Gartner: top 8 supply chain technology trends for 2019

According to Gartner, while many of these supply chain technology trends have not yet been widely adopted, they will have a broad industry impact this year.

Gartner has highlighted the key supply chain technology trends which they warned must not be ignored. Christian Titze, research vice president at Gartner, said: “Within the next five years if half of the large global companies are using some of these technologies in their supply chain operations, it’s safe to say that the technologies will disrupt people, business objectives and IT systems.”

The top 8 supply chain technology trends in 2019 are:

#1 Artificial intelligence (AI)

According to Gartner, AI technology in supply chain operations is all about augmenting workers. Thanks do developments in self-learning and natural language processing, AI is now advanced enough to automate numerous supply chain processes such as predictive maintenance and demand forecasting.

#2 Advanced analytics

Thanks to the increase in IoT data and extended external data sources such as weather or traffic conditions, analytics is going to get a lot more advanced. Gartner predicted that organisations will be able to anticipate future scenarios and make better recommendations in areas such as supply chain planning, sourcing and transportation.

#3 IoT

Gartner has reported seeing more supply chain practitioners exploring the potential of IoT. However, according to Gartner, new IoT applications involve more than just passive sensors.

#4 Robotic process automation (RPA)

Excitement has been building around RPA for some time now, and its place in the enterprise has seen a lot of maturing this year. Like AI, RPA, according to Gartner, is about augmenting workers.

#5 Autonomous things

Autonomous things use AI to automate functions previously performed by humans, such as autonomous vehicles and drones. They exploit AI to deliver advanced behaviours that interact more naturally with their surroundings and with people.

#6 Digital supply chain twin

A digital twin is a digital replica of a physical asset, whether that is a product, person, place or system.

#7 Immersive experience

Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies have long been touted as the next big thing. For all its promise mass adoption by enterprises have, in reality, always seemed to be on the horizon.

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Reducing logistics costs by enabling a pull-based, vertically integrated supply chain through IoT

The traditional supply chain model often used in retail distribution is outdated and broken. Customers want more and they want it now but businesses’ inability to step up to the mark can leave customers waiting for product or worse – not waiting and going elsewhere. To match modern customer expectations, business needs to adopt modern methods. Changes of this type are far from easy, however, IoT could hold the key to unlocking the supply chain of the future.

Thanks to the rise in on-demand services and almost anything you want being just a click away, consumers are becoming more and more demanding. In sympathy with this, commerce and industry are responding by doing everything they can to improve the customer experience and get an edge on the competition.

In the best case scenario, the customer will wait for the goods to become available and purchase anyway; in other cases, the customer will shop elsewhere or even give up on the purchase altogether. It’s all too familiar a story and it’s as old as the concept of commerce itself. However, it doesn’t have to be the case. With a combination of IoT (Internet of Things) technology and vertical integration of the order process, businesses can achieve a leaner supply chain and ultimately say goodbye to the phrase, “out of stock”.

The supply chain as we know it

In a traditional supply chain model, the process typically begins with the manufacture of a product. For this to happen, the manufacturer will need to create a bill of materials for the product and order enough raw materials from their suppliers to make enough of the product to meet consumer demand. For this to happen, the raw materials suppliers need to have enough stock themselves to fulfil the order. If this doesn’t happen, production could be delayed which could lead to a lack of stock at the retailers.

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Supply chain – predictions for 2018 trends

When Elon Musk recently announced that Tesla would start building electric semi-trucks that would have 500-mile range and come with a version of Tesla’s Autopilot driving aid, the world realized it wasn’t a matter of if, but when these new trucks would be hitting the highways. After all, this is the same guy who said he was sick of sitting in traffic and launched the Boring Company, which is now tunneling beneath the gridlocked freeways of Los Angeles. And let’s not forget Musk’s SpaceX, the Hyperloop and Tesla – all radically different companies predicated on technology innovation, creativity, disruption and long term commercial viability.

The pace of innovation is picking up steam at an exponential rate. With advanced hardware, software and connectivity becoming accessible and cost effective on a global scale, we’re experiencing an innovation shift from desiring “better gadgets” to discovering entire new business categories built around technology. The implications for consumers is exhilarating and at times terrifying. The implications for businesses is terrifying and at times exhilarating.

Technology has become fully embedded in supply chain management – just go to any supply chain conference and you will find agendas dominated by tech talk. Robots, self-driving vehicles, electric trucks, blockchain, the Internet of Things (IoT), and new mobile-enabled categories are all poised to explode onto the scene in one form or another. It’s hard to predict what’s real and what will fade away, but expect 2018 to become a year of heavy innovation for supply chain leaders, even if it’s experimental. But…

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