Our solution empowers businesses to maintain sustainable and transparent supply chain
Inspectorio is a technology company founded in 2016, focused on revolutionising the supply chain industry by providing data-driven insights for quality, compliance, and sustainability. With products like Inspectorio Sight, Rise, and Tracking, the company connects various entities in the supply chain, offering digitised solutions for over 12,000 organisations globally, aiming to enhance collaboration and transparency. In an interview with Fibre2Fashion, the company’s Enterprise Account Executive Katrina Duck explains how companies can achieve end-to-end traceability and transparency in their supply chain.
Given your extensive background in supply chain management and transparency, what do you believe are the critical components for achieving effective supply chain traceability?
Effective supply chain traceability relies on four critical components. Firstly, end-to-end visibility across the entire supply chain, from raw material sourcing all the way upstream. This provides an accurate picture of where raw materials originate and how they have been handled throughout their journey towards the finished product.
Secondly, data integration across various systems and databases helps gather and consolidate data from different supply chain partners, providing an accurate and reliable information source for traceability.
Thirdly, robust analytics and reporting capabilities provide better insights into the supply chain’s performance, helping brands and retailers identify potential bottlenecks, and make informed decisions in real-time.
Finally, transparency and collaboration through shared information gives brands and retailers clear visibility into their suppliers’ practices and processes.
What specific traceability features within the Inspectorio platform are most valued by your enterprise clients?
Our enterprise clients value two important traceability features of our platform. Firstly, our user-friendly interface makes it easy for them to know exactly what needs to be uploaded and how to upload that information or supporting documentation. Secondly, they appreciate that our solution can generate robust, informative reports for each purchase order (PO) — including data collected from each tier supplier, a detailed supply chain map, and a comprehensive risk assessment. These reports can be used both internally (supporting marketing claims and internal KPI tracking) and externally (customs and import/export documentation).
What kind of challenges have you encountered when implementing traceability solutions, and how have you overcome them?
Scalability is a huge challenge that software solutions face today. With our network of over 12,000 vendors, factories and suppliers, we make sure that all clients have access to our support staff via live chat, customer success managers, and help centres. Our global support team is available 24/7 in more than 12 different languages — providing excellent education on ‘why’ and ‘how’ we can work together to bring trust and cooperation further up the supply chain. Partnering closely and continuously learning from our supply chain is how we have been so successful in two key areas. First, the timely collection of essential documentation from the supply chain, and second, the increasing accountability and empowerment for the documentation collected through time stamps and user logs.
In your view, what are the key challenges faced by the garment industry in achieving complete supply chain traceability, and how can these be overcome?
The industry faces several challenges in achieving complete supply chain traceability — the most common being complex and fragmented supply chains. This is because the garment industry often involves multiple tiers of suppliers, making it difficult to trace every step in the supply chain. To overcome this, implementing a software solution that enables data integration and collaboration among supply chain partners is crucial. A system like this allows for seamless data sharing and transparency across the entire chain.
Another key challenge is the lack of standardised data in the industry as inconsistent data formats and terminology used by supply chain partners hinder traceability efforts. We need to adopt standardised data formats and implement data-sharing protocols for consistent and accurate information exchange.
From the perspective of social responsibility and sustainability, why is traceability particularly important in the apparel industry?
It is very important for several reasons. First and foremost, traceability can help brands and retailers to ensure worker welfare throughout the supply chain. Through tracking garment production from source to finished product, traceability can better identify and address issues such as forced labour, child labour, and unsafe working conditions. Consumers today also care about social and environmental issues when making buying decisions. They want to make informed choices and support brands that align with their values. Providing traceability information allows brands and retailers to build trust with their consumers and show that they are committed to both ethical and sustainable practices.
Could you tell us how Inspectorio’s solutions have transformed the traceability process for your clients?
Through our traceability solution, we have been able to provide a streamlined and comprehensive traceability process with 1-on-1 consultancy support to identify gaps and benchmark against best industry practices.
We help digitalise the chain of custody questionnaires and capture essential traceability data points such as purchase orders, suppliers, products, raw materials, and transaction information. We also standardise documentation requirements to meet customer and legal expectations, as well as generate traceability reports to support the compliance of these requirements.
