Jon W. Hansen’s Post

The quest for supply chain transparency stemed from risk management, and is now the bedrock of many ESG regulations. From a risk management perspective, is allows for early warning and thus more time to react, adjust, compensate, alleviate... in a coordinated way. From an ESG perspective, the obligation to report "scope 3" emission can't be met without sch transparency. Likewise with the ethics and social responsibility (e.g. workers rights and child labour) endowed to buyers. Still, visibility alone isn't sufficient: you need to be able to do something about it. And that is the tough call.

Jon, an interesting question. My experience with logistics, particularly global logistics, is that it is frequently a black hole. Shipments leave, and at some point turn up when action of information is required, such as customs documentation or release of a letter of credit. Visibility solutions track shipments every time they pass a control point, and comparing these to your expectations allows you to figure out if it should arrive as planned. If not, SHOULD you do something about it? Not if a delay falls within your planned tolerance. Not if consumption is lower than expected. Not if an early arrival is without material consequence. But if it has become urgent, then knowing of a delay, and perhaps being able to expedite is very valuable. Tracking costs and lead-times allows you to assess and change your choice of carrier, intermediaries, routings,... Check out #OrkestraSCS and https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ocean-prices-surge-again-google-has-ship-routing-api-seiersen-pbdhc/?trackingId=IpLLNEygu49WUal87Kpivw%3D%3D I'm still wrestling with visibility and ESG. I can't see the point.

More than just Supply Chain visibility, it's about End-to-End visibility. A Procurement professional must be more than a price-cutting expert; they need to be holistic professionals with a deep understanding of business from the ground up. This includes knowing what is needed from the origin of a product to its disposal. That’s why you can see all these memes about in Procurement asking for being involved as early as possible, even when there is just a spark of an idea. And follow on with good risk management practices that are not solved with "let's source out of China".  Our job is to ensure everyone understands that a company without a strong Procurement team is destined to be firefighting across all aspects of the business.

Visibility should be actionable. It’s not just about seeing potential issues but having the foresight and strategy to address them proactively. For procurement professionals, the goal is to transform visibility from a spectator sport into a powerful tool for decision-making and resilience. The challenge is clear: leverage supply chain visibility not just to observe but to predict, prepare, and act.

Agree! The type of supply chain visibility you require depends on the actionable information you need. Below is a list of six different visibility types and their respective purposes. 1. Transportation Visibility: Find My Stuff. 2. Capacity Visibility: Identify Choke Points in the Supply Chain. 3. Shipment Data Analytics Visibility: Measure Performance. 4. Rates Visibility: Manage Transportation Spend. 5. Supply Chain Planning Visibility: Prepare for Future Operations. 6. Strategic Supply Chain Visibility: Innovate And Optimize Processes. Link: https://sctechinsights.com/surprisingly-supply-chain-visibility-has-many-forms-see-which-one-is-best-to-be-your-business-first-focus/

Quite thought provoking indeed. Is this a question you ask yourself in front of the mirror?

lots of great insights in the comments and thanks for getting us going Jon W. Hansen. ESG / Compliance has been a driver for many initiatives related to visibility of late. Relating that to the comment of "Doing something about it", This reminds me of the situation where many enterprises have their SC ESG programs, embedded within their risk management efforts --- HMMM. Many of these compliance/ESG efforts tend towards a check the box type of exercise. Thus, the visibility you need in those cases is driven by 1.) what the legal framework can reasonably expect you to achieve and we've seen a pull back on this expectation even in the EU laws and 2.) what can the consumer associate to your brand -- meaning if someone is going to know something about you, (e.g. child labor exists in your supply network), you better know that as well preferably before they do. No one has mentioned the power of AI to sift thru all of the data to tell you what's important yet.... I'm so disappointed :)

Can’t agree more, it’s first what is the problem you are trying to solve then what visibility do I need. More on this in one of my videos: https://youtube.com/shorts/O1oFL0JFFJ0?si=vq6hVmQh_TR9dqad

“Not knowing” and “knowing but not acting” are two different options to manage risk. The former is reckless, the latter your choice.

I like the question and it brings to mind some past studies we have done at WorldCC regarding the extent to which procurement typically engages in moral judgment. The conclusion (at a high level) is that the closer it is to Finance, the less likely it is to ask whether an action is morally correct.