7 real-life blockchain in the supply chain use cases and examples

A digital twin can help a company take a deep look at key processes to understand where bottlenecks, time, energy and material waste / inefficiencies are bogging down work, and model the outcome of specific targeted improvement interventions. The identification and elimination of waste, in particular, can help minimize a process’s environmental impact. This enables companies to generate more accurate, granular, and dynamic demand forecasts, even in market volatility and uncertainty.

After 12 months of implementation, key results included a 9% increase in overall production efficiency, a 35% reduction in manual planning hours, and $47 million in annual savings from improved resource allocation and reduced waste. Key results after 6 months of implementation included a 15% reduction in unplanned downtime, 28% decrease in maintenance costs, and $32 million in annual savings from extended equipment life and improved operational efficiency. To learn more about how AI and other technologies can help improve supply chain sustainability, check out this quick read. You can also check our comprehensive article on 5 ways to reduce corporate carbon footprint.

Supply chain digitization: everything you need to know to get ahead

This includes learning about emerging technologies from AI to distributed ledger technologies, low-code and no-code platforms and fleet electrification. This will need to be followed by managing the migration to a new digital architecture and executing it flawlessly. By establishing a common platform for all stakeholders, orchestrating the supply chain becomes intrinsic to everyday tasks and processes. Building on the core foundation, enterprises can deploy generative AI-powered use cases, allowing enterprises to scale quickly and be agile in a fast-paced marketplace.

NLP and optical character recognition (OCR) allow warehouse specialists to automatically detect the arrival of packages and change their delivery statuses. Cameras scan barcodes and labels on the package, and all the necessary information goes directly into the system. https://chat.openai.com/ This article gives you a comprehensive list of the top 10 cloud-based talent management systems that can assist you in streamlining the hiring and onboarding process… Member firms of the KPMG network of independent firms are affiliated with KPMG International.

No member firm has any authority to obligate or bind KPMG International or any other member firm vis-à-vis third parties, nor does KPMG International have any such authority to obligate or bind any member firm. Although voluntary to date, the collection and reporting of Scope 3 emissions data is becoming a legal requirement in many countries. As with all other GenAI supply chain use cases, caution is required when using the tech, as GenAI and the models that fuel it are still evolving. Current concerns include incorrect data and imperfect outputs, also known as AI hallucinations, which can prevent effective use.

AI, robotics help businesses pivot supply chain during COVID-19

By using region-specific parameters, AI-powered forecasting tools can help customize the fulfillment processes according to region-specific requirements. Research shows that only 2% of companies enjoy supplier visibility beyond the second tier. AI-powered tools can analyze product data in real time and track the location of your goods along the supply chain.

• This could be via automation, data analysis, AI or other implemented technology, and it can serve varying purposes in boosting supply chain efficiency.
• Above mentioned AI/ML-based use cases, it will progress toward an automated, intelligent, and self-healing Supply Chain.
• This approach involves analyzing historical data on prices and quantities to calculate elasticity coefficients, which measure the sensitivity of demand or supply to price fluctuations.
• Therefore it’s critical to look beyond simply globally procuring the best quality for the lowest price, building in resilience and enough redundancies and localization to cover your bases when something goes wrong, he says.
• If the information FFF Enterprises receives confirms the product it inquired about is legitimate, it can go back into inventory to be resold.

Gaining similar visibility into the full supplier base is also critical so a company can understand how its suppliers are performing and see potential risks across the supplier base. Deeply understanding the source of demand—the individual customers—so it can be met most precisely has never been more difficult, with customer expectations changing rapidly and becoming more diverse. And as we saw in the early days of COVID-19, getting a good handle on demand during times of disruption is virtually impossible without the right information. The good news is that the data and AI-powered tools a company needs to generate insights into demand are now available.

The AI can identify complex, nuanced patterns that human experts may overlook, leading to more accurate quality control solutions. As enterprises navigate the challenges of rising costs and supply chain disruptions, optimizing the performance and reliability of physical assets has become increasingly crucial. Powered by AI, predictive maintenance helps you extract maximum value from your existing infrastructure.

An artificial intelligence startup Altana built an AI-powered tool that can help businesses put their supply chain activities on a dynamic map. As products and raw materials move along the supply chain, they generate data points, such as custom declarations and product orders. Altana’s software aggregates this information and positions it on a map, enabling you to track your products’ movement.

SCMR: How should supply chains approach this process? Are there technologies that provide a pathway forward?

