Systems and data
Supply chain traceability analyst
Finding out where things really come from, so a company can say something true about its products.
Written by Nivaan, founder of OffLadder ยท Last reviewed
Test it this week
Pick one thing in your kitchen and spend an hour finding out how far back you can verify its ingredients or materials from public sources. Note exactly where the trail stops.
What the work actually contains
- Following one product back through its suppliers until the trail goes cold, then working out why
- Reconciling documents that disagree with each other
- Visiting or calling suppliers and asking specific, checkable questions
- Writing what can be claimed publicly and what cannot
Why it is appearing now
Reporting duties and customer questions about origin, materials and labour have got sharper, and most supply chains were never built to answer them.
What AI changes about it
Document reading and matching get much faster, which moves the work towards the judgement calls and the awkward conversations with suppliers.
The human abilities it leans on
- Dogged follow-through on a paper trail
- Diplomacy with people who would rather not be asked
- Comfort saying 'we cannot claim this yet'
What it can grow out of
- Procurement, logistics, quality control
- Accounts and audit
- Retail buying
What nobody knows yet
How far regulation pushes this and how quickly.
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