The answer to global supply chain challenges lies in prioritising innovation

The modern supply chain is more complex than ever. The war in Ukraine, China’s zero-Covid policy, port congestion, driver shortages and protracted supply shortages are all clouding this year’s trade outlook.

 

To successfully adapt to these challenges and stay one step ahead, innovation must be at the heart of every business strategy. As Steve Jobs once said, “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” Yet too often, innovation is not prioritised by businesses.

 

In this article, we’ll dive into what this means from a labelling perspective and why innovation and cloud labelling have the potential to improve scalability, configurability, and standardization across an enterprise, ultimately saving time and driving cost efficiencies - innovation with impact!

 

Let’s start by defining what we mean by innovation:

 

noun

1. the action or process of innovating.
   "innovation is crucial to the continuing success of any organisation"

 

Innovation should focus on allocating resources and investing in initiatives that create value for a company and drive transformation. Forward-thinking leaders are recognising this: people, purpose, prices and productivity were identified by leading consumer research as key issues for the C-suite, both in 2022 and looking ahead to 2023. This reflects a radical shift in priorities that has not been seen in 15 years but represents an enduring change in the mindset of CEOs.

 

Innovation means impact

 

The term “innovation” is in danger of becoming a meaningless cliché. If companies truly want to make a change, they must go back to basics and focus on decisions that deliver real business impact.

 

Let’s start with the importance of labels, which act as a product’s passport through the supply chain. Simply scanning a label enables companies to obtain vast amounts of information about the product and its journey from conception through to end-user. 

 

Enterprise labelling allows direct integration with the applications that are the sources of truth for that label data. This allows labelling to become more dynamic, streamlined and automated. The importance of this should not be underestimated. The ability to guarantee accurate labels that meet regulatory requirements across different jurisdictions without data replication ultimately reduces mislabelling - something which is a hefty cost to businesses around the world. And yet, a direct link to enterprise applications is just the beginning when it comes to the benefits. Enterprise labelling’s dynamic nature further enables businesses to adjust labelling to account for continuous change, whether on account of regulatory developments or consumer demands.

 

A quick history of barcode labelling

 

Innovation has always been at the heart of enterprise labelling. Manufacturers once had to worry about whether the next box of machine parts would arrive in time for Tuesday’s production run, and cashiers manually punched in every can of green beans at the cash register. Today, barcodes handle all of that, at every step in the supply chain.

 

The graduate students who pioneered the concept in 1948 could never have dreamed where the idea would lead. Indeed, it wasn’t until the mid‐seventies that a supermarket in Ohio made history by scanning a package of chewing gum – the first time the technology was used to sell a retail product. It was another decade before most leading retailers had barcode technology in place.

 

The 1990s brought important developments, including the rise of powerful enterprise applications to automate business processes, new capabilities to design and print labels, and the advent of internet‐enabled business functions. It was only a matter of time before these advances started converging across the supply chain to power vast new possibilities.

 

These days, there’s widespread recognition that integrated labelling is a whole lot more than just automating previously manual processes – that, in fact, it’s a strategic part of doing business in the supply chain. But many organisations have a long way to go to maximise the capabilities of enterprise labelling.

 

Driving intelligent supply chains

 

Technology remains a strategic imperative for companies of all sizes, and businesses we talk to recognise that it is a source of competitive advantage. From our own research, it’s clear that one subject is top of mind: cloud adoption.

 

During the Covid-19 disruption, the vital role of labelling in supply chains became increasingly apparent. As a result, cloud-based labelling solutions were put firmly on the radar of organisations that needed to shift production, accommodate a remote workforce, and extend labelling to new partners and suppliers to ensure the continuous movement of parts and products – upstream and downstream – without delays.

 

No longer a luxury, transformation became crucial during the pandemic, and we expect this trend to continue to prevail. Whether they’re supporting remote workforces, enabling better collaboration across the enterprise, or working to improve customer experience, forward-thinking businesses are implementing comprehensive, cloud-based labelling solutions that help them address these challenges.

 

Ultimately, companies that adopt this digital mindset can reap the benefits of intelligent supply chains to become more streamlined and flexible, effectively delivering results while staying relevant in today’s shifting global landscape.

 

Our own research found that 78 per cent of businesses believe eliminating manual processes and replacing them with automated labelling would reduce errors. What’s also clear is that for companies still managing disconnected legacy solutions, continuity and profitability are at risk.

 

Additionally, enterprises dealing across multiple locations dispersed across the globe have often struggled with implementing efficient processes for managing labelling and packaging artwork. However, by enlisting a standardised, cloud-based approach, companies can ensure a common set of labels, centralised applications and data sources are used across their supply chain.

 

Keeping up and getting ahead

 

Over the past two years, the risks and challenges in our global supply chains have been front and centre in boardrooms. These issues will continue to flare up, so all business leaders have a responsibility to tackle them head on. That’s why companies that prioritise innovation and place digital transformation at the heart of their labelling strategy will have a competitive edge and set themselves up for future success.

 

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Learn more about Loftware’s research here

 

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By Josh Roffman, SVP Marketing and Product Management, Loftware