Supply chain technology is seeing seismic shifts and changing rapidly as new, innovative solution providers leave traditional legacy players behind.
Tremors. Seismic shifts. In supply chain management technology there is a fault line separating new, innovative technology providers and traditional supply chain software providers, and the gap between them is growing.
Have you ever tried to drive in a blinding snowstorm or when the rain or fog is so thick that you can’t see in front of your car? It’s not possible! And it’s risky to even try!
So why is it that the Supply Chain in so many companies is being run without the end to end visibility needed to even function, yet which we have in our personal lives?
In this age of exponential growth in digital connectivity the time has come to ensure you have End to End Supply Chain visibility. If you carry a Smartphone you can be tracked anywhere. So why don’t you apply this technology to your Supply Chain?
What is all the fuss about? It’s a word that was rarely used or even heard of in Supply Chain not that long ago. But now it is very common to hear about Blockchain. Further it is often used in the context of being a necessary and integral part of any Digital Supply Chain Strategy.
Most companies do not yet have a Blockchain strategy. More importantly most people do not even know what it is. How can you have a strategy for something if you don’t know what it is? So, as with anything, let’s start at the beginning.
We’ve written a lot about how retail is undergoing some massive changes due to technology, such as augmented reality. The closure of a number of major American chains, as well as Amazon’s recent move into the grocery space with its acquisition of Whole Foods market, signal an industry in flux as it reckons with the ongoing transformations of the eCommerce revolution.
In the last decade, the thinking held that eCommerce might completely supplant brick and mortar retail. It’s easier to shop online than go to a store. Consumers don’t have to deal with lines, limited retail stock, or temper tantrums from kids – kids of their own, or their linemates.
But brick and mortar has shown surprising resilience, and even eCommerce giants are recognizing the appeal of an Omnichannel approach (emphasizing a mixture of brick and mortar and online shopping).
The Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of physical devices and objects that are connected to the Internet and sometimes each other. This is a network that’s getting bigger and bigger every day given the benefits of IoT.
They are connected via sensors and they can collect and exchange information about how they’re used and what’s around them. IoT is poised to have a big impact economically and socially, so this article will outline the benefits it has on supply chain management.
Supply Chain 4.0 is the manifestation of the Digital Supply Chain of the future as enabled by many of the Disruptive Technologies that we all hear about every day. Here we review our Digital Supply Chain infographic.
Everyone is impacted by the advancement of technology in both their personal and professional lives. And that impact will only become more profound as time goes on.
The Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual Reality (VR), Cloud Computing, Blockchain, Robotics, Big Data, Advanced Analytics and more are terms represent the technological breakthroughs that are being made every day.
For those involved in Supply Chain there are deep impacts that are occurring, and that will continue enabled by the evolutionary and revolutionary change that is enabled by technology. Let’s look at the Digital Supply Chain infographic.
When I started in the distribution space, I was told “…business is simple…cases in, cases out.” Reports were on green bar paper and forklifts were everywhere. As the distribution space evolved, the reports became spreadsheets and forklifts remained very important as they are coupled with the latest and greatest automation.
Supply chain improvements over the last 15 years have been incremental at best. The advances we are making in the supply chain powered by Augmented Reality (AR) are going to be wildly disruptive. The supply chain community that leans into AR and gets it right will come out the clear winners for every perspective: simplicity, safety, quality and productivity.
Here we provide the Digital Supply Chain Overview video for you. Supply Chain 4.0 is the manifestation of the Digital Supply Chain as enabled by the proliferation of Disruptive Technologies that are permeating every aspect of our lives.
The Digital Supply Chain Overview video, created and published at Supply Chain Game Changer, is focused on the Digital Supply Chain, or otherwise called Supply Chain 4.0, because of its profound impact in defining the Supply Chain of the Future!
We’re going to take a look at cloud computing and how it integrates all supply chain technologies. Cloud computing has been around for a while but growing in popularity and integration.
All data will eventually reside in the cloud. Let’s be sure we understand what the cloud is. The cloud refers to software and services that run on the Internet, instead of locally on your computer.
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?
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!
Since the term Industry 4.0 was first coined by the German government in 2011 it has steadily gathered pace and interest from companies across all industries. This infographic from 2Flow takes you through how much it has grown and how much it is expected to grow in the years to come.
Industry 4.0 is a far cry from what has come before it and data analytics is at the heart of it. In all supply chains, companies are always looking for ways to make it more efficient and digitization is more often than not the answer – which makes Industry 4.0 the answer.
Many of us are already familiar with the Internet of Things (IOT), a network of physical objects such as your smartphone that are embedded with sensors, software, and other technologies for the purpose of connecting and exchanging data with other devices and systems over the internet.
However, have you heard of the IIOT? The Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT), has a broader application and is typically used in various industries, including consumer electronics, healthcare, transportation, agriculture, and more.
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.