Machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) are driving innovation and remain largely untapped. Our world is heavily paper-based, and a lot of the industry knowledge and processes still live in people’s heads. With ML/AI, there are so many applications of it showing progress in systemizing this information and bringing organizations to the next level.
Conversely, many technologies experience a hype cycle, and visibility is one that has plateaued. Having worked through three or four major recessions in my career, visibility pops up repeatedly. Whenever the economy is in a growth period, and when demand is greater than supply, organizations make a point to focus on visibility. However, visibility phases out in a recession, which is an area we are entering now with demand experiencing issues, not supply. A good example would be the “.com” boom in 2000, where a lot of visibility companies popped up — by the time we were in 2002, a lot of the companies faded. However, the companies that provided true optimization and solutions fared well. This proves that some companies and technologies make it out of the hype cycle, and some don’t.
Organizations should be embracing automation, and many already have. However, there are many supply chain leaders who still look to antiquated, industrial processes when evaluating their own productivity, hindering their profit margin without even realizing it.
The core principle for logistics is harnessing straight-through processing (STP), where there is no human intervention needed for 99.5 percent of operations. Automation exists with delivery vehicles, dark warehouses, and even in some port terminals, but the future of the logistics industry is automation working in tandem with STP and ensuring the systems have the knowledge.
There are areas, however, that cannot be automated, including anything that requires human touch. The human component of working with suppliers cannot be replaced, as relationship building, responsiveness, and being likeable with stakeholders throughout the processes play a key role in business success.
The future for supply chain visibility is similar to ethernet availability. In 1995, ethernet was not standard on PCs, and those who wanted to be tapped in to access the internet had to purchase an adapter, made by several companies at the time, for the capability. By the mid-2000s, laptops and desktop computers all came standard with ethernet capabilities, and those companies faded out. The evolution of visibility will make it ubiquitous, and part of every supply chain planning and supply chain execution system. It will not exist as an independent product. It’s the perfect storm for visibility, especially because execution platforms and orchestration platforms can already provide visibility to begin with. Ten years from now, will we be talking about visibility the same way we are now? Probably not. Chances are it will already be built into all the technology used throughout supply chain and logistics processes.