How New Technologies can help improve supply chain Innovations

With many companies working towards supply chain optimization, the industry is ripe for innovation. Companies are taking up advanced technologies to transform their supply chain from a pure operations hub into the epicenter of business innovation as supply chain innovation comes with several benefits. Notably, it promotes an agile response to customer demands, competitiveness, and business continuity. With raw materials and goods constantly crossing borders, customers will rush to any new system that guarantees speed, accuracy, and transparency. With all this said, introducing new technologies will be a springboard to your supply chain. Some common technologies which can be introduced to overhaul supply chains include;

1. Blockchain: Blockchain’s distributed ledger technology ranks it high as one of the technologies which can bring improved visibility and transparency to supply chains. Visibility is crucial to today’s customers and blockchain permits you to be fully transparent with them. It provides a means to clearly show your customers that your marketing claims are accurate and verified and that your products are to be trusted. Due to the ability of blockchain to create an immutable record of transactions, the technology is well situated to track the origin of goods and establish trust in shared supplier information, especially when the parties have competing agendas and don’t particularly engender trust.

2. The Internet of Things (IoT): With the implementation of IoT into the supply chain, suppliers will be equipped with information such as tracking location, weather conditions, environmental status, traffic patterns, and more. Suppliers can leverage AI and advanced analytics to determine, for example, if a shipment of refrigerated goods is at risk for equipment failure. IoT equips suppliers with useful information that can permit them to automatically take decisions to repair a situation and avoid losses.

3. Robots and automation: Robots play an important role in the supply chain as they are being used to move goods and materials throughout a warehouse, during transport, and as part of the fulfillment process. Automation reduces the risk of human error and provides a speedy and efficient means to get tasks completed with minimal supervision. The potential for human-robot collaboration is fueling large-scale deployments throughout the supply chain.

Supply chain innovation is driven by the need to differentiate oneself. It is essential for you to find out ways by which you can give yourself a competitive advantage over your competitors and how your supply chain operations can rise above the rest. For more of such articles visit our website at www.wollanda.com.