Additionally, our solution can standardise operational procedures and facilitate onboarding/communication across upstream suppliers. We also integrate the traceability process into a broader enterprise risk management system by leveraging collected data (i.e., sourcing country, supplier and product information) to identify and prioritise social compliance and sustainability risks against industry-recognised/public domain risk indexes (i.e., List of Goods, UFLPA Entity List, WRO & Findings List Modern Slavery Index etc.) and Inspectorio’s internal compliance and sustainability database.
How does Inspectorio help brands, retailers and suppliers achieve end-to-end supply chain traceability?
Inspectorio’s traceability solution helps brands, retailers, and suppliers achieve end-to-end supply chain traceability by providing a centralised platform that captures data at every stage of the product’s journey from source to end consumer. By collecting documentation from all tiers upstream, it ensures accurate product documentation and seamless tracking throughout the supply chain.
Our solution also promotes transparency and collaboration among stakeholders, allowing them to share traceability data, certifications, and compliance information. Thanks to our real-time visibility and analytics capabilities, proactive decision-making and risk management. Overall, the software solution empowers businesses to maintain control over their supply chain, enhance product quality, ensure regulatory compliance, and build trust with consumers through transparent and accountable practices.
Could you explain how traceability within the clothing industry impacts the overall quality of products and customer satisfaction?
Brands and retailers that track and trace every step of the supply chain are better equipped to identify and address in real time any quality issues that may arise at various stages of production without disrupting the flow. Only by having insight can you identify where the issues are occurring. This improved control and visibility puts companies in a better position to guarantee that the products meet desired quality standards, resulting in higher-quality garments for customers.
How has Inspectorio leveraged technology to address traceability in the supply chain? With increasing global focus on sustainability, how does traceability play a key role in this?
Inspectorio enables end-to-end supply chain visibility and traceability by providing a centralised and digitalised system to capture, manage, and analyse data across the supply chain. Traceability is not only a major factor for sustainability but also a key part of corporate responsibility.
Sourcing teams can track and verify the origin of raw materials, making sure they are sourced responsibly with ethical labour practices, environmental sustainability, and compliance with relevant regulations taken into account.
Additionally, traceability helps brands and retailers to verify their suppliers’ sustainability claims — such as using organic or recycled fibres — while promoting sustainable sourcing practices. Ultimately, this promotes sustainable sourcing and supports the demand for eco-friendly apparel.
What are the top steps businesses should take to improve their supply chain traceability and transparency, and how can Inspectorio’s products assist in this journey?
Businesses need to first map out their existing supply chain, so they know who they are working with and who their partners are working with. This paints a clearer picture of how products flow, highlighting potential risks and information gaps.
Following this, companies can trace their products by tracking each individual item from production right up to point-of-sale and beyond — allowing companies to monitor, manage, and respond to any potential problems with accuracy. Lastly, material traceability takes things a bit further by providing deeper visibility into the sourcing and production of raw materials used to produce a garment or accessory.
Tracking data on sustainable sourcing, animal welfare, labour conditions etc, and their compliance with local and global standards helps ensure safety, sustainability, and ethical sourcing. Inspectorio supports all three stages of transparency journey and provides complete visibility and traceability into their supply chain.
As an industry expert, what future trends or innovations do you foresee in the area of supply chain traceability?
The first time I heard the word traceability was just over six years ago. I was asked if we could trace a PO to the farm/forest/field level, but back then the only option was to pick up the phone and try to explain to every single tier ‘why’ we needed to contact their upstream supplier. Documents were sent via email, WhatsApp or WeChat — a painful process that took weeks to just trace one PO.
Fast forward to now, we have got so many traceability-focused technology solutions that are digitising, standardising, collating and analysing the information from all tiers. Not only has technology made it easier to contact the tiers, but also to collect the documents in a much more efficient way.
We still have a long way to go — no single solution is scalable yet — but we have come so far in this space already. And with AI entering the scene, I am excited for all the amazing ideas and collaborations that will enable us to take traceability even further. The possibilities are endless!
How does the Inspectorio platform enhance supply chain visibility and traceability?
The Inspectorio platform enhances supply chain visibility and traceability by standardising and streamlining the entire supply chain process. By establishing consistent data formats, terminology, and workflows, it reduces errors and improves data accuracy. This kind of standardisation allows for seamless data exchange and collaboration among supply chain partners. In other words, it gives brands and retailers the power to see their entire supply chain in one place!
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