Is the future of drones here? There have been plenty of trials that would indicate that home delivery drones are right around the corner. The FAA has loosened restrictions and selected eight companies to help establish technical requirements for home delivery. However, there are still a number of obstacles to overcome. But, for other uses, drones are getting the job done. This includes inventory management within warehouses and yards, monitoring equipment at ports, farms, and job sites, and re-stocking ships at sea. With these use cases in mind, the present and future of drones both look bright when it comes to drones.
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Archive for Logistics Technologies
The post COVID world will likely look a lot different than what we experienced just a few short months ago. As economies begin to open, restrictions abound and are likely to remain in place until a vaccine is created and administered across the country. In this post COVID world, the supply chain will continue to be a key cog in ensuring that the economy can function, and home deliveries will be the new normal for more and more of our retail needs. To that end, Amazon, FedEx, and UPS have put changes in place to deal with the changing nature of customer demands and interactions.
Read More →A few months ago, I attended the ARC Advisory Group’s Industry Forum in Orlando. While I was there, I had the opportunity to sit down and interview a few ARC analysts including Craig Resnick, Harry Forbes, Inderpreet Shoker, and Jim Frazier. I also had the opportunity to sit down with Ed O’Brien and discuss digital transformation in the changing retail landscape. Specifically, I asked Ed about three main things. First, the role of digital transformation […]
Read More →Note: Today’s post is part of our “Editor’s Choice” series where we highlight recent posts published by our sponsors that provide supply chain insights and advice. Today’s article is from Kinaxis. Digital transformation. It sounds oh-so-glamorous at first. But digitization is not a panacea for the world’s (or even just one company’s) supply chain problems. While it’s true that automating and digitizing once-tedious and time-consuming processes can increase profitability, efficiency and sustainability across the supply […]
Read More →Autonomous technology continues to make an impact on the supply chain. The autonomous supply chain, as I am writing about it here, applies to moving goods without human intervention (to some degree at least). One of the more interesting examples I have seen is from the Belgian brewery De Halve Maan, which in an effort to reduce congestion on the city streets, built a beer pipeline under the streets. The pipeline is capable of carrying […]
Read More →Additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, has been around in one shape or form for a while. The process essentially entails building a three-dimensional object from computer-aided design (CAD) to add material layer by layer until a final product is complete. The use cases for 3D printing cover most anything you can imagine. In fact, recently, while on a weekend ski trip with friends, my buddy John was riding the chairlift with two women from France […]
Read More →Trying to understand and implement artificial intelligence (AI) for your supply chain network during your digital transformation efforts, or let alone finding the right partner in your journey, is like walking in an enchanted forest full of myths, ogres, and lost souls trying to find a way out. Finding the right path in there to an eternal bliss starts with knowing what is not right. Implementing AI is not a small feat and you may get bombarded with vague definitions and stories about how AI makes the world a better place. Let’s look at a few common myths you may come face to face with in your quest to transform your supply chain network by using AI while going digital in your organization.
Read More →Blockchain provides one mechanism for sharing information between supply chain trading partners. Because of the IT security, unchangeable records, and decentralized governance, the technology is getting a lot of attention. But just as clear thinking depends upon carefully defining terms, effective supply chain collaboration requires a defined vocabulary. Business is just easier when you speak the same language as your customers, suppliers and partners. GS1 is the leading provider of these standards. GS1 is a […]
Read More →Deutsche Bahn believes that additive manufacturing will result in high savings – in the multi-digit million range – in warehousing and spare parts procurement. Additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing, is of the upmost importance for Deutsche Bahn, especially in the management of spare parts for older trains. But an international conference on this subject also pointed to the challanges of using this still immature technology.
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One thing that I find interesting in the AI movement is the creative use of data and algorithms to solve old problems in a new way or to solve new problems. My colleague, Vikram Srinivasan talked about one such new problem in a previous blog post: AI is Changing Everything We Thought About Forecasting Demand. Vik discussed how AI is helping improve demand forecasting with additional data and new algorithms. Digging deeper, he mentioned an […]
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