Supply chain visibility is among the most critical disciplines for successful supply chain management, according to industry experts in our popular webinar series: Are You a Supply Chain Leader or Laggard?: Part 1 – “6 Critical Disciplines to Becoming a Supply Chain Leader.”

Supply chain visibility — the timely, comprehensive, integrated ability to track inventory, logistics, warehousing, distribution and transportation — opens the discussion because of its paramount importance to supply chain best practices.

Supply chain visibility empowers you to answer both immediate logistical and long-term strategic questions regarding your inventory and processes. But barriers to timely, accurate and complete visibility abound, including:

• Disparate Data: data stored across too many or incompatible systems
• Data Delay: data communicated in batch or serial mode hours or days after the transaction
• Techno-Lag: low- or no-tech processes in developing geos
• Dynamic Environments: networks reconfiguring so rapidly visibility measures can’t keep up
• No Owner in Sight: lack of any one dedicated individual to take ownership of the process

These obstacles hinder the retailer’s pursuit of profitable growth by blocking supply chain visibility.

“Supply chain visibility is “one of the key disciplines that the others build off of,” explains Adrian Gonzalez, president of Adelante SCM, who co-leads the webinar with Mike Glodziak, president of LEGACY Supply Chain Services. “Maintaining a clear picture of the supply chain is an ever growing challenge,” he continues, “since it’s gaining complexity as it grows.”

Despite understanding the necessity of tackling visibility along all links of the supply chain, retailers admit their deficiency in implementing measures that ensure true supply chain visibility. While more than 70 percent of retailers surveyed by RSR Research in May 2014 recognize the importance of system-wide inventory visibility, fewer than 30 percent have actually implemented comprehensive measures to improve in this area.

Unfortunately, If you can’t find it you can’t fix it. Don’t be a causality of opacity. Learn more about the six key disciplines of supply chain management by attending our popular webinar series: Are You a Supply Chain Leader or Laggard?

• Watch Episode 1
• Watch Episode 2

Where’s the weak link in your supply chain? Grade your chain now and identify areas of improvement with this free  Supply Chain Performance Grader