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How Artificial Intelligence is Boosting

Supply Chain Performance
Oct 13, 2020 | AI, Articles, Artificial Intelligence

A slew of new digital technologies is disrupting supply chain operations, but none is
having more of an impact on the industry than artificial intelligence (AI).
 
 Already, half of all enterprises are using AI and/or
robotics to tackle problems in the supply chain and to
improve its performance.

 
 

 
Let’s take a brief look at three areas in which AI has made the deepest inroads.
 
Transportation Management Solutions (TMS)
 
 
By integrating AI technology, new platforms are enabling companies to streamline
their transportation systems and cut the costs of freight. TMS applications, even
without AI, have been helping companies improve performance in the following ways:
 By optimising truckload routes and less-than-truckload shipments
 
 

 
 
 By identifying potential multi-stop routes
 By analysing data to determine areas affected by late deliveries.
Adding artificial intelligence into TMS systems allows operators to mine a trove of
additional data, such as weather conditions and traffic congestion, to improve
performance even further.
 
Warehouse Management Systems
 
In the same way that it is enhancing TMS systems, AI is also injecting new
proficiency into the Warehouse Management System (WMS).
 

This is particularly evident in e-commerce fulfillment

centres, where urgent customer orders need to be fed
into the high-velocity picking workflow.

 
 

 
Warehouse management is increasingly making use of machine learning technology,
which can extract an avalanche of data to calculate the time needed to perform
warehouse tasks and balance pick density targets.
 
Procurement Communications
 
Developments in AI technology have made it possible for machines to communicate
in similar ways to humans, allowing companies to speed up and enhance interaction
with their suppliers.
 
 
Leading the field are chatbots, which allow text-based interactions, for example,
between procurement managers and their suppliers’ systems. AI-based applications
can extract data from multiple sources and provide answers in seconds. They can
also answer text-based questions and pull up documents and files instantly.
 
Other Uses for AI in the Supply Chain
 

 
Because of its flexibility, companies are using AI to tackle all sorts of supply chain
challenges. The best-known examples are the deployment of robots and automated
guided vehicles (AGVs) in the warehouse. But there are other utilisations, such as:
  Planning truck-loading to maximise space
 Making pick-to-light warehouse systems more efficient
 Decreasing order cycles through fulfillment-source optimisation
 Developing the spatial-awareness capacities of warehouse robots, using
machine learning and computer vision
It is clear that AI has become a game-changer in enterprise generally but especially
in supply chain. With today’s fierce competition for supply chain superiority, the
logistics industry could well become the testing ground for even more sophisticated
AI-powered technologies.
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