silos of materials data and lack of knowledge are hurdles to efficient material management.
• 43% report that a lack of visibility into inventory availability hinders sharing critical materials.
• 50%+ avoid production outages by expediting spare parts weekly and monthly.

“Poor data quality, outdated technology, and disparate data silos are the top causes for inefficiency in supply chain executives’ materials management process,” says Paul Noble, founder and CEO of Verusen. “Executives are constantly faced with indecision due to a lack of visibility into inventory availability, which leads them to make hasty decisions around direct and indirect materials data.

“This need not be the case, however, especially with AI tools that can accurately generate guidance for actionable decisions across an enterprise supply network,” he says.