The digital revolution has entered an advanced phase of evolution for supply chains across multiple industries. Internet of Things (IoT) technology is driving this shift toward electronic system monitoring as a strategy for identifying and reducing waste and inefficiencies. Here’s a look at some of the most significant trends and challenges facing suppliers looking to streamline their operations.
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Supply Chain: Trends and Challenges
One of the biggest challenges for supply chains will be budgeting for new transportation software development. Many big producers and suppliers have been limited by the pandemic and must take a cautionary spending approach due to broader economic uncertainties. But going more digital and having access to a wealth of interconnected supply chain data will help stakeholders gain greater financial stability and efficiency.
Another challenge for suppliers is to prepare for a growing population as certain resources become more scarce. Adopting smart infrastructure lets suppliers share each other’s inventory data, making it easy for operators to track real-time availability of materials and products. This ecosystem of data sharing will fill supply gaps faster, as players that optimize operations with AI, ML and automation software can create lists of alternative backup suppliers.
Even though there’s a growing fear in society that machines are replacing humans, supply chain transformation will shift humans into safer, more analytical, personalized and creative environments. Robots will handle heavy lifting and moving, while smaller collaborative robots called cobots will assist humans as needed. Training humans, robots and cobots to interact with each other may be among the simplest challenges since humans will be in full control.
Available Technologies
1. VPNs and Cloud Services – The reason many companies use Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) for infrastructure is they offer strong privacy features that are difficult for outsiders to penetrate. VPNs are essentially private clouds as opposed to public clouds that hackers prey upon through phishing schemes. VPNs use virtual servers, firewalls, encryption and various other safeguards to provide reliable data protection. A cloud-based infrastructure is the key to tapping into endless affordable software platforms that facilitate e-commerce, remote work and a 24/7 business.
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2. IoT Sensors Everywhere – Installing hundreds or even thousands of IoT sensors in machines and other places within a factory or warehouse allows for instant easy tracking of shipped products. Analysts can observe the data and the analytics performance in real time through applications like PARCserver to make instant scheduling, production or distribution changes. Mobile IoT is the placement of sensors in moving objects such as vehicles. Green IoT is the use of sensors that monitor environmental factors, which can reduce waste and pollution.
3. Customer Relationship Management Software – Customer relationship management tools are useful for businesses with a huge customer base. They allow you to create a profile for each customer that contains contact information, purchasing history and various other personal attributes. This information helps suppliers communicate directly with customers to develop more personalized conversations.
4. Automation for Increasing Productivity – Certain redundant jobs can be replaced by using an automated inventory management system, which generates much more accurate results than manual labor can. It can further speed up production without taking breaks. Human talent can be used for work that computers aren’t designed for, such as making final qualitative decisions or engaging in a personalized meeting.
5. AI Makes Suppliers Smarter – Smart technology includes machine learning (ML) software that can examine a library’s worth of data in one second and arrive at recommendations for how to fit various types of equipment or processing issues. You can program the software to check for a wide range of indicators from historical data that will improve operational decision making. ML may be integrated with other resources such as weather service data that can help determine alternate truck routing.
6. 5G Will Spread Bigger Data – Connectivity will increase dramatically as organizations adopt 5G technology this decade. The networking technology will provide broader and faster data transmission, facilitating big data and IoT applications. Networks will become more agile as congested internet connectivity will become a problem of the past, except for companies that resist supply chain transformation.
7. Robust Cybersecurity – With the expansion of data and the number of devices that generate it, large facilities must strengthen cybersecurity. Every device on a network represents a risk of some sort, so a network connected with hundreds of sensors needs maximum protection. Suppliers store plenty of confidential data they can’t afford to let get into the wrong hands, particularly regarding customer privacy. A strong solution to protect digital and physical assets is to integrate multiple security layers including surveillance cameras, alarms, virtualization, encryption, multi-factor authentication and cybercrime awareness training for staff members.
8. Mobile IoT for Fleet Monitoring – A fleet of trucks can be centrally monitored by installing telemetric devices in vehicles. These devices contain sensors that monitor various aspects of both driver and vehicle data including speed, fuel efficiency and location. This technology is useful for tracking down specific vehicles and monitoring their condition for safety and potential maintenance.
9. Delivery By Autonomous Vehicles and Drones – Industrial facilities already use autonomous vehicles to move loads. They can be controlled remotely by a human or another machine. Both AVs and drones are in their infancy, but rapidly developing to meet future demands of consumers, who are increasingly moving toward online shopping. The Postal Service is already strained with the growth of online ordering, so supply chains must develop efficient alternatives. A handful of supermarkets and other businesses have begun to test drones for home delivery.
10. Collaborative Robots – Cobots are smaller more mobile robots than the heavier stationary fast-action robots used by factories since the sixties. These smaller assistants began to emerge in the 1990s with a General Motors project for making industrial workplaces safer to alleviate concerns raised by the government’s workplace safety watchdog, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OHSA). Unlike traditional industrial robots, cobots don’t need to be caged since they aren’t designed to do fast motions that could be dangerous to humans.
Conclusion
Supply chains are steadily moving toward adopting smart technology to improve cost efficiency and sustainability. Cutting costs and waste while boosting productivity are major themes in the digital transformation of supply chains. The evolution is moving in the direction of flexibility in terms of giving end users more choices in how goods are delivered to them. At the foundation of this revolution are cloud computing platforms, IoT devices and real-time data monitoring technology.
The early adopters of smart technology have been electric and water utilities, along with a wide range of manufacturing plants and logistics services. The result of this investment into digital transformation will be more interconnected suppliers with access to valuable data that saves money and time regarding storage and distribution of products. Ultimately, consumers who place orders online will see faster deliveries while e-commerce businesses cut costs by deploying sustainable solutions.