Tag: AI

Artificial Intelligence, or AI, is an exciting new technology that has profound implications and applications in Supply Chain.

What Could AI’s Role Be in the Future of Cybersecurity?

The Metaverse and the Digital Supply Chain!

Everyone knows that we live in an increasingly tech-centric world that sees us spending more time online. This is certainly true when it comes to supply chain management in business and the future of cybersecurity, for example.

Modern management of supply chains involves the latest software and tech platforms to track goods in transit or manage stock levels. Digital tech is also very important across not only the whole business sector but also our personal lives. 

Continue reading “What Could AI’s Role Be in the Future of Cybersecurity?”

Virtual Reality (VR) is Enhancing E-Commerce Shopping! (Infographic)

Augmented Reality (AR) is Set to Transform Retail and the Supply Chain!

Virtual reality (VR) is something we’ve been hearing a lot about recently, but did you know your shopping experience could be influenced by this in the not too distant future? Or perhaps it already has?

Continue reading “Virtual Reality (VR) is Enhancing E-Commerce Shopping! (Infographic)”

Collaborative Robots: Making Manufacturing Jobs More Valuable

Industry 4.0 – Smart Manufacturing of the Future! (Infographic)

First, a “Prime Objective” of the Shasta EDC is job growth in the manufacturing and technology sectors, including the use of collaborative robots. This is our key focus. However, the recruitment, retention, and expansion of our companies is equally important.

There is obviously a symbiotic relationship between employer and employees. However, from time to time there are talent gaps that emerge and technologies that force us to rethink our approaches to business.

Data shows that the number of manufacturing jobs are declining, and the jobs that remain are shifting to a mixture of the traditional and tribal knowledge around manufacturing and a blend of technical knowledge that helps to augment current manufacturing with the practical application of emerging technologies.

Continue reading “Collaborative Robots: Making Manufacturing Jobs More Valuable”

The Control Tower – Is Yours Real or Smoke and Mirrors?

10 Supply Chain Investment Challenges – Real and Imagined!

The advancement of digital technology enables the real-time, intelligent management of the Supply Chain.  This now means you need a Control Tower.

But any company’s Supply Chain can still involve tens of thousands of skus, thousands of bills of material, thousands of suppliers, hundreds of transportation vendors, dozens of manufacturing facilities and distribution centres, and numerous customers.

So even if you have a Digital Supply Chain how do you manage this complexity?  The answer is that you need a Control Tower!

Continue reading “The Control Tower – Is Yours Real or Smoke and Mirrors?”

Rise of the Warehouse Robots!

Disruptive Warehouse Technologies for Any Company!

Customer expectations are changing as new sales outlets are being used. With the application of social media, omni-channel and e-commerce customers now have more price options, selections, delivery methods and shopping experiences. The ability of a business to keep the customer satisfied greatly depends on fulfillment capabilities, such as with the use of warehouse robots.

Progressive businesses have realized the critical nature an operations strategy has on designing a working supply chain. Combining distribution and fulfillment operations into a single facility has become the base of the supply chain network, as they allow a single location to stock a vast number of products and service multiple channels.

Continue reading “Rise of the Warehouse Robots!”

4 Pitfalls to Avoid When Selecting Supply Chain Technology!

Supply Chain Investment Challenges – Real and Imagined!

There are thousands of supply chain technology vendors in the market today, and many companies claim their system is the best-of-the-best.

How do you truly know which systems are the best, and what can you do to ensure the selected supply chain technology does not become a money pit for your organization?

The answers to these questions lie in understanding the top pitfalls to avoid when selecting systems and new technologies for use in your organization.

Continue reading “4 Pitfalls to Avoid When Selecting Supply Chain Technology!”

How Will AI Affect the Supply Chain?

Harnessing the Power of ChatGPT and AI in Supply Chain!

Artificial Intelligence is rapidly reshaping the landscape of supply chain management. As businesses deal with today’s global economy, using AI is a big deal.

This article looks at how AI will affect supply chain management. It talks about the good things AI can do, the problems it can cause, and how businesses can get ready for this big change.

AI is poised to revolutionize how supply chains operate, ultimately contributing to improved efficiency, cost reduction, and competitive advantage.

Continue reading “How Will AI Affect the Supply Chain?”

How Artificial Intelligence (AI) Will Change Decision Making!

The Impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Over the Next Half Decade!

From The Terminator to Blade Runner, pop culture has always leaned towards a chilling depiction of artificial intelligence (AI) and our future with AI at the helm. Recent headlines about Facebook panicking because their AI bots developed a language of their own have us hitting the alarm button once again. Should we really feel unsettled with an AI future?

