Supply chains are an active force behind most, if not all, businesses and are crucial for customer satisfaction and business success. A well-oiled supply chain with all its components running efficiently ensures that a business can provide on-time delivery of products and services. It is indeed prudent to stay informed and updated on the latest supply chain trends.
supply chain Trends to look out for in 2020
Elevated customer expectations impact every part of the supply chain, influencing next-generation delivery and logistics management solutions in making global supply chains smarter, faster, highly customer-centric, and sustainable. The following trends focus on the world of supply chain management for 2020 and beyond. Keeping abreast of these supply chain management trends will assist in ensuring speedy adaption to changes.
Utilising green logistics to reduce costs and delight customers
Climate change enthusiasts along with conscious consumers’ increasing efforts to be more environmentally responsible are influencing the supply chain to become less destructive to the environment. The trend is often referred to as “Green Logistics.” Electricity and transportation make an immense contribution to greenhouse gas emissions. Consequently, green logistics are fast gaining traction among leading companies who are now integrating sustainability efforts into their overall strategy, in effect serving the environment while enhancing corporate reputations, lowering supply chain costs and importantly, increasing customer loyalty.
Improved end to end visibility technologies
A lack of visibility and transparency impacts end to end supply chains negatively. Supply chain experts have an increased focus on minimizing risk through increased visibility throughout the value chain. Technologies are being developed, some powered by block-chain technology, aimed at providing support to global trade through a single platform that will track the end-to-end supply chain, making the entire process increasingly transparent. Carriers, major shipping lines, ports, freight forwarders, 3PLs, and various and logistics players would all share and use one single portal to update their customers.
The Effects of Shorter Product Life cycles
As product life cycles become shorter, supply chains must indeed evolve to become faster and more efficient. The shorter product life cycle necessitates companies to reconsider their supply chains and streamline processes to ensure that their ability to keep up with the regular demand for new products. Advanced tools such as inventory management assists supply chain management professionals in keeping track of stock and automating order management.
The Rise in Elastic Logistics
It is no longer sufficient for supply chains to have lean processes; supply chains are now required to be flexible and responsive to market fluctuations as well. This has resulted in the increased adoption of a flexible approach to logistics. Elastic logistics enable the supply chains to speedily expand or shrink according to current market demands. Technologies such as artificial intelligence allow supply chains to adjust as needed with minimal disruptions.
Artificial and Augmented Intelligence
Over the past few years, the logistics industry has begun to integrate Artificial Intelligence solutions including route planning, intelligent transportation, and demand planning in their operations however, this is only the beginning. From last-mile delivery robots and sustainability solutions, to warehouse automated picking systems and predictive optimization software, Artificial Intelligence is already making a large impact in supply chain. Along with Artificial Intelligence, the use of Augmented Intelligence is expected to rise. Augmented intelligence combines human intelligence with AI automated processes. For instance, in supply chain planning, using Augmented Intelligence can be superior to using AI alone, as it can combine inputs from human planners (experience, responsibility, customer service, flexibility, common sense, and the like) together with AI technology which is left doing the repetitive and tedious work. Supply chain companies can be predicted to implement more Augmented Intelligence solutions, which will ultimately allow supply chain professionals to be more efficient while reducing human error and creating cost-savings.
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