Industry 4.0 is a major disruption in current scenario and is forcing the companies to revalidate the way they are operating their supply chain. Technologies like IoT, Augmented Reality, Robotics and Cloud Computing have emerged that are changing the traditional approach of working. Additionally, omni-channel methods have been evolved to make the supply chain more complex. Biggest game changer is the customer expectation which have been altered a lot in last 5 years. Big Data and Analytics are helpful to make our supply chain more efficient and effective but if we must obtain the next level of Digital Supply Chain Market, then Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain are the new millstones to leverage the business model and to transform the company from operation perspective.

The cloud-mobile-social-big-data digital transformation that companies are grappling with today is causing dynamic shifts in business strategy and operational processes. But the AI and blockchain deployments emerging now promise next level transformation of even greater magnitude. Each has clear immediate implications as well as significant long-term potential.

How Artificial Intelligence is enabling Digital Supply Chain Market
Suppliers are not willing to share the data and that is a major challenge in digital supply chain. Organizations lack transparency in supply chain processes and visibility needed to forecast better and prevent inventory management concerns. This largely stems from an inability to hold and make sense of an overwhelming amount of data scattered across different processes, sources, and systems. Organizations struggle to keep pace with change, both technological advances and changes that the digital age is bringing to industries and markets. However, by using technologies such as machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI), and IoT Analytics to improve supply chain transparency, organizations can drive product excellence and operational efficiency through quick decision without any human intervention.

Supply chain operations do generate huge volumes of data from various ever-changing sources. AI can use the historical data and analyzes trends that can help in streamlining the supply chain process. The awareness and ability to make fact-based decisions that AI solutions make possible is slowly making inroads into chain management. This technology is expected to create a sentient supply chain for future that would able to feel, perceive, and react to situations at a granular level.

Blockchain technology has also a huge potential to improve supply chain transparency and monitor provenance. In the consumer goods and retail industry, many of the biggest players have undertaken initiatives to amass data about how goods are made, where they come from, and how they are managed. If this information is stored in a blockchain-based system, the data becomes permanent and easy to share, improving that way the comprehensive track-and-trace capabilities.

There are many companies that can benefit from a blockchain-based system. The information available can be used, for example, to provide proof of legitimacy for products in pharmaceutical shipments, and proof of authenticity for luxury goods. These blockchain initiatives also come with clear benefits for the consumer, as people can have more information about the products they are buying, for example, whether a product has been ethically sourced, is an original item, and has been preserved in the correct conditions.

