Supply Chain Future
Supply chain leaders must invest to keeping up with societal and technological changes.
In 1978, record player sales peaked at $2.5 billion. Ten years later, sales had plummeted 80% to $500 million as consumers moved to cassette tapes and then CDs. The rise and fall of vinyl teach an essential lesson for supply chains: Making supply chain investments such as factory capacity and inventory from historical performance rather than an understanding of future trends can spell disaster.
The path of the music industry shows very clearly the importance of a 10-year-plan. However, a recent Gartner survey found that 70% of respondents don’t look beyond three years when developing a vision for their digital supply chain road maps.
“If supply chain leaders don’t prepare for the ecosystems in which future supply chains will operate, they are at risk to not foresee and prepare for the inevitable disruption.
Technology complements supply chain teams
The development of technology goes hand-in-hand with the future of supply chain management. Whether allowing supply chain teams to improve or add to their current processes in some way or another, newly-created tools and technology are all but necessary for survival as we move into 2020 and beyond.
More specifically, the use of autonomous mobile robots (AMR) will likely be adopted by more companies over the next four to five years. In utilizing this technology, organizations will be able to automate and streamline picking and packing processes in particular.
This isn’t to say that robotic technology is going to take over specific processes along the supply chain altogether. At least for the foreseeable future, there’s still a need for supply chain teams to have a hands-on approach to their various processes.
For example, while AMR tech focuses on automating the actual picking process, it relies on information from the company’s warehouse management system—as managed by the supply chain team—to do so. So, as we move into 2020, it’s vital for supply chain teams to understand the importance of incorporating technology into their processes—not being intimidated by it.
