Amid a prolonged workforce shortage, increasing order volume, SKU proliferation, pressure to speed up delivery times and lingering economic uncertainty, factories and warehouses are turning to AI-powered technologies to automate time-consuming tasks. But for all their investments in digital transformation, many supply-chain organizations are still performing essential tasks manually, leading to a high volume of paperwork, frequent data silos, manual approval processes and a lack of visibility. All those manual tasks tap the brakes on production countless times each day.

As generative AI (GenAI) rapidly gains a foothold in supply chain operations, leaders in the manufacturing and distribution industries are recognizing the power of automation and GenAI to drive process improvements, according to the 2025 MHI Annual Industry Report. With strategic digital implementation of GenAI, supply-chain companies can streamline laborious processes, automate data extraction and eliminate bottlenecks, driving significant operational gains across the organization. This eBook will explore how enterprise content management (ECM) solutions—such as Long Beach, Calif.-based SaaS provider Laserfiche®—can help manufacturers and distributors become more agile, efficient and responsive to the ever-changing dynamics of supply-chain operations.

The 2025 MHI Annual Industry Report shows that supply-chain executives understand the value of ECM solutions such as Laserfiche. The survey found that 51% of organizations are working to accelerate their digital transformation by harnessing the power of data, but without an ECM solution, that task is daunting. MHI’s report found that 44% of manufacturing leaders say the amount of data their companies collect has doubled in just the past two years, and they expect it to triple by 2030.

Spreadsheets remain ubiquitous, with 70% of manufacturers entering data manually and 68% still using spreadsheets to analyze data, according to the MHI report. The tedious nature of data entry is just one of the factors contributing to the manufacturing industry’s labor shortage, which is expected to reach 2.1 million unfilled jobs by 2030, according to the report.

The amount of data associated with supply-chain operations is growing exponentially, and managing that data is essential, empowering manufacturing leaders to identify bottlenecks and make strategic decisions more quickly. Manual data management and data silos lead not only to wasted time and increased costs but also to complicated processes and frustration for workers and customers.

Through automated data structures, streamlined data extractions and data uniformity across documents, executives can make informed decisions as challenges arise, supporting critical business processes and driving ROI for their organizations. Clean data starts with evaluating how well existing software systems and business processes are integrated. The next step is to bridge the process gaps between applications such as enterprise resource planning, manufacturing execution and customer relationship management. A centralized repository platform such as Laserfiche can serve as the single trusted source for up-to-date information, and that accuracy improves strategic planning and decision-making.

Data silos make it all but impossible to drive efficiency and streamline business processes across multiple applications and business units. That lack of transparency also makes it harder to measure ROIs and improve margins over time. By eliminating fragmentation across information systems, organizations can work and communicate seamlessly across diverse functions such as sales, engineering and finance.

Low-code integrations with Laserfiche’s platform enable companies to bridge technology gaps between legacy systems and the latest cloud applications while extending the functionality of existing ERP and supply-chain management solutions. Integrating content through a middleware platform like Laserfiche allows for standardized data formats and metadata types, enabling people and systems to access accurate information consistently.

With reliable data available across the entire company, manufacturers and warehouses can move products faster and grow their margins. Supply-chain companies will gain visibility and control over their factory or warehouse floor, and they’ll harness the power of AI and predictive modeling to establish an edge over their competitors.

Supervisors can create customizable dashboards to monitor operations, and Laserfiche’s generative AI tools, Smart Fields and Smart Chat, can speed-up real-time data extraction from multiple document types with less manual effort, and improved accuracy and compliance.

Here are five ways Laserfiche’s ECM platform can optimize operations for supply-chain companies:

Want to read more? Get the full ebook, 5 Steps to Boost Supply-Chain Operations, here.