5 Ways to Put AI to Work in Your Supply Chain

Artificial Intelligence has become so deeply engrained in our lives that we don’t always realize it anymore. Facebook accurately tags our photos, we ask Alexa to play our music and we look to Google to help us navigate traffic. We use AI every day.

At LogiPharma 2019 in Philadelphia, Deepak Ghodke, Vice President, Bristlecone Labs, spoke about how it is, therefore, not at all surprising that the increase in AI adoption has also extended to enterprises in recent years.

Ghodke cited a recent survey conducted by Gartner, where it was reported that just four years ago, AI implementation was rare, with only 10% of survey respondents reporting that their enterprises had deployed AI or would do so shortly. The scenario has shifted in 2019, with that number leaping up to 37% – a 270% increase.

Interestingly, research by Gartner shows that “if your organization doesn’t use AI, chances are high that your competitors do, and this should be a concern.”[1]

So, what can you do to ensure that you are not left behind? Ghodke posed this question to the LogiPharma audience – for whom running a resilient supply chain is a key tenet of producing and delivering life-saving goods.

Following are five steps he suggested that companies take to stay ahead of the curve – and examples of five organizations who’ve done just that.

Step 1: Digitize your documents.

A leading logistics provider – which works with a large global network of carriers through air, ocean and land – is leveraging AI to increase economic efficiency, enabling them to provide more affordable solutions to their customers.

Ghodke says an important first step to staying ahead of the competition is to move beyond manual data entry with an AI-driven technology like Document Digitizer.

5 Ways to Put AI to Work in Your Supply Chain 2

 

Step 2: Empower users with end-to-end supply chain visibility.

A global manufacturer of glass panels for the telecom and information display industries used AI to secure savings of $25 million over the course of three years.

By achieving end-to-end supply chain visibility, you can mitigate risks and capitalize on opportunities. Consider a tool like Sense.ai, a cloud-based early warning system.

 

Step 3: Understand your customer.

A multi-national electronics conglomerate improved its demand forecasting by 25%, thanks to AI-driven technologies.

Check out how DemandSense can help you better understand your customers and close the gap between planning and execution.

 

Step 4: Gain real-time operational intelligence.

An US based illustrious manufacturer of bedding and mattresses tapped into AI to improve its warehousing and home delivery operational efficiency by 30%, while reducing shrinkage and returns by nearly 50%.

Step four is to embrace an operational intelligence tool like Trace.ai to gain real-time visibility, traceability and utilization analysis of inventory, assets and products.

 

Step 5: Improve your bottom line.

A pioneering technology company used an AI-based app to achieve procurement savings of $400K over 12 months for metal commodities.

Procure.ai provides exclusive market and economic insight to help users buy and sell favorably across the supply chain.

 

Interested in learning more? Reach out to us at labs@bcone.com.

[1] https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2019-01-21-gartner-survey-shows-37-percent-of-organizations-have