Table of Contents
Article highlights:
- Tracking suppliers, parts, products, and all the other forces that shape supply chains is an extremely complex task, and many companies don’t have the expertise to carry it out in-house. Supply chain visibility software is a tool specifically designed to bridge this gap, helping companies leverage the data and insights of an experienced third-party data platform.
- Founded in 2016, Santa Clara, California-based Z2Data is a supply chain risk management company that helps companies understand all threats to their production networks, including geopolitical risks, sourcing dependencies, financial vulnerabilities and production concentrations, and many others. Z2Data achieves this primarily by expanding its customers’ supply chain transparency.
- Companies that maximize supply chain visibility can identify risks before they cause disruption, filter at-risk manufacturers from their supply chains, and strengthen critical sourcing dependencies through strategic risk management measures.
Over the course of this decade, supply chain transparency has transitioned from a relatively niche concept to a mainstream priority embraced by a growing number of companies. Companies in industries such as automotive, consumer electronics, aerospace and defense are increasingly recognizing how supply chain visibility contributes to resilience, risk management and production continuity.
The term “supply chain visibility” refers to a company’s ability to see every aspect of its manufacturing network, including:
- suppliers
- Sub-tier manufacturers
- Factories and other production sites
- Components
- raw materials
- Transport routes
- Logistics networks
- Warehouses
In a previous article on supply chain visibility, we defined the term as “the ability to identify, track, and monitor a supply chain at every stage.” Transparency includes not only monitoring each phase of the production process – raw materials, sub-manufacturing, assembly and testing – but also the ability to analyze all of the variables mentioned above. Companies with world-class supply chain visibility should be able to examine suppliers, locations and critical dependencies to gain a clear understanding of their supply chain strengths and weaknesses.
What is supply chain visibility software?
Tracking suppliers, parts, products, and all the other forces that shape supply chains is an extremely complex task. Many companies simply lack the resources or expertise to implement this internally. Supply chain visibility software is a tool specifically designed to bridge this gap, helping companies offset their limitations by leveraging the data and intelligence of an experienced third-party data platform. The industry-leading products in this space all have a number of key capabilities and functionalities, all of which contribute to transparency, resilience and risk reduction:
- Supply chain illustration
- Subordinate data intelligence and supply chain relationships
- Part-to-location mapping
- Supplier profiles and risk scorecards
- Risk assessments for production sites
- Information about linking suppliers, locations and manufacturing part numbers (MPNs)
- Site dependencies
- Procurement status at location, manufacturer and regional level
- Supplier campaign
Although the goal is simple enough – insight into your supply chain – the level of difficulty is high. Few, if any, companies have complete visibility into all aspects of their production network. For this reason, companies should strive to achieve as much transparency and traceability as possible by using software that combines customer data with internal databases and supplier surveys.
Companies that use supply chain visibility software can expect to gain insight into the operations of more suppliers, clarify more manufacturing relationships, and gain a better understanding of how all points in their supply chain – parts, products, suppliers and locations – are connected.
The 9 Best Software Tools for Supply Chain Visibility
Z2Data
Founded in 2016, Santa Clara, California-based Z2Data is a supply chain risk management company that helps companies understand all threats to their production networks, including geopolitical risks, sourcing dependencies, financial vulnerabilities and production concentrations, and many others. Z2Data achieves this primarily by expanding its customers’ supply chain transparency.
The SCRM tool uses a proven three-stage formula to map supply chains. First, experienced teams define the scope of a customer’s supply chain using bills of materials (BOMs) and parts data. Next, they map the customer’s supply chain using three different data sources: Z2’s internal databases, customer information and supplier campaigns. Finally, they work with customers to maintain relevant, up-to-date maps and continually monitor supplier websites, product change notices (PCNs), and other key sources of developments impacting the supply chain.
Z2 also recognizes the importance of connecting individual components and sub-assemblies to their origin of manufacture. To address this issue, the software provides part-to-location mapping that traces parts and other products to their specific manufacturing locations and provides customers with actionable information about their direct manufacturers, country of origin (COO), country of distribution (COD), and site origin. All part-to-location mapping uses a systematic process that relies on a range of highly credible sources and human verification methods.
