Future-Facing Logistics Innovations: A Look Ahead!
In the post-Covid world, organizations are gearing up to streamline their businesses and maximize profitability. With exposed supply chain weaknesses in mind, they are looking to leverage digital technologies to gain a competitive edge.
In this effort, enterprises should focus on disruptive technologies capable of transforming existing supply chain models. Industries with global supply networks were hit hard during the pandemic, forcing them to reconsider their strategies. There is mounting pressure to move manufacturing back to domestic sources, scale up hiring, and reduce reliance on perceived risky external sources.
As supply chain thought leaders and organizations plan to bring about changes to the supply chain design, new technologies will play a crucial role in shaping the industry's future. These technologies will drive innovations, increase automation, and foster trust and transparency across the entire supply chain.
Major shifts are on the horizon, particularly in areas such as automation and advanced manufacturing. Automation, already changing the landscape, will continue to shape it, leading to a decline in human power needed for existing operations. Meanwhile, robotics will take over manual tasks, with Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) handling much of the loading and pickup processes.
However, even large-scale automation doesn't diminish the need for humans within organizations. Instead, management roles and experts in decision making, planning, and creative tasks will become even more essential. Automation will impact labor dynamics, and organizations need to address the instability it brings by focusing on predictive risk management, strategic insights, and fostering innovation and collaboration.
Here are some key ways organizations can tap into the major elements transforming and streamlining supply chains:
1. The Result of Automation & Revamped Supply Chain
Large-scale automation and process migration could potentially displace substantial labor forces, making the supply chain volatile in terms of labor dynamics. To mitigate this instability, enterprises can implement the following practices:
- Improving the process of predicting and managing risks.
- Adding strategic insights into the business.
- Encouraging innovation and collaboration.
2. Assessing and Engaging Suppliers through Digitization
The integration of new technologies will lead to a surge in data production and dissemination. Top supply chain executives must adapt to interpreting relevant data. Organizations are also investing resources in conducting on-site supply chain audits. They're also dealing with new challenges, such as moderate downsizing and reskilling workers.
Executives will consider the long-term effects of deploying automation and ask their teams to shift their focus from taking corrective measures to accelerating the transition towards automation with a sustainable partnership with suppliers.
The Disruptive Technologies that will Shape the Future of Supply Chain
Recently, the supply chain industry has witnessed a significant paradigm shift, as it has moved from "behind-the-scenes" functionalities to becoming an integral part of the business strategy. Advanced supply chain technologies allow room for optimization.
Here are some key supply chain technologies of the present and future:
Blockchain Technology
Blockchain technology offers numerous benefits for optimizing supply chains, such as increased trust in data within a decentralized network, and accessing data as "1 version of truth." It allows for great visibility, traceability, and automation based on that data within an organization, and across multiple networks outside of it.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)
AI and ML are being widely adopted across industries, including the supply chain. These technologies directly benefit organizations by reducing manual labor and offering time, cost, and effort savings through data analytics, providing actionable insights for better decision-making.
Hyperautomation
Hyperautomation combines legacy systems with the latest tools and technologies to streamline service-oriented and repetitive supply chain activities. These activities include generating compliance documents and sharing information with stakeholders worldwide, offering increased collaboration across multiple domains.
Digital Supply Chain Twin
A digital supply chain twin (DSCT) digitally represents the physical supply chain, using all crucial data across the supply chain to form the foundation for all end-to-end decision-making. Overall, DSCTs serve as a link between the digital and physical sides of the supply chain, enhancing situational awareness.
Edge Computing and Analytics
Edge computing and analytics process and analyze data close to its collection point, coinciding with the IoT (Internet of Things) devices. It is essential in demand for low-latency processing and automated, real-time decision-making. Currently, edge computing is getting integrated into manufacturing processes.
Smarter Warehouses
Smarter warehouses utilize emerging technologies like IoT, RFID, GPS, and GPS for better data transmission, eliminating blind spots. Digitization enables the implementation of smart contracts, ensuring automated and secure cross-border transactions with the help of something as simple as NFC or QR code scans. In addition, it enables accurate inventory optimization, allowing organizations to more accurately estimate demand and match the supply accordingly.
- To navigate the aftermath of large-scale automation and supply chain revamping, enterprises should employ techniques focusing on risk prediction, strategic insights, and innovation.
- The integration of new technologies will generate a deluge of data, requiring supply chain leaders to adapt to interpreting relevant data, conduct on-site audits, and reskill workers.
- Blockchain technology, a game-changer in the supply chain industry, provides increased trust, visibility, traceability, and automation within and across organizations.
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are proving beneficial by reducing manual labor, saving time, and offering actionable insights for better decision-making across industries.
- Hyperautomation, by combining legacy systems with the latest tools, aims to streamline repetitive supply chain activities, increasing global collaboration.
- Digital Supply Chain Twins (DSCTs) digitally represent the physical supply chain, providing a data-driven foundation for end-to-end decision-making while linking the digital and physical supply chain sides.
