As per a recent survey conducted by Forbes Insights, “65% of logistics, supply chain, and transportation executives acknowledge the necessity to revamp existing models and add flexibility to business operations in order to ensure omnichannel delivery, reduce costs and meet the ever-shifting consumer demand.”
Well, these statistics are testimony about the rapid transformation that the supply chain industry is experiencing and most of it has to go with the digital revolution. Hence, it becomes all the more evident why having a proper strategy for digital transformation is necessary and how one can easily adopt and adapt to it. Here are the four ways that are indispensable in the modern age supply chain industry that help one keep up with digital transformation.
Smart Automation: In the new wave that is digitalizing everything, the expanse of automation has grown manifolds. And, the tech behind this revolution is IoT. While hardware accounts for most of the IoT technology today, analysts predict that by 2026, the market is forecast to be $10.9 billion, with software representing nearly $8.7 billion.
And this is highly possible because of the diversified IoT applications that have come into the supply chain practices. With customization taking the center stage in the current delivery system, IoT is extensively being used in data collection for sectors like fleet management system, drivers’ behavior analysis, routing optimization, drone deliveries, real-time location-tracking, storage condition monitoring and beyond.
Adopt AI or ML: When IoT is generating a large amount of data, you need to have a proper technical infrastructure in place in order to make the most out of it. By incorporating AI and ML into the existing framework, the major supply chain players have achieved new heights of efficiency and effectiveness in overall operations. Artificial Intelligence when works in sync with Machine Learning can take decisions (such as route planning and scheduling) in a fraction of seconds that would otherwise require a long time to be done by a human operator.
Moreover, with automation becoming the direction where Transportation & Logistics is headed, AI & ML would prove to be a must-have tool for a firm in order to ride the wave of digital transformation, especially in the supply chain business.
Utilize Blockchain: According to Craig Fuller, managing director of the Blockchain in Transport Alliance and CEO of FreightWaves, “Blockchain is a technology that’s ideally suited to the transportation industry and will ultimately prove transformational.” The biggest reason behind blockchain being instrumental in transforming the supply chain is its application across a wide spectrum of services across the industry. From record-keeping to end-to-end tracking of products, Blockchain is a smart and successful way to adapt to the digital transformation in the supply chain industry since the value proposition that it offers of being a more reliable and better-automated alternative when compared to centralized databases is very crucial in the supply chain.
Vehicle safety technology: Well, amongst all the above-mentioned ways for adapting to the digital transformation in the supply chain, vehicle safety technology has the most direct and profound effect at the ground level. Supply chain operators are well aware of the potential risk that is involved in the transit of goods and making the vehicles safer is one of the biggest accomplishments of the digital transformation.
Systems like lane-keeping assist have been around now and features like the driver fatigue monitor system are becoming a common thing especially in trucks and trailers involved in the Transport & Logistics industry. Hence, one of the best ways to keep up with the digital transformation is to make your fleet safer and reduce potential vulnerabilities.
There are several ways to transform supply chain processes and optimize costs. It includes everything right from creating better processes and optimizing the inventory levels to having a swift shipping network.
At DiLX we craft end-to-end logistics solutions that help logistics business owners to manage inventory as well as shipping from a single platform. These solutions have dramatically transformed logistics for suppliers worldwide. Get more information about the services we provide to our customers worldwide. Drop an email to us on sales@dilx.co