Top 7 Technologies Shaping Next-Gen Supply Chains

Supply chains today are complex, fragmented and work very differently from a few years ago, thanks to pandemic-induced disruptions, geopolitical conflicts, economic slowdown and other unforeseen events. Too many of these disruptions have left businesses stranded amid prolonged shortages of critical raw materials.

In many ways, these unforeseen events have triggered a rethinking of supply chain operations as well as the roles of supply chain professionals.

In a disruption-prone new normal, businesses need to adjust their strategy and bring new and innovative ideas to life.

There is another way of looking at things, especially if you are a supply chain professional.

Forward-looking businesses believe there perhaps was never a better time to accelerate digital transformation and build an agile and resilient supply chain.

This is the right time for businesses to invest in advanced supply chain technologies and build the capability needed to quickly respond to events as well as opportunities.

In this process, they can successfully transform their supply chains from a back office to a strategic function that has become increasingly vital to business continuity and growth.

How Supply Chains Can Become a Strategic Business Function

To build strategic capabilities and take on core business responsibilities, supply chains must be digitalized in every way possible. Technology must be leveraged at every stage of the supply chain. In this process, the huge amount of data generated across different supply chain functions can be effectively utilized to improve processes.

Here are seven technologies that can accelerate this transition and shape the next-generation supply chain.

1. Cloud computing:

Increased investments in cloud-based solutions indicate the growing preference to move data and workflows to cloud-based systems. In fact, “cloud-based” is now among the most important characteristics for evaluating supply chain solutions, as suggested by an IDG and GEP survey on supply chain transformation. A majority of survey respondents believe that critical supply chain functions will soon be migrated to the cloud. Among several benefits, cloud-based solutions provide real-time access to data, remote collaboration and easy scalability. Additionally, they boost capex savings, cost low on maintenance and provide data backup and reassurance for disaster recovery. Anywhere/anytime cloud services can provide the global reach, open-ended scalability and computational power that modern supply chain operations require.

2. Artificial Intelligence:

AI is set to become a game-changer for the supply chain industry. It can transform supply chains in two broad ways. Firstly, it can automate most of the routine, time-consuming functions that teams are currently engaged in.

From sourcing, supplier selection, contract management, procurement and managing suppliers to inventory and warehouse management, AI can automate several processes at every stage of the supply chain.

Secondly, by decoding large volumes of data, AI can provide the intelligence needed to make well-informed decisions, enhance efficiency and mitigate risks. AI-associated technologies such as machine learning and pattern recognition can be used together with predictive analytics to streamline critical functions such as demand forecasting and planning.

3. Generative AI:

Supply chains generate a massive amount of data, most of which is unstructured. When this data remains unutilized, businesses fail to anticipate risks, make inaccurate and random decisions and miss out on opportunities. This is where the rapidly evolving branch of AI, known as generative AI , can do the maximum heavy lifting. By leveraging machine learning and natural language processing, it can quickly analyze vast amounts of data, uncover patterns and generate actionable insights to enhance decision-making and operational efficiency.

4. Robotic Process Automation:

Extensively used in inventory and warehouse management, robotic process automation is likely to be increasingly deployed across several supply chain functions, particularly those that are low value, high risk or potentially dangerous. Increased adoption of autonomous robots can benefit a business in many ways. It can take over routine tasks to boost productivity, reduce re-work and errors and improve order fulfilment and delivery speed.

5. Big data:

Big data analytics can enable businesses to derive meaningful insights from the vast amount of data generated from different systems, operations and geographies. Analytics can also combine internal data sources such as spend and contract data with supplier databases and other external data sources. When used in conjunction with AI and machine learning, big data can provide predictive insights for proactive decision-making and planning.

6. Internet of Things (IoT):

Forward-looking businesses are increasingly using IoT to transform their complex supply chains into fully connected networks. IoT devices such as sensors and radio frequency identification (RFID) tags can collect real-time data throughout the supply chain. This data is then processed, stored and analyzed in the cloud to enable continuous monitoring of the supply chain and take proactive action. It can help enterprises track shipments, optimize fleets, monitor inventory and identify bottlenecks, thereby optimizing end-to-end supply chain operations.

7. Digital twin:

A virtual representation that can be seen as a digital version of a physical process, a digital twin can bridge the gap between physical operations and digital capabilities by enabling businesses to gather and contextualize data from across their physical assets. This can improve visibility across business operations, critical to building agility in a dynamic business environment. With a digital twin, businesses can also engage in scenario planning and stress test their supply chains to see potential bottlenecks.

Conclusion

The next-generation supply chain will be power packed with digital tools and capabilities. It will run with automated processes and consistently utilize data and insights to enhance decision-making and improve processes.

It will also enable supply chain teams to leverage AI to anticipate risks and future-proof operations, thereby replacing a traditional, reactive approach with a proactive one.