This ensures that companies can meet sustainability targets while delivering the best service for its customers. For instance, a company can design a network that reduces shipping times by minimizing the distances trucks must drive and, thus, reducing fuel consumption and emissions. Simform developed a sophisticated route optimization AI system for a global logistics provider operating in 30 countries. At its core, the solution uses machine learning to dynamically plan and adjust delivery routes. We combined advanced AI techniques like deep reinforcement learning and graph neural networks to represent and navigate complex road networks efficiently. Antuit.ai offers a Demand Planning and Forecasting solution that uses advanced AI and machine learning algorithms to predict consumer demand across multiple time horizons.

• Across media headlines, we see dark warnings about the existential risk of generative AI technologies to our culture and society.
• This analysis, in turn, can help companies develop mitigating actions to improve resilience, and can also be used to reallocate resources away from areas that are deemed to be low risk to conserve cash during difficult times.
• Similarly, in a Supply Chain environment, the RL algorithm can observe planned & actual production movements, and production declarations, and award them appropriately.
• Data from various sources like point-of-sale systems, customer relationship management (CRM) systems, social media, weather data, and economic indicators are integrated into a centralized platform.

For example, UPS has developed an Orion AI algorithm for last-mile tracking to make sure goods are delivered to shoppers in the most efficient way. Cameras and sensors take snapshots of goods, and AI algorithms analyze the data to define whether the recorded quantity matches the actual. One firm that has implemented AI with computer vision is Zebra, which offers a SmartLens solution that records the location and movement of assets throughout the chain’s stores. It tracks weather and road conditions and recommends optimizing the route and reducing driving time.

This can guide businesses in the development of new products or services that cater to emerging trends or customer satisfaction criteria. Artificial intelligence, particularly generative AI, offers promising solutions to address these challenges. By leveraging the power of generative AI, supply chain professionals can analyze massive volumes of historical data, generate valuable insights, and facilitate better decision-making processes. AI in supply chain is a powerful tool that enables companies to forecast demand, predict delivery issues, and spot supplier malpractice. However, adopting the technology is more complex than a onetime integration of an AI algorithm.

GenAI chatbots can also handle some customer queries, like processing a return or tracking a delivery. Users can train GenAI on data that covers every aspect of the supply chain, including inventory, logistics and demand. By analyzing the organization’s information, GenAI can help improve supply chain management and resiliency. Generative AI (GenAI) is an emerging technology that is gaining popularity in various business areas, including marketing and sales.

However, leading businesses are looking beyond factors like cost to realize the supply chain’s ability to directly affect top-line results, among them increased sales, greater customer satisfaction, and tighter alignment with brand attributes. To capitalize on the true potential from analytics, a better approach is for CPG companies to integrate the entire end-to-end supply chain so that they can run the majority of processes and decisions through real-time, autonomous planning. Forecast changes in demand can be automatically factored into all processes and decisions along the chain, back to inventory, production planning and scheduling, and raw-material procurement. The process involves collecting historical data, developing hypothetical disruption scenarios, and creating mathematical models of the supply chain network.

So, before you jump on the AI bandwagon, we recommend laying out a change management plan to help you handle the skills gap and the cultural shift. Start by explaining the value of AI to the employees and educating them on how to embrace the new ways of working. Here are the steps that will not only help you test AI in supply chain on limited business cases but also scale the technology to serve company-wide initiatives. During the worst of the supply chain crisis, chip prices rose by as much as 20% as worldwide chip shortages entered a nadir that would drag on as a two-year shortage. You can foun additiona information about ai customer service and artificial intelligence and NLP. At one point in 2021, US companies had fewer than five days’ supply of semiconductors, per data collected by the US Department of Commerce. Not paying attention means potentially suffering from “rising scarcity, and rocketing prices,” for key components such as chipsets, Harris says.

While predicting commodity prices isn’t foolproof, using these strategies can help businesses gain a degree of control over their costs, allowing them to plan effectively and avoid being caught off guard by market volatility. For instance, if a raw material is highly elastic, companies might focus on bulk purchases when prices are low. But the value of data analytics in supply chain extends beyond mere risk identification. Organizations are leveraging supply chain analytics to simulate various disruption scenarios, allowing them to test and validate their mitigation plans. This scenario planning not only enhances preparedness but also fosters a culture of agility, where supply chain teams can adapt swiftly to emerging challenges. By optimizing routes, businesses can make the most efficient use of their transportation resources, such as vehicles and drivers, resulting in a reduced need for additional resources and lower costs.

