78% of supply chain professionals surveyed have tools or methods to identify high-risk suppliers related to labor or human rights. Of those, many are using multiple tools including technology, monitoring, and scorecards. The 22% without tools or methods have greater exposure to risk and consequences stemming from compliance failures.

While geopolitical and operational risks are different by nature, 2 of the top 3 strategies to manage those risks tend to be tactical responses: increase the number of suppliers and buffer inventory. This points to opportunities for improvement in business intelligence, sourcing, and supplier management.

Typically, delivery performance is more critical for companies with lower inventory levels who operate using a just-in-time fulfillment model. Currently, 71% of companies track on-time delivery (OTD), the most used transportation metric. 47% of companies claim OTD is greater than 90%, while 8% of companies report OTD less than 80%.

Most companies that operate a fleet do so to improve service levels and shorten lead times. According to a newly released CAPS Quick Poll, 40% of organizations utilize a fleet of trucks, and 62% of those manage and operate that fleet internally rather than outsourcing the management of that fleet.

Cost savings is a powerful KPI for demonstrating the value of supply management to the business. On average, supply management employees are delivering $6.6 million in total savings. How does your company compare?

Mitigating supply chain risk has become increasingly important. A recent CAPS report shows that the percentage of firms with mitigation strategies in place for financial and compliance risks is the highest with geopolitical risk strategies being the least utilized.

According to the CAPS MoSM report, only 1.4% of the total headcount across all industries are supply management employees. The overall percentage is the same as last year’s report, although there were some slight shifts within each industry.

A recent CAPS report reveals that most companies are not monitoring common supply chain risks with Tier 2 suppliers and virtually none are monitoring Tier 3 supplier risks.

Tactical buying remains the biggest focus for supply management headcount, claiming 31% of resources. Strategic sourcing has the potential to produce greater value, but these resources are a smaller portion of the team mix. 

Quick Poll results reveal the top 3 reasons supply management employees voluntarily left an organization were because of limited career growth opportunities, non-competitive compensation, and personal/family reasons.