Background  

The unprecedented supply chain disruptions from the global pandemic uncovered the systematic flaws of globalization and fragmentation of modern supply chains. Many industrial manufacturing companies struggled to cope with supply shortages and lack of accurate supply chain information from their suppliers. The aftermath of the pandemic has renewed discussion around supply chain transparency and how to increase information sharing with suppliers farther upstream to mitigate any future disruptions. But transitioning a supply chain to be more transparent is a huge undertaking and many barriers arise between the different supply chain stakeholders. The literature is vague discussing which barriers are the most significant within an industrial tire supply line and how digital technologies such as IoT and Blockchain can mitigate these barriers. 

Purpose

Over the last decades the topic of transparency has seen increasing attention in the industry, yet while the technologies made leaps and bounds, we do not see widespread applications of these technologies to create transparency among whole supply chains. To date these technologies are mostly used to create internal visibility. By exploring the barriers of supply chain transparency presented in the academic literature this thesis aims to gain a deeper understanding of how digital technologies can help overcome these barriers. 

Method

A single case study method with multiple case companies within an industrial construction equipment supply line were studied. This, in conjunction with literature on barriers of supply chain transparency, digital technologies and dynamic capabilities theory, was used to uncover barriers to creating more transparency in supply lines. A qualitative approach was used, so data was collected through semi-structured interviews. 

Conclusion

Four significant barriers were discovered and those include 1) supply chain complexity, 2) information sharing barrier 3) cost barriers 4) digital technology barriers. To address these barriers, action areas were being developed by the case companies and those included: sharing timelier and more accurate forecast with supply chain partners; providing resources to map the supply chain farther upstream; using Blockchain services to collect information from beyond tier 1 suppliers; using different digital technologies to reduce the transparency barriers and increase automation of certain task to name a few. All case companies understood that increasing transparency within the supply chain was necessary to mitigate future supply chain disruptions and using more digital technologies to increase transparency was seen as the way forward.