The First Mile

The First Mile: Is it the Most Overlooked Risk in Your Supply Chain?

In today’s volatile global economy, resilient supply chains have become more than a competitive advantage – they’re a strategic necessity. And while a lot of attention has been paid to last-mile delivery and AI-powered forecasting, the real opportunity is to focus on where it all begins: the first mile, when purchase orders are issued, suppliers are engaged, and cargo readiness is first determined.

It's where delays, errors, and silos can quietly snowball into major downstream disruptions. And yet, it remains one of the most under-invested and under-digitised segments in global supply chains.

The Rising Risk of a Fragmented System

Recent research by McKinsey (2025) shows that 64% of global supply chain disruptions in the past 12 months were traceable to first-mile failures, from delayed vendor confirmations to documentation errors and misaligned ship-by dates.

Meanwhile, a 2025 Deloitte global survey revealed that only 8% of supply chain leaders said they have real-time visibility into their upstream supplier activity, despite nearly 70% listing supply continuity as a top business risk.

Recognising the problem is no longer enough. It’s time to close the gap.

First-Mile Failures: Where Disruption Begins

When the first mile breaks down, the entire supply chain feels the impact. Here’s how early-stage friction translates into business risk:

• Delayed PO Acceptance → compresses shipment lead times, raises the risk of missed bookings, and drives last-minute expediting.

• Incomplete or Inaccurate Documentation → delays customs clearance, increases compliance risk, and creates downstream uncertainty.

• Misaligned Forecasting → leads to container underutilisation, stock imbalances, and inflated freight or warehousing costs.

• Fragmented Vendor Communication → forces teams to chase updates across emails and spreadsheets, increasing errors and delays—making it harder to plan ahead and pinpoint where things are going wrong.

Left unaddressed, these failures contribute to higher operating costs, missed SLAs, and a fragile supply chain that reacts rather than responds.

What You Can Do Differently to Strengthen Your First Mile?

Improving your first mile doesn’t have to mean overhauling your entire system - instead, you can layer smarter tools on top of what you already use to gain visibility, automate workflows, and reduce friction. Here’s where to focus your efforts:

• Integrate supplier workflows into a centralised platform that connects procurement, logistics, and vendor teams through shared data and real-time updates.

• Automate PO tracking and validation to eliminate reliance on manual spreadsheets and email threads.

• Use predictive alerts to catch delays, booking risks, or missing documentation early—before they cause downstream disruption.

• Enable seamless collaboration between internal teams and external partners through shared dashboards and digital workspaces.

According to BCG (2025), businesses that invested in first-mile visibility and process integration saw measurable benefits, including a 22% reduction in missed on-time deliveries and a 25% improvement in order cycle predictability.

Your First-Mile Risk Checklist

If you're unsure whether your organisation is exposed, here’s a quick check-list you can take back to your team:

• Do we track supplier PO acceptance within 24 hours of issue? YES/NO

• Can we verify cargo readiness at least 14 days before ship-by-date? YES/NO

• Is vendor documentation centralised, validated, and expiry-tracked? YES/NO

• Do internal teams and external vendors collaborate in a shared environment? YES/NO

• Are predictive alerts in place for delays, missing documents, or shipment risk? YES/NO

• Can we track vendor performance and failure trends over time? YES/NO

If you’re not confidently checking off at least five of these, your first mile might be quietly undermining your entire supply chain strategy.

A Final Thought

You can’t optimise what you can’t see. In 2025, building resilience means fixing visibility gaps before the goods actually leave the factory.

The good news? The tools now exist to digitally connect your first mile - not just for visibility, but for action. The result is a smarter, faster, more resilient supply chain that gives your teams time back and your customers more reliability.

Do you want to understand where your first mile may be underperforming?

Book a First-Mile Audit with Digital Optima.