Modern supply chain management is a complex and intricate process that entails many moving pieces. However, at the core of this entire process, is an element of absolute importance: container visibility. Without container visibility, all other goals of supply chain management cannot be accomplished. To help explain why container visibility is truly the atomic unit of supply chain management, let's discuss what container visibility means, how it powers supply chain management, and how organizations can achieve complete container visibility with VIZION API.

What is Container Visibility?

In the simplest possible terms, container visibility is the ability to know the precise location of your ocean freight and when it will arrive. There are a lot of complexities associated with being able to achieve this capability, but it is one that is of vital importance when it comes to supply chain management.

The Central Role of Container Visibility in Supply Chain Management

When you don't know where your ocean freight is and when it will arrive, all other elements of supply chain management become exponentially more challenging. Many supply chain management objectives are wholly reliant on real-time container tracking data, from ensuring that inventory remains at optimum levels to limiting demurrage and detention fees to facilitating seamless collaboration between partners.

No matter your industry or the exact structure of your supply chain, the containers used to ship your commodities are the fundamental units around which the rest of your supply chain is based. Containers are universal, and so is the need for container visibility; when you can achieve container visibility, complete visibility throughout your supply chain becomes a much more realistic goal.

For this reason, container visibility plays a central and vital role in creating a transparent and optimized supply chain. It is entirely justified to say that container visibility is the atomic unit of supply chain management.

What it Means to Treat Container Visibility as the Atomic Unit of Supply Chain Management

Treating container visibility as the atomic unit of supply chain management means that supply chain managers should prioritize container visibility as the straw that stirs the drink when it comes to creating an optimized supply chain.

When your organization can receive real-time container tracking data and achieve complete container visibility, it empowers you to create a supply chain that is more agile, more transparent, and ultimately more reliable. With container visibility, decision-makers can anticipate supply chain disrupting events and develop proactive responses to limit disruption. Container visibility powered by detailed and standardized ocean tracking data also allows organizations to better communicate with their partners and share data between stakeholders. Lastly, container visibility creates insights that make supply chain management far more effective and efficient, enabling you to ensure that inventory is always at optimum levels while limiting the demurrage and detention fees your cargo incurs and more.

When supply chain managers can treat container visibility as the atomic unit of supply chain management, they can access the real-time container tracking data needed to make container visibility a reality. The results are immensely beneficial in far more ways than one. However, acquiring timely and detailed container tracking data is often much easier said than done. Thankfully, VIZION API makes it easier than ever before for your organization to receive the real-time container tracking data that it needs to achieve complete container visibility.

Achieve Container Visibility With VIZION API

With VIZION API, organizations can automatically receive the most complete, detailed, and standardized real-time container tracking events pushed to any software system or spreadsheet. As a low code-no code solution, VIZION API also allows you to build your own custom container tracking API for a fraction of the time and money that it would take to build such a solution in-house.

You and your partners always need to know where your organization's ocean freight is located, when it will arrive, and why it was delayed. VIZION API eliminates the challenges associated with achieving container visibility, allowing you to enjoy all the benefits without any headaches. To see for yourself the many advantages of container visibility, be sure to book a demo of VIZION API today!