Successful industry examples prove that tighter integration of information and physical flows in supply chains yield significant productivity improvements. Research suggests that the benefits range from 2.3 percent to 48 percent in system cost reductions depending on the degree of information sharing and coordination among the channel members. Despite the magnitude of the potential benefits and availability of enabling technologies, supply chain integration continues to be a challenging task and a critical issue for today's supply chain professionals. The difficulty arises from the conflicting objectives of the supply chain members and an inadequate understanding of how to integrate the supply chain processes.
Source: Industry Week