Supply Chain Visibility

Practices such as continuous replenishment and inventory management with customers are used with an aim of improving visibility within the supply chain.

Risk

Risk management is a large challenge to industry with a large proportion of larger businesses incorporating risk management into plans as well as using IT to monitor and act upon disruptive events. Risk is covered, in more depth, within ACs 1.1 to 1.3.

Increased Customer Demands

According to research carried out by IBM, rising customer demands ranks as the third highest challenge within a supply chain but companies still, primarily, focus more on the suppliers than the customer. Technology has made it possible to incorporate customer input but working with customers still remains the least common aspect of supply chain planning. As pressure to be more profitable increases, the ability of the supply chain to afford the excess inventory will become more difficult.