Vikram Dua

CEO, LSIWorld

AI in Supply Chain Management

With its capability to organize, manage and reduce the cost of human labour, the artificial intelligence has been a big game-changer for the supply chain industry. The AI technology has recently become omnipotent and is still managing to grow every day transforming the logistic business. In this digitally advanced era, everything that we rely on is dependent on the technology. From social media to autonomous vehicles, the AI technology has created a world where the machines have become able to mimic the human labour or even exceed them, in some way or the other.

In the world of logistic and supply chain, the AI technology has proven to have modified the whole logistic industry. Many of the companies have realised the importance of introducing such technology to their everyday function because of its potential to solve the complication that seldom occurs in supply chain management. For instance, Rolls Royce has recently collaborated with Google to produce autonomous shipping to safely transport their cargo across sea. Also, the ships use AI algorithm to detect what is around them in the water and classify the creatures and/or items which are possibly to possess danger to its ship.

How is AI transforming the supply chain management?

Along with making the shipping easy, the AI technology has helped the organizations make on-time deliveries, thus raising the company’s goodwill and customer’s trust. The introduction of the AI technology has made the reduced human labour costs with few complex problems across the supply chain world possible. Considered as a “last-minute logistics company”, Marble uses the AI technology to deliver all kinds of shipment which has proven to be quicker than any human intervention. Initially, the company used to ship only food items with the help of Yelp24 app but later, due to a successful journey, the company has managed to enlarge its reach to certain medicines, groceries and packages. The whole shipment process is dependant on the robots which detect the route and its condition as they make their move.

With the help of the AI technology, the determination of the routes has become more precise. The AI technology has now started to help the organizations create the most methodical routes for the shipment process. Route optimization has made the Google maps predict traffic and determine routes all over the world. This has enabled easy navigation of over 1 billion kilometres in more than 200 countries for its users.

Ways the AI is changing the logistic industry

1. Self-driving Transport

With Tesla’s introduction of self-driving cars, many have taken an inspiration to take help of the AI technology to introduce autonomous commercial transport in order to grow their business. The technology of auto-driving transport will effectively lead the logistic industry in profit with potential to carry the whole business to another level. If the autonomous transport is developed and executed to its full potential, those days are no longer far away where the U.S. transportation network will double at 25 per cent of the cost. Also, with the shortage of drivers in the North American region, the whole plan to process the shipment on autonomous trucks has the potential to change the logistic game for good.

2. Efficient last-minute route delivery

The AI technology has proved to be the best when it comes to making efficient routes for the delivery. With the help of apps, the drivers and customers submit the data to the machine which, then, come up with the most optimal route for the delivery. The technology works under all the weather conditions and make the re-routing possible as the trucks make their moves.

3. Chatbots for systematic marketing and operational achievement

Mimicking human conversations, these chat bots help communicating with the customers using auditory and textual methods. Such chat bots result in increased customer engagement and also leave them satisfied with assured problem-solving. These chat bots function similarly to Facebook messengers where two parties can easily conversate without sliding into their e-mails

There are probably more than just these examples of how an AI technology can take your logistic company to places. From cargo sensers to automated purchasing, prediction of delivery-arrival times, financial applications and what not. With the ever-revolving nature of technology, it is safe to say that the AI technology is here to turn the world upside down with its revolutionary inventions and discoveries. The true and successful future depends on machine-to-machine work where human-manned positions are automated. With the improvement in technology in every industry, the days are not too far where every human brain will be well-equipped and advanced to take on every technical complexity. AI is all ready to set a new standard of efficiency and take over the supply chain world.