News flash: that future is here. If you ask Siri, the helpful assistant who magically lives inside your phone, to read text messages and emails to you, find the nearest pizza place or call your mother for you, then you’ve made AI a part of your everyday life.

Continue reading “How Artificial Intelligence (AI) Will Change Decision Making!”

AI + Data = Supply Chain Risk Management!

I feel you.

I was there.

In the exact same position, you’re in now.

A cynic. A skeptic. A person, utterly exhausted with seeing those two letters: AI.

As we see from Deloitte’s CPO Survey in 2018, AI is only fully deployed in 2% of procurement organizations and is far from making any real impact at scale within the digital ecosystems procurement teams are so eagerly trying to build. To top it off, there’s only 27% percent of procurement leaders considering AI/Cognitive technology, and 55% who haven’t considered it at all.

Cut to 2019, Deloitte published its newest CPO Survey where they found that 81% of chief procurement officers with fully implemented solutions in the space of Supply Chain Risk & Compliance Management aren’t satisfied with their solutions.

81%.

Continue reading “AI + Data = Supply Chain Risk Management!”

How AI and the IoT Can Change Transportation Management!

The Top 5 Impacts of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Logistics!

Analysts predict that by 2020, 75% of new cars will feature IoT connectivity. The percentage increase describes consumer applications, but the idea of connected vehicles should garner interest from other sectors such as shipping, logistics, and transportation management.

Leaders in these industries would be wise to plan for a future where AI and the IoT transform transportation management.

Here are five possible applications to consider:

Continue reading “How AI and the IoT Can Change Transportation Management!”

What is Big Data?

5 Seismic Shifts in Supply Chain Technology!

I remember manually plugging 16kB (that’s right “kilobyte”) memory chips into an original IBM Personal Computer.  The crunching sound they made was unforgettable.  I was ecstatic that I had increased the total memory to 128kB, and then to 256kB … WOW!   At that time that was a lot of memory.  Who could ever need to store that much data?  That was “Big Data“.

Let’s fast forward to today.  The memory on your handheld smartphone and other devices is measured in Gigabytes (GB).  Over 2.5 quintillion bytes of information are generated every day.  Every move, every transaction, every image, every event and every location in everyone’s  lives are recorded.

That is Big Data!

Continue reading “What is Big Data?”

The Impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Over the Next Half Decade!

The Top 5 Impacts of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Logistics!

Why half? For those who may find awkward the reference to “half a decade” and not the “next decade” here is why: AI is evolving at such a staggering rate that it is simply not possible to foresee the impact of Artificial Intelligence in 10 years’ time.

Continue reading “The Impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Over the Next Half Decade!”

Supply Chain Investment Challenges – Real and Imagined!

The Digital Supply Chain Road is Full of Potholes, Construction and Accidents!

Everywhere you turn there is talk of a lot of very exciting technologies requiring Supply Chain investment.  The Internet of Things (IoT), Augmented Reality (AR), Drones and Autonomous Vehicles, Robotics, Virtual Reality (VR), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Intelligent Analytics are front and centre.

And all of these technologies have applicability for the Supply Chain in every business and in every industry around the world.   The Digital Supply Chain vision is within our line of sight.

But most companies are still working with the same, manual, non-automated Supply Chains that they have had for at least the last decade.  And they will continue to do so in the foreseeable future.  They are faced with challenges which are going to impede technology investments to advance their Supply Chains going forward.

What are these Supply Chain challenges?

Continue reading “Supply Chain Investment Challenges – Real and Imagined!”

Artificial Intelligence in E-Commerce! (Infographic)

What is Big Data?

The convergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in E-Commerce is underway.  Further it has the potential for exponential dissemination across the Retail landscape in the future along with expansion of it’s applications and capabilities.

From playing a role in managing the Customer Experience to providing Buying, Replenishment and Fulfillment capabilities to analyzing the ever growing expanse of Big Data, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is here to stay in Retail.

Continue reading “Artificial Intelligence in E-Commerce! (Infographic)”

Are We Facing the End of Supply Chain Management?

Imagining the Supply Chain of the Future!
Get OUR Ebook EBOOKS HERE

A new article in Harvard Business Review has been generating some automation-related controversy in the Supply Chain Community, as well as lots of buzz and interesting conversation. Naturally, we want to weigh in and the end of Supply Chain Management.

Titled, “The Death of Supply Chain Management,” the article discusses the way that automation, AI and big data are transforming the industry.

It raises the alarm that the function will soon cease to exist, only to – as these “X is dead“ articles often end up doing – assert that it will still exist, just in a very different form.

Continue reading “Are We Facing the End of Supply Chain Management?”