Gartner Supply Chain Symposium/Xpo™ 2023: three key takeaways for supply chain leaders

The Gartner Supply Chain Symposium/Xpo™, which took place last week in Orlando, Florida, brought together companies from all over the world for three days of networking, thought leadership presentations, and panel sessions. The conference delivered insights, strategies, and frameworks to help supply chain leaders mitigate risk, respond to disruption, develop agile strategies, and prioritize technology investments. 

Read on for my three key takeaways from the conference.  

#1 The rise of resilient supply chain planning. Traditional planning does not cope with complexity and uncertainty, which calls for a new approach to supply chain management. One technology that fits the bill and has been gaining traction in recent years is cloud computing. The cloud has the power to revolutionize supply chain management and bring significant benefits to businesses of all sizes. Our ‘2023 Top 5 Trends in Labeling & Packaging Artwork’ report revealed that 50% of businesses already deploy important business applications in the cloud, up 10% from 2022. Furthermore, 71% of companies believe the cloud or a hybrid solution will be their favored deployment method for labeling within the next three years. That’s because cloud labeling empowers organizations to speed deployment and take fast, corrective actions to eliminate bottlenecks, enhance collaboration, improve time to market, and ensure compliance. 

#2 Creating a more sustainable supply chain. A recent Oxford Economics survey of global supply chain leaders found that while 88% had created a sustainability mission statement, only 52% had executed them. Moreover, only 21% seemed to have visibility into their supplier sourcing of sustainable products. So, how can supply chain leaders make progress? Part of the equation is around how social, ethical, and environmental performance factors into the process of selecting suppliers. With sustainability at the forefront, digital traceability can help companies deliver on their environmental commitments. Being able to trace products both upstream and downstream will become important for managing the product lifecycle and ensuring sustainable sourcing. These intelligent supply chains can track, trace, and authenticate products at every stage of the journey, from raw materials to consumer goods. Additionally, cloud-based labeling solutions reduce inventory, eliminate a large global footprint, and ensure that all products are made, shipped, and delivered to the right place, thereby avoiding unnecessary loss and waste. 

#3 Leveraging technologies to meet legislative and regulatory requirements. John Blake, Gartner Senior Research Director, delivered an interesting presentation that featured insights from Gartner’s latest Label & Artwork Management (LAM) Market Guide. During our Convergence 2022 conference last November, Mr. Blake highlighted the costly results of inaccurate labeling and discussed how non-declared allergens, mislabeling, and inaccurate packaging graphics continue to be a leading cause of product delays and recalls, ultimately costing manufacturers millions of dollars in lost sales. He outlined how compliance violations in the pharmaceutical industry have exceeded $50 billion since 2000, while the average cost of non-compliance has grown by 43% over the past nine years. However, by implementing an Enterprise Labeling solution – one that links labeling processes with business processes to drive speed, accuracy, and compliance – helps to eliminate the risk of labeling errors, thereby saving companies money, time, and brand reputation. Learn more here.