The best supply chain management tools in 2024

Selling and shipping your products to waiting customers on time is only made possible when you have a strong grasp on your supply chain.

More and more businesses are offering free shipping or next-day delivery. There’s mounting pressure to keep your supply chain running as smoothly as possible. It’s the only way to stay competitive! 

Luckily, supply chain management software is making it far easier for businesses like yours to manage the entire supply chain process. Read on for our top picks for 2024 and how to optimize your supply chain management. 

What is supply chain management, and why is it important?

Supply chain management (SCM) is all about overseeing the entire process of moving goods, from the initial suppliers to shipping to customers. It covers everything from ordering your raw materials to manufacturing and warehousing. 

Having a unique SCM process that works for your business is crucial. It helps you keep costs down and avoid delays in shipping to customers. It also lets you track your inventory levels so you can forecast future demand more accurately. 

With a well-managed supply chain, you can not only meet but exceed your customers’ expectations, helping you stay ahead of your competition.  

How to optimize your supply chain management

As you begin to optimize your supply chain, you need to make sure that every part of your process is working as smoothly as possible. Below are some strategies and best practices to help you streamline how you manage your current supply chain.

Improve your communication 

You’ll need clear communication if you want to enjoy a smooth supply chain. You want to make sure that everyone gets involved, including your suppliers and warehouse staff. They need to know what you expect from them as they fulfill their duties and stay up to date with any changes you make. 

Use supply chain software 

Tracking and managing your operations is made much easier using supply chain management software. They work by automating every aspect of your warehouse and supply chain management, from processing orders all the way to tracking your shipments. 

We’ll cover your options in a bit more detail later on!

Pay attention to your inventory levels

Don’t hold too much or too little inventory. Instead, use inventory management tools to keep track of your stock levels and adjust orders as demand goes up or down. By doing so, you can prevent stockouts or overstocking that may tie up your resources or cause lost sales.

Build strong supplier relationships

Working closely with your suppliers should be a priority, so don’t underestimate supplier management. Building a good relationship will eventually lead to better terms and priority service, meaning your customers can enjoy reliable delivery times. 

Streamline your logistics 

You should always be looking for smart ways to make your logistics work better for your business. 

This might mean optimizing your warehouse layout or improving your shipping methods. Doing all this will help to reduce your overall costs and speed up your delivery times. 

Plan for any disruptions 

Never run your supply chain without disruptions in mind. Develop a backup plan, like having multiple suppliers for your most important materials or maintaining some safety stock.

Always being prepared for any eventuality allows you to always keep your operations running smoothly, no matter what happens.

The best supply chain management tools

In order to properly manage your supply chain, you must have a good toolkit that can handle everything, from shipping to inventory management. 

To help you with your optimization efforts in 2024, we’ve curated a list of the best supply chain management tools for this year, starting with the best shipping status tools and ending with inventory management. 

The best shipping status tools 

A shipping status tool allows you to monitor all your parcels, from dispatch to delivery. This is a major part of supply chain management, allowing you to track the order process. Here are the best shipping status tools in 2024. 

FreightPOP

FreightPOP is one of the best shipping status tools on the market right now. It’s a versatile shipping management platform to simplify the complexity of multi-carrier shipping. This tool integrates with many different carriers, so you can compare their rates and services instantly. 

Here are the key features of FreightPOP: 

• Real-time tracking — Monitor all your shipments from departure to delivery
• Rate shopping — Compare your shipping rates from a range of carriers to choose the cheapest option
• Automated notifications — Set up automatic alerts so customers know what’s going on with their orders
• Carrier management — Manage all your carrier accounts from a single dashboard

Shippabo

Shippabo is software designed to help your company manage its international shipping and logistics better. It focuses on improving the communication you have with carriers and suppliers overseas with top-notch communication tools. The main features of Shippabo are: 

• End-to-end visibility — Track your global shipments with regular status updates
• Communication tools — Collaborate closely with your carriers and suppliers using Shippabo’s messaging system
• Managing documents — Access and manage all your shipping documents and compliance paperwork
• Analyzing data — Gain better insights into how your international shipping is going and the costs involved

The best order processing tools

An order processing tool helps you to manage your order fulfillment from start to finish. It’s about automating your inventory management processes so you can focus on other tasks. Here are our top two picks. 

