DATA DRIVEN SUPPLY CHAIN

Data-driven technology is transforming the supply chain industry as we know it. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are no longer nice-to-haves, but necessary partners for driving success within supply chain organizations. AI’s success in businesses will be largely dependent on developing technological capacities based off industry-specific expertise.

Big data has begun to even change the everyday experience of going to a drive thru. McDonalds has recently made waves in the fast-food industry by powering their menu displays with AI and ML. Now, their boards are programmed to take into consideration data on the most popular food items, weather, time of day, and more. In addition, after the customer orders, they are given a recommendation of additional items to order based on the foods they selected.

By considering a wide variety of data, McDonalds has been able to create a tailored customer experience for each person that orders at a drive thru. One takeaway for supply chain organization is to ensure that one identify various data sources­­—perhaps even looking to atypical sources like social media. Then, after gathering data, supply chain organization can create more personal customer experiences and deliver better customer service.

In this new age of digitization, even grocery shopping can be done from your phone. Instacart and other e-commerce grocery sites are taking the industry by storm, operating as real-time logistics platforms to deliver groceries from the store straight to customers doorstep. They implemented an AI-driven solution to make real-time decisions about what time and which grocery stores to route shoppers to deliver groceries to their customers within an hour.

Instacart’s ability to gather data in real-time has empowered them to optimize shopper’s routes in order to meet their customer’s demands and become a major player in the online grocery industry. Supply chain organization can similarly utilize real-time data to proactively optimize their operations and respond to disruptions as they occur. This will empower them to fulfill customer’s high demands set in place by the ‘Amazon’ effect.

The Port of Rotterdam is currently one of the leaders of digital innovation in its respected field. It has invested in self-learning technology which uses its high volumes of data to predict vessel arrival times and how much time vessels will need to move throughout the port. Having this information has given the Port of Rotterdam the foreknowledge to better allocate their resources and reduce vessel waiting times.

As a supply chain organization in a highly competitive space, having access to technology which will provide accurate predictions can enable them to improve planning and execution, even minimizing operational costs. By implementing AI-driven technology similar to the Port of Rotterdam, organization can drive efficiency and set new industry standards for customer service.