Due to the fact that most assemblies, parts  and components that go into modern manufactured products are outsourced — it’s hard to know where material inputs originate. 

Identifying which materials are sourced from which vendors or intermediaries, for example, often requires digging deep into the weeds and ensuring full visibility and monitoring  at every stage in a globally distributed manufacturing process. Many companies are now required to ensure no associations with sanctioned entities or individuals. Examples include: the U.S. OFAC list and EU Blocking Statute that require organizations to conduct thorough due diligence processes with all applicable suppliers, vendors, and contract manufacturers. 

Another more vexing challenge is that it’s not enough to know what n-tier dependencies are. Increasingly, companies are required to know how a product or piece of equipment was produced or how the raw materials or ingredients were mined or manufactured. For example, global regulations against modern slavery affect the sourcing of many materials, like cotton. If your product contains cotton, the shipment of that fiber could be seized if it’s from the Xinjiang region of China due to forced labor considerations.

The bottom line? Businesses need transparency when it comes to where material-inputs come from — and that means tracking each item through every step in the mining, manufacturing, distribution, packaging and re-packaging process. Sophisticated technology from Exiger can help simplify that work.