Enhancing Visibility in International Supply Chains

Abstract

With increasing global trade and growing emphasis on security, enhanced information sharing between actors in global supply chains is required. Currently, the data about cargo available in the supply chain does not provide a timely and accurate description of the goods. To solve this data quality issue, data should be captured upstream at the point where goods are packed for transport to the buyer. Without ICT, it was not possible to get timely access to the original trade data. The data pipeline concept is an IT innovation to enable capturing data at the source. The data pipeline accesses existing information systems used by the parties in international supply chains. This paper explores the data pipeline concept and the benefits that businesses and governments could obtain from such an innovation. This study also identifies the need for a public-private governance model that has to accompany the technical innovation.

Comparing a Shipping Information Pipeline with a Thick Flow and a Thin Flow

“…It is not feasible to physically inspect all goods they need to monitor and they thus have to rely on the shipping information of businesses in the supply chain to fulfil their responsibilities [9,10]. In the current situation, the shipping information shared is often not timely, not originating from the source, filtered and altered, which might result into inaccurate information [6,10,11]. Yet, the information that businesses in the supply chain gather is of high quality, since their own commercial operations depend on it [5].…”

“…The sharing of shipping information in supply chains can benefit businesses as well as Customs [5][6][7]. Reliable shipping information allows businesses to work together more effectively and efficiently and for synchro-modality to optimize the goods flow [7,8].…”

Facilitating Adoption of International Information Infrastructures: A Living Labs Approach

“…transportation). Both the businesses in the supply chain and supervision authorities gain enhanced visibility benefits based on better quality information, in terms of accuracy, timeliness and completeness [2]. This is even more so if enhanced data quality is combined with innovative information integration and visibility, tracking and scanning technologies and linked to operational risk management [1].…”

“…It is a concept based on the use of Service-Oriented Architectures (SOA) to enable access to the existing information systems that are used and operated by the various parties in global supply chains [2,13]. It is a virtual bus, created by linking ERPs, existing inter-organisational trade and logistics platforms connecting e.g.…”

“…However, a wide range of complexities arises. Gathering, sharing and combining information from various sources requires the development of information exchange platforms that are used by a wide variety of stakeholders having diverse interests [2]. Both business systems and digital government infrastructures are connected to each other, owned and operated by a diverse set of public and private actors.…”