Use value to drive organizational change

Modern supply chain analytics bring remarkable, transformative capabilities to the sector. From demand forecasting and inventory optimization to risk mitigation and supply chain visibility, we’ve examined a range of real-world use cases that showcase the power of data-driven insights in revolutionizing supply chain operations. Supplier relationship management (SRM) is a data-driven approach to optimizing interactions with suppliers. It works by integrating data from various sources, including procurement systems, quality control reports, delivery performance metrics, and financial data. Advanced analytics tools and machine learning algorithms are then applied to generate insights and actionable recommendations. From optimizing inventory management and forecasting demand to identifying supply chain bottlenecks and enhancing customer service, the use cases for supply chain analytics are as diverse as the challenges faced by modern organizations.

And they can further their responsibility agenda by ensuring, for instance, that suppliers’ carbon footprints are in line with agreed-upon levels and that suppliers are sourcing and producing materials in a sustainable and responsible way. We saw the importance of having greater visibility into the supplier base in the early days of the pandemic, which caused massive disruptions in supply in virtually every industry around the world. We found that across every industry surveyed, these companies are significantly outperforming Others in overall financial performance, as measured by enterprise value and EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization). These Leaders give us a window into what human and machine collaboration makes possible for all companies. Hiren is CTO at Simform with an extensive experience in helping enterprises and startups streamline their business performance through data-driven innovation. The solution integrates data from 12 different internal systems and IoT devices, processing over 2 terabytes of data daily.

For example, for ‘A’ class products, the organization may not allow any changes to the numbers as predicted by the model. Hence implementation of Supply Chain Management (SCM) business processes is very crucial for the success (improving the bottom line!) of an organization. Organizations often procure an SCM solution from leading vendors (SAP, Oracle among many others) and implement it after implementing an ERP solution. Some organizations believe they need to build a new tech stack to make this happen, but that can slow down the process; we believe that companies can make faster progress by leveraging their existing stack.

Instead of doing duplicate work, you can sit back and watch your technology stack do the work for you as your OMS, shipping partner, accounting solution and others are all in one place. Build confidence, drive value and deliver positive human impact with EY.ai – a unifying platform for AI-enabled business transformation. Above mentioned AI/ML-based use cases, it will progress toward an automated, intelligent, and self-healing Supply Chain. DP also includes many other functionalities such as splitting demand entered at a higher level of hierarchy (e.g., product group) to a lower level of granularity (e.g., product grade) based on the proportions derived earlier, etc. SCM definition, purpose, and key processes have been summarized in the following paragraphs. The article explores AI/ML use cases that will further improve SCM processes thus making them far more effective.

NFF is a unit that is removed from service following a complaint of the perceived fault of the equipment. If there is no anomaly detected, the unit is returned to service with no repair performed. The lower the number of such incidents is, the more efficient the manufacturing process gets. Machine Learning in supply chain is used in warehouses to automate manual work, predict possible issues, and reduce paperwork for warehouse staff. For example, computer vision makes it possible to control the work of the conveyor belt and predict when it is going to get blocked.

There simply isn’t enough time or investment to uplift or replace these legacy investments. It is here where generative AI solutions (built in the cloud and connecting data end-to-end) will unlock tremendous new value while leveraging and extending the life of legacy technology investments. Generative AI creates a strategic inflection point for supply chain innovators and the first true opportunity to innovate beyond traditional supply chain constraints. As our profession looks to apply generative AI, we will undoubtedly take the same approach. With that mindset, we see the potential for step change improvements in efficiency, human productivity and quality. Generative AI holds all the potential to innovate beyond today’s process, technology and people constraints to a future where supply chains are foundational to delivering operational outcomes and a richer customer experience.

These technologies provide continuous, up-to-date information about product location, status, and condition. For suppliers, supply chain digitization could start with adopting an EDI solution that simplifies the invoice process and ensures data accuracy and timeliness. Generative AI in supply chain presents the opportunity to accelerate from design to commercialization much faster, even with new materials. Companies are training models on their own data sets, and then asking AI to find ways to improve productivity and efficiency. Predictive maintenance is another area where generative AI can help determine the specific machines or lines that are most likely to fail in the next few hours or days.