NetSuite 

One of the biggest supply chain management tools on the market, NetSuite provides a suite of tools for managing every single aspect of your order processing. It’s a cloud-based ERP system with features like: 

• Order management — Automates your order entry and processing
• Financials — Links order processing with your financials so you can create more accurate invoices and track your revenue
• Customer relationship management — Manage all your customer interactions and track their order histories to fix issues quickly
• Real-time reporting — Create reports to better understand your order status and how you’re performing

Precoro

Precoro works by simplifying your order processing by focusing on automating your operations. Key features of this software include: 

• Managing purchase orders — Create, approve, and track all your purchase orders easily
• Invoice processing — Automate matching invoices and your approval workflows
• A supplier portal — Provide your suppliers with an easy-to-use portal for submitting your invoices and tracking the status of your orders

The best lean inventory tools 

Lean inventory management is a way for companies to improve how they handle their supply chain by reducing waste — whether it’s time or materials. For a more efficient inventory, try the following tools.

Netstock 

A lean inventory management tool, Netstock focuses on reducing excess inventory to improve the stock levels of businesses. They achieve this with the features below: 

• Optimizing inventory — Use both forecasting and historical data to work out your optimal stock levels
• Replenish automatically — Set up automated alerts and reorder recommendations based on your current stock and the predicted future demand
• Stock visibility — Gain knowledge of your stock turnover, aging, and any potential overstocking issues
• Demand forecasting — Access advanced analytics to better predict your future demand, so you can prepare your stock

Magaya 

Magaya helps to streamline how you manage your inventory by reducing excess waste. Its main features are: 

• Inventory tracking — Monitor your stock levels and movements in real time
• Warehouse management — Optimize your warehouse space so you can better organize your stored inventory
• Order fulfillment — Manage and track all your order fulfilments to ensure accuracy
• Reporting and analytics — Analyze your inventory performance so you can identify improvement areas

The best warehouse management tool 

Warehouse tools are designed to help your business manage and control all your general operations, including the movement of goods. Our top choice for warehouse management is Logiwa. 

Logiwa 

Logiwa is a warehouse management system designed to improve how you manage your operations. It gives you a better insight into your inventory levels and how you layout your warehouse. Let’s take a look at the main features: 

• Managing inventory — Track all your inventory levels and locations in real time with automatic updates sent straight to your devices
• Fulfilling orders — Automate your picking and packing processes so your customers can enjoy faster delivery times
• Warehouse layout guidance — Logiwa gives you advice when it comes to space utilization and your workflow
• Mobile access — Use your mobile phones to scan and manage all your inventory on the go

The best inventory management tool

When it comes to supply chain management, you need to have a robust inventory management tool to help you maintain optimal stock levels and reduce waste. One of the standout tools is Katana. 

Katana

Katana is an inventory management platform catering to businesses looking to streamline how they manage their current inventory. Here are its key features: 

• Real-time inventory tracking — Katana provides instant visibility into your inventory so you can monitor your stock across all locations. That way, you always know what’s on hand and where your stock is located. 
• Smart reordering — With an intelligent reordering system, Katana uses your sales data and inventory levels to recommend the best time for you to reorder. 
• Bill of materials (BOM) management — Katana simplifies how you manage your BOM, so you can track and manage all the materials you need for each and every product. 
• Production scheduling — Schedule and plan your production. Allocate your resources and set your priorities to make sure that you meet all production deadlines. 

Streamline your supply chain management processes with Katana

Looking for a way to streamline how you manage your inventory and keep your supply chain running smoothly? Look no further than Katana — the ultimate inventory management tool for small and medium-sized businesses. 

Katana offers real-time visibility, smart reordering, production scheduling, and more, to ensure that you always have the optimal amount of stock on hand. With Katana, you can always meet your production deadlines despite roadblocks and delays. 

What’s more, if you’re a fan of using different tools and software to streamline your operations, don’t worry! Katana offers various integrations and can be customized to work with other software, as well, allowing you to mix and match the perfect solution for your business.

Get a demo of Katana, transform your inventory management, and reduce your overall costs!

The best supply chain management tools FAQs