Finally, Z2 is known for its excellent coverage of out-of-the-box parts and can immediately trace up to 80% or more of components to manufacturers and locations for some customers. With the company’s comprehensive mapping service, many companies ultimately achieve nearly 100 percent coverage of their parts.
Key functions
- Supply chain illustration
- Subordinate intelligence
- Part-to-location mapping
- Data integration and normalization
- Procurement and dependency analysis
- Comprehensive coverage of ready-to-use parts
- Supplier campaign
- Country of origin, country of distribution, country of assembly and other trade information.
- Continuous supply chain monitoring
Notable customers
- Qualcomm
- Palo Alto Networks
- Teradyne
- Dozens of other technology, automotive, electronics, medical, aerospace and defense companies.
Project44
Project44 was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It is a “decision intelligence platform” that helps companies gain insight into their logistics and supply chain operations. Project44 tracks over a billion shipments to 180 countries each year, giving companies insight into the logistics that drive their production networks. The company uses “AI orchestration” to monitor global shipments for risks, late deliveries and other emerging disruptions.
Industries
- automobile
- Chemical manufacturing
- Food and Drink
arbor
Founded in 2018 in New York, New York, Altana is a supply chain risk management company that uses AI and other tools to create supply chain maps for companies of various sizes. Altana works with companies to identify, analyze and mitigate risks across their entire supply chain, including sub-tier relationships, production dependencies and non-compliance vulnerabilities. Altana uses a “common network” that integrates manufacturers, logistics companies and government agencies on a single centralized platform.
Industries
- Aerospace and Defense
- Medical devices and technology
- Government agencies
interests
Interos, a supply chain risk intelligence software founded in 2005 and headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, identifies and assesses risks in six key areas: financial, geopolitics, trade restrictions, ESG, natural disasters and cybersecurity. One of the company’s flagship products is Resilience Watchtower, a tool that allows companies to contextualize their supply chain data with risk models and other capabilities that provide insight into risks, vulnerabilities and high-priority suppliers.
Industries
- energy
- Aerospace and Defense
- Financial Services
Require
Unlike many of the other supply chain visibility tools on this list, McLean, Virginia-based Exiger draws much of its customer base from government agencies, defense contractors, and other players in the U.S. military-industrial complex. The company’s core platform, 1Exiger, provides a supply chain map that traces parts and materials to direct and sub-suppliers, countries and locations, providing the foundation for a variety of other traceability capabilities.
Industries
- defense
- Public sector
- energy
6. Sphere
Sphera, another supply chain visibility software company based in Chicago, was founded in 2016 to serve as a risk management tool for large industrial customers in energy, manufacturing and chemicals. Sphera uses AI to help supply chain mapping while managing risk scorecards for global suppliers. In addition to supply chain transparency, the company offers regulatory compliance and compliance assurance services.
Industries
- automobile
- Food and Drink
- Pharmaceuticals and life sciences
7th pre-wave
Founded in Vienna, Austria in 2017, Prewave uses artificial intelligence to detect risk signals in its customers’ supply chains. The company’s AI technology mines publicly available information in over 120 languages to examine the manufacturing landscape for signs of well over 100 types of risks, including factory incidents, financial distress, natural disasters and cyberattacks, and many others.
Industries
- automobile
- Manufacturing
- energy
Visibility is the foundation for risk management
In the past, we’ve talked about how supply chain maps form the foundation of robust risk management programs. As we wrote in 2024: “Today, companies must navigate labyrinthine supplier networks spanning multiple continents and production levels, increasingly restrictive and stringent regulatory environments, and protectionist trade policies with serious financial consequences for companies that fail to adapt.” It is possible that these factors will play an even greater role today than they did two years ago, as global supply networks are rocked by volatility and geopolitics continue to impact trade compliance from the US to the EU to China.
Companies that maximize supply chain visibility can identify risks before they cause disruption, filter at-risk manufacturers from their supply chains, and strengthen critical sourcing dependencies through strategic risk management measures. But it all starts with looking at the ecosystem that connects your parts to locations, suppliers and regions around the world. In other words, it all starts with supply chain visibility and the tools that enable it.
To learn more about Z2Data’s supply chain visibility software, schedule a free trial with one of our product experts.
https://www.z2data.com/insights/the-top-7-supply-chain-visibility-software-tools
