Supply Chain Technology: Trends, Advancements and Innovation
- Supply chain technologies are rapidly evolving to meet challenges such as risk and changing consumer demands.
- AI and ML, cloud, big data analytics, blockchain, and automation, are transforming supply chain operations.
- These technologies have helped create agile, high-performance supply chains that responds to constantly changing business dynamics.
July 20, 2022 | Supply Chain Software 4 minutes read
Technology helps improve efficiency and optimize processes in supply chains.
However, the crisis and disruptions seen by the world in the last two years have necessitated rethinking supply chain strategies, processes, and technologies.
Today, emerging technologies in supply chain management, such as artificial intelligence & machine learning, cloud computing, big data analytics, blockchain, and automation, have transformed supply chain operations.
How Do Advancements in Supply Chain Management Technology Improve Automation?
Global supply chain technology has been rapidly evolving, keeping abreast of the global challenges such as risks and consumer demands faced by businesses.
The following supply chain technology examples that improve automation may be implemented in a phased manner by businesses and supply chain technology companies, starting small and scaling up as required. The one feature that is common across these technologies is they provide visibility.
• Advanced Demand Forecasting
Traditional forecasting methods rely on historical shipment and sales data to estimate future demand. However, advanced demand forecasting, that is, demand sensing, uses a broader range of inputs, including real-world events and complex algorithms, to create more accurate forecasts.
• Rise of AI, ML and RPA
The digital supply chain produces massive amounts of data that is analyzed by AI (artificial intelligence) and offers crucial recommendations. Along with machine learning (ML) and robotic process automation (RPA), AI-powered supply chain software taps into the power of intelligent automation for increased efficiency and accuracy, greater speed and productivity, fewer errors, and lower operational costs.
• Implementation of Warehouse Robotics & Automated Shipping
Enterprises can deploy robotic process automation (RPA) to perform manual, rules-based, and repetitive tasks much more efficiently . For example, robots handle the picking, packing, and put-away processes in a warehouse with minimal human intervention.
• Advanced Data and Analytics
Advanced analytics must be an integral part of the sourcing and business strategy. Data analytics simplifies planning, enhances savings, creates value generation opportunities, eases strategic sourcing, improves efficiency across the supply chain, and supports compliance.
Top Trends in Supply Chain Technology Reshaping the Market
• Demand Forecasting
By leveraging technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, demand sensing creates real-time visibility of dynamic situations, such as real-world events, market shifts and trends, weather changes, disasters, and changes in consumer purchasing behavior.
• Internet of Things (IoT)
A network of physical devices that connect to the internet and exchange data creates unparalleled visibility across the entire supply chain for asset tracking. Furthermore, it offers logistic updates to optimize warehouse space and more in real-time, helping to mitigate some of the risks and uncertainties associated with a complex global supply chain.
• End-To-End Visibility and Performance Management
Supply chain visibility software provides information about real-time inventory moving to the customers through supply chain operations. Such visibility ensures accountability throughout the supply chain — be it processes or supply chain partners.
• Augmented Data Intelligence
Augmented data intelligence means the integration of multiple disparate technologies that improve decision-making and have the potential to elevate the supply chain technology company’s power to execute.
• Supply Chain Technology Examples
Today, the new supply chain technology, like AI, blockchain, and cloud computing, provide improved supply chain visibility and near real-time tracking.
Ways Digital Supply Chain Technologies Can Improve Your Business
Businesses can grow by leaps and bounds by leveraging modern supply chain technologies to create an agile, high-performance supply chain that responds to constantly changing business dynamics and customer expectations.
Adopting these technologies can help in the following ways:
- Simplify their supply chain processes to be more efficient and effective.
- Provides real-time, actionable data for making quick decisions to overcome disruptions.
- End-to-end visibility in supply chains for ensuring agility and resilience.
Enterprises acknowledge the need for advanced digitization of supply chains. However, to leverage the technology effectively, businesses must partner with the right provider for developing resilient and responsive supply chain networks.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Simplify their supply chain processes to be more efficient and effective.
- Provides real-time, actionable data for making quick decisions to overcome disruptions.
- End-to-end visibility in supply chains for ensuring agility and resilience.
- Enhance customer experience
Supply chain technology helps in improving efficiency and optimizing processes to reduce costs. It also helps to build resilient and agile networks to handle disruptions.
Blockchain, big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI) & machine learning (ML), robotic process automation (RPA), and the internet of things (IoT) are the technologies that will have broad applications in predicting and managing future demands.
End-to-end visibility of the supply chain and AI using data from multiple sources provide insights and recommendations for business leaders to make decisions to ensure adherence to the agreed deliverables, creating a memorable experience for the customer. This helps the enterprise retain a competitive advantage and improve its brand image.
- Objectives are not defined.
- The supply chain team is not trained to use the latest technologies.
- Fear of poor ROI for investing in advanced technologies.
- Inadequate assessment and a lack of integration between the old and new systems and processes.
- Cyberattacks and data theft pose a security risk.
- The plan remains on paper due to a lack of direction.