Digital Supply Chain Market – 10 Successful Case Studies

1. LLamasoft’s end-to-end supply chain analytics platform. Demand Guru was used by Cummins Inc. to develop an overall end-to-end operational inventory model in a multi-echelon kind of environment. This platform – Demand Guru provided the frequent and accurate forecast of future demand. This is a demand modeling tool to help companies develop more customized demand planning solutions. This tool allows a company to more easily clean, blend and then ingest time series data and then test whether that data set improves forecasting over some forecast period or ship to location. Historical third-party data can be imported into the tool and then the company can examine whether their past forecasts could have been improved by using that data set.
2. World’s largest container shipping company Maersk has started a venture in a collaboration with IBM to streamline ocean freight with a blockchain system which tracks international cargo in real-time. The blockchain-based system is digitalizing workflows and is allowing each stakeholder in the supply chain to follow the progress of goods during the transit process. Blockchain technology is perfect to ensure secure data exchange and a tamper-proof repository for customs documents, bills of lading and other data, and make them available to the stakeholders. All in all, this partnership will hopefully reduce fraud and delays, which could lead to billions of dollars in savings.
3. Retail giant Walmart is working with IBM on blockchain experiments with the goal of enhancing their supply chain transparency and tracking their goods more efficiently. The lack of transparency in Walmart’s multi-actor food supply chain makes it difficult to track and identify the provenance of their products. This issue might seem trivial at some levels, but becomes rather vital, when the food is contaminated and causes illness in customers. In Walmart’s case, blockchain system is used currently to record temperature in the transportation unit during the transit. In this way, the company can control and assure quality and food condition more efficiently.
4. The Chinese company Alibaba has also adopted the blockchain solutions in logistics sector. Through its subsidiary Lynx International, Alibaba integrated blockchain technology to track information in its cross-border logistics operations. Their system has now an immutable record of shipment information such as details about the production, transportation, customs, inspection and any third-party verification. For a shipping and logistics company like Lynx, security and transparency cannot be overemphasized. Blockchain proved to be, therefore, the ideal solution for them.
5. UPS has launched its popular chatbot on the Google Assistant, giving customers another convenient way to retrieve information on package deliveries and other UPS services via the Assistant on Android phones, iPhones, smart speakers like Google Home and other compatible devices. The chatbot’s expansion to the Google Assistant also marks an important step for UPS as it makes new inroads into Artificial Intelligence (AI). The company, which aims to engage its customers and consumers through the online platforms they prefer, introduced the chatbot in 2016 through Facebook Messenger, Skype and Amazon Alexa. AI and machine learning, along with big data and the internet of things, underpin many of the technologies that support UPS’s global logistics network.
6. DHL’s Global Trade Barometer is a unique early indication tool for the current state and future development of global trade. The tool uses large amounts of operational logistics data, advanced statistical modeling, and artificial intelligence to give a monthly outlook on prospects for the global economy. The model takes a bottom-up approach and uses import and export data of intermediate and early-cycle commodities from seven countries to serve as the basis input for the system, measured in air freight and containerized ocean freight levels. Overall, the system regularly evaluates 240 million variables from seven countries (China, Germany, Great Britain, India, Japan, South Korea, and the US) that represent 75% of global trade.37 An AI engine, together with other non-cognitive analytical models, expresses a single value to represent the weighted average of current trade growth and the upcoming two months of global trade. Tests with historical data reveal a high correlation between the DHL Global Trade Barometer and real containerized trade, providing an effective three-month outlook for global trade
7. GreyOrange, an automation and robotics company that develops self-navigating AGVs recently also launched GreyMatter, its next generation software platform. One of the company’s launch partners for both innovations is Nitori, a Japanese furniture and home furnishings chain. As the name suggests, GreyMatter makes use of AI to allow real-time collaboration between AGVs, enabling optimized navigation path planning, zoning, and speeds, as well as self-learning to improve AGV capabilities over time. When given orders to fulfil, the AGVs and the platform are aware of each item that is being transported and the routes that are taken to retrieve and deliver these items. Nitori is using this valuable data to achieve the most efficient handling routes and predict product popularity and seasonal trends43 – self-optimizing operations that ensure ever-shortening fulfilment times as well as real-time visibility of product demand.
8. Canadian startup TwentyBN is working on deep learning AI that is able to decipher complex human behavior in video streams. Previous applications of its technology include autonomous detection from video feeds alone of things like an elderly person falling, aggressive behavior on public transport, and shoplifting in stores. Considering that many warehouses today are equipped with surveillance cameras for safety purposes, this type of AI technology can be used to optimize performance (by detecting, for example, successful pick and pack tasks) and increase operational safety (for example, with instant alerting of accidents involving workers).
9. Voice Agents can significantly improve and personalize the customer experience with logistics providers. In 2017, DHL Parcel was one of the first last-mile delivery companies to offer a voice-based service to track parcels and provide shipment information using Amazon’s Alexa. Customers with an Amazon Echo speaker in their home can simply ask things like “Alexa, where is my parcel?” or “Ask DHL, where is my parcel.” Customers can then speak their alphanumeric tracking number and receive shipment updates. If there is an issue with a shipment, customers can ask DHL for help and be routed to customer assistance.
10. Anticipatory Logistics takes the AI-powered logistics customer experience to the next level, delivering goods to customers before they have even ordered them or realized they needed them. Anticipatory logistics seeks to leverage the capabilities of AI to analyze and draw predictions from vast amounts of data such as browsing behavior, purchase history, and demographic norms as well as seemingly unrelated data sources such as weather data, social media chatter, and news reports to predict what customers will purchase. Exposing these data sources to AI analysis, companies can effectively predict demand and shorten delivery times by moving inventory closer to customer locations and allocating resources and capacity to allow for previously unforeseen demand. In some cases, it would even require having non-purchased inventory constantly in transit to allow for instant delivery for an order placed while the goods are in motion.

We have also published a market research report on Digital Supply Chain Market. According to this market research study “Next Gen Digital Supply Chain Market By Technology (Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Blockchain, Augmented Reality, Robotics & Automation, Cloud Computing, Cyber Security, Digital Twin, Driverless Vehicles and Drones, 3D Printing, Wearable & Mobile Devices), By Solutions, By Functions, By Organization Size, By End-User Industry, and Geography – Global Forecast to 2030”, Digital Supply Chain market is expected to reach more than USD 100 billion by 2030. Read More