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How transparent are our vendor relations?
One of the key requirements of an agile supply chain is transparency amongst partners. While a lot is proclaimed about partner transparency, we should analyze where it is comprehensive.
Manufacturers desire cost transparency from their vendors and they get it too in most cases. They also insist that vendors inform them about the dispatches as well as their inventory status. Cost and inventory are, however, just one part of the transparency requirements.
What is normally missed out is the transparency of consumer demand. Do we share with our vendors how the demand pattern is changing in the market? Do we share with them if a particular product is witnessing a demand surge or a demand slump and the requisite actions to be undertaken by them? How frequently do we share it? Is there a latency in communication?
Let’s expand the meaning of transparency to make our supply chains more agile.