Operations

In Unpacked, CGT's new series of Tech Explainers, we break down AI in the supply chain, including its benefits and drawbacks, and where today's leading experts see the future potential. 

Shifting consumer demands, geopolitical uncertainty, labor constraints, and residual pandemic-era behaviors can all have a negative impact on supply chain management. As a result, more companies are leveraging AI in the supply chain to improve their supply chain resilience. 

Thanks to the versatility of its benefits — what business function wouldn’t want to have their mountains of data quickly analyzed? — AI can be applied to supply chain activities in numerous ways, and the future of AI in the supply chain is promising.

To be sure, the future of AI in the supply chain holds great promise for the companies that can successfully see their investments through.

Artificial intelligence can be used to quickly gather and analyze massive amounts of data flowing from a large number of sources. As a result, AI in the supply chain is a prime candidate for the tech investments that can move the needle in improving business performance.

While AI in the supply chain is far from a magic salve, both it and IoT can deliver an elevated level of visibility into the supply chain.

AI in the supply chain has many applications, not least of which includes logistics. While historically logistics teams may have operated in siloes and relied on manual, labor-intensive processes, they are now leaning into AI-powered tech to gain greater visibility into their operations.

There’s no shortage of AI logistics use cases, whether it’s through demand forecasting, enhancing warehouse efficiencies, or improving route planning. In all of these cases, AI in the supply chain can translate to streamlining, predicting, and automating key aspects of logistics operations.