Chief supply chain officers feel overwhelmed navigating the intense digital fog surrounding AI in supply chain, so I offer five principles for navigation. For sure, the opportunity for AI in supply chains is massive. First principle: AI should augment humans, not replace them. he capability boundaries AI keeps crossing are nothing short of amazing. These achievements make it easy to forget what machines cannot provide, which I call the 3 C’s: context, collaboration and conscience. Second principle: The expert fusion of AI, heuristics and optimization is key. AI can also model problems at scale to produce […]
Imagine you’ve just received the job offer of your dreams. The company is willing to relocate you thousands of miles away from home and your family is in full support. The interview process is over, but more challenges are ahead. Which school are your children going to attend? Are you going to rent a house […]
Coupa recently completed its Inspire conference. It ran from April 11th through the 13th at the Aria Resort in Las Vegas. Roughly 3,000 customers, prospects, and partners attended. Coupa offers a Business Spend Management (BSM) platform based on a public cloud. The platform connects hundreds of organizations representing the Americas, EMEA, and APAC, with millions […]
UScellular, the fourth largest wireless service provider in the US, embarked on a supply chain transformation journey. The company’s cellular network includes approximately 7,000 cell sites. In 2020, UScellular took the major step of initiating the deployment of 5G technology across its network. Although the company has its roots in regional development, its growth opened up opportunities to gain efficiencies from centralized supply chain planning. The team knew that they wanted to be able to scale and move quickly and realized […]
Logistics digitalization – A new generation of advanced solutions, enabled by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) – has created new supply chain models and new work processes that are purpose-built for today’s extreme uncertainty. These intelligent, strategy-driven solutions help the entire end-to-end value chain enact a fast, coordinated response not only across functions but also across multiple trading partners. For example, a North American retaile digitized its freight order management system, creating two-way integration with its existing digital transportation management[…]
Having an effective supply chain practice has always been a difficult balancing act, even in relatively stable times. Many factors need to align for an organization to be able to source materials, produce a product and put it in the hands of customers. However, the last few years have been defined by disruption. The pandemic […]
Malcolm McLean, a trucker from North Carolina, was tired of waiting. He had a load full of cotton bales, and while idling away hours at a shipyard watching stevedores load other cargo onto ships he dreamed up containers that transformed global supply chains. Loading and unloading trucks was inefficient, so his frustration led to the […]