Thanks for writing this blog, using AI and ML in the supply chain will make the supply chain process easier and the product demand planning and production planning and the segmentation will become easier than ever. Data science plays an important role in every field by knowing the importance of Data science, there is an institute which is providing Data science course in Dubai with IBM certifications. Whether deep learning (neural network) will help in forecasting the demand in a better way is a topic of research. Neural network methods shine when data inputs such as images, audio, video, and text are available. However, in a typical traditional SCM solution, these are not readily available or not used. However, maybe for a very specific supply chain, which has been digitized, the use of deep learning for demand planning can be explored.

Based on AI insights, PepsiCo released to the market Off The Eaten Path seaweed snacks in less than one year. With ML, it is possible to identify quality issues in line production at the early stages. For instance, with the help of computer vision, manufacturers can check if the final look of the products corresponds to the required quality level.

The “chat” function of one of these generative AI tools is helping a biotech company ask questions that help it with demand forecasting. For example, the company can run what-if scenarios on getting specific chemicals for its products and what might happen if certain global shocks or other events occur that change or disrupt daily operations. Today’s generative AI tools can even suggest several courses of action if things go awry.

Suppliers who automate their manual processes not only gain back time in their day but also see increased data accuracy. Customers are happier with more visibility into the supply chain, and employees can focus more on growth-building tasks that benefit the daily operations of your business. A leading US retailer and a European container shipping company are using bots powered by GenAI to negotiate cost and purchasing terms with vendors in a shorter time frame. The retailer’s early efforts have already reduced costs by bringing structure to complex tender processes. The technology presents the opportunity to do more with less, and when vendors were asked how the bot performed, over 65% preferred negotiating with it instead of with an employee at the company. There have also been instances where companies are using GenAI tools to negotiate against each other.

Similarly, in a Supply Chain environment, the RL algorithm can observe planned & actual production movements, and production declarations, and award them appropriately. However real-life applications of RL in business are still emerging hence this may appear to be at a very conceptual level and will need detailing. Further, in addition to the above, one can implement a weighted average or ranking approach to consolidate demand numbers captured or derived from different sources viz. Advanced modeling may include using advanced linear regression (derived variables, non-linear variables, ridge, lasso, etc.), decision trees, SVM, etc., or using the ensemble method. These models perform better than those embedded in the SCM solution due to the rigor involved in the process. Leading SCM vendors do offer functionality for Regression modeling or causal analysis for forecasting demand.

The company developed an AI-driven tool for supply chain management that others can use to automate a variety of logistics tasks, such as supplier selection, rate negotiation, reporting, analytics, and more. By providing input on factors that could drive up or reduce the product costs—such as materials, size, and shape—they can help others in the organization to make informed decisions before testing and approval of a new product is complete. Creating such value demands that supply chain leaders ask questions, listen, and proactively provide operational insights with intelligence only it possesses.

These predictions are then used to create mathematical models that optimize inventory across the supply chain. Real-time data on inventory levels, transportation capacity, and delivery routes also plays a crucial role in dynamic pricing, allowing for adjustments to optimize resource allocation and pricing. With real-time supply chain visibility into the movement of goods, companies can make more informed decisions about production, inventory levels, transportation routes, and potential disruptions.

For instance, the largest freight carrier in the US – FedEx leverages AI technology to automate manual trailer loading tasks by connecting intelligent robots that can think and move quickly to pack trucks. Also, Machine Learning techniques allow the company to offer an exceptional customer experience. ML does this by enabling the company to gain insights into the correlation between product recommendations and subsequent website visits by customers.

Different scenarios, like economic downturns, competitor actions, or new product launches, are modeled to assess their potential impact on demand. The forecasts are constantly monitored and adjusted based on real-time data, ensuring they remain accurate and responsive to changing market conditions. The importance of being able to monitor the flow of goods throughout the entire supply chain in real-time cannot be overstated. It’s about having a clear picture of where products are, what their status is, and what potential disruptions might be on the horizon.

And once the base solution is rolled out, you could evolve further, both horizontally, expanding the list of available features, and vertically, extending the capabilities of AI to other supply chain segments. For example, AI can gather dispersed information on product orders, customs, freight bookings, and more, combine this data, and map out different supplier activities and product locations. You can also set up alerts, asking the tool to notify you about any Chat GPT suspicious supplier activity or shipment delays. Houlihan Lokey pointed to steady interest rates, strong fundamentals, multiple strategic buyers and future convergence with industrial software as drivers. Of course, the IT industry is only one player in macro shifts such as geopolitical upheaval, and climate change. For the industry to stand firm, it has to be primarily about more effective mitigation strategies, most of which take time to design and implement.