TAKEAWAYS Shaping the Future of the Global Supply Chain CURING SUPPLY CHAIN HEADACHES Now that the New Year’s Eve hangover has receded, supply chain and logistics managers have other headaches to face, as they attempt to balance priorities in 2025 and ensure their supply chains stay resilient. A data accuracy gap leaves many shippers struggling to find the level of insights, visibility, and accuracy required to drive confidence in their supply chain and respond quickly to market changes, reveals Supply Chain Integrity Outlook 2025 , a recent survey of more than 1,000 logistics and manufacturing leaders conducted by RFID provider Impinj. This gap can hinder supply chain managers’ ability to address key supply chain challenges, including: RETAIL COUNTERFEITING AND THEFT SUSTAINABILITY • 27% of respondents report continued issues reducing the environmental impact of their organization’s supply chain, while 25% cite challenges in meeting more stringent ESG regulations. • Across sectors, supply chain managers report implementing strategies to improve sustainability that include improving the measurement of their sustainability eorts (52%) , improving last-mile delivery eciency (44%) , reducing waste (41%) , and implementing recycling initiatives (40%) .
New systems and technologies to optimize delivery and fulfillment (32%) Improving data-driven insights and visibility (32%) Improving supply chain sustainability (31%) Improving shipment accuracy and reducing delivery errors (31%) Implementing new technologies and business models to more rapidly respond to changes in customer demand (31%) New systems and technologies to meet new retailer/ partner mandates for suppliers (31%) Data optimization (31%) Implementing new AI and automation technologies (31%) Upskilling workforce (29%) New systems and approaches to reduce shrink/theft (28%) New systems and processes to ensure compliance with new regulations (28%) INVESTING FOR IMPROVEMENT As an antidote to supply chain headaches, organizations are investing in a range of areas in 2025 to improve the supply chain, according to the Supply Chain Integrity Outlook 2025 survey. What areas do you plan to invest in during the next year to improve your organization’s supply chain?
• 65% of supply chain managers agree it’s a challenge for their organization to reduce the amount of counterfeit goods entering the supply chain. Almost all (98%) retail supply managers are taking measures to combat counterfeiting. • 60% of retail supply chain managers also agree that reducing rates of shrink and theft is a challenge for their organization. An overwhelming majority (99%) are investing in measures to mitigate these concerns, including increasing security checkpoints during transit and delivery (48%) and implementing new technologies for tracking goods (41%) . MISLOADS AND DELIVERY ERRORS • Almost three quarters (74%) of supply chain managers within transportation and logistics firms are concerned about growing volumes of load planning problems, misloads, and delivery errors impacting their organization. The largest volume of errors is most likely to occur as a result of delivery and last-mile misloads (24%) and label inaccuracies (22%) , according to survey respondents. • Almost half (48%) of transportation and logistics firms plan to invest in improving shipment accuracy and reducing delivery errors as a critical part of their sustainability eorts. AI IMPLEMENTATION • Data accuracy is the top challenge supply chain managers face (43%) in eectively implementing AI to improve their organization’s supply chain, alongside data availability (39%) and access to real-time data (36%) . Overcoming these challenges will be essential to unlock the full potential of AI across supply chain networks.
Diversifying supply chains (28%) Addressing labor shortages (26%)
Source: Impinj survey
38 Inbound Logistics • January 2025
Powered by FlippingBook