Artificial Intelligence in Supply Chain Management & Its Benefits

The COVID-19 pandemic has been wreaking havoc on the global supply chain management, rendering the economic growth sluggish for months now. As per the recent survey conducted by the Institute for Supply Chain Management, approximately 75% of the companies reported to have experienced some sort of supply chain disruptions due to the impact of the Coronavirus. The effects are in term of transportation restrictions which has constricted the freedom of supply chain for months. 

On the flip side, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) are changing the face of the supply chain industry with their supersonic speed, accuracy, and efficiencies between suppliers and business partners. Today’s world is fiercely competitive which requires businesses to run with maximum productivity with reduced uncertainties and errors. Hence, Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Supply Chain Management & Logistics is playing a critical role in delivering a powerful optimization of capabilities to improve productivity, high quality, lower costs, and greater output. AI/ML is driving enterprise-wide visibility into all aspects of the supply chain which is beyond the capability of humans.

Here, we have jotted down the key benefits of Artificial Intelligence in Supply chain management. 

Accurate Inventory Management: Accurate inventory management with AI-driven tools can help in analyzing and interpreting huge datasets quickly by providing timely guidance on forecasting supply & demand. It can also be crucial in limiting overstocking, inadequate stock, and unexpected stock-outs.

Warehouse Efficiency: AI systems have the capability to solve a wide range of warehouse issues, more quickly and accurately. This obviates the need for human efforts to solve the complex procedures thereby hastening the involved process. In turn, it saves time and reduces the associated costs of warehouse staff. 

Enhanced Safety: AI-based automated data analysis help in understanding workplace safety and inform manufacturers about any potential risks. With automated data record of stocking parameters, it helps in updating operations with required feedback loops to keep warehouses secure and make the organization compliant with safety standards.

Reduced Operations Costs: Maximum utility from less investment is the basic tenet of every business organization. This is the biggest benefit that AI offers. From customer service to the warehouse, its automated intelligent operations provide error-free work execution with reduced workplace incidents. Warehouses installed with AI-enabled robots can provide a greater speed and accuracy with a maximum level of productivity. 

On-Time Delivery: Artificial Intelligence in Supply Chain Management can address the dependency of manual efforts to negate human errors. It helps in reducing the turnaround time by facilitating on-time delivery to the customers. Organizations updated with automated systems can remove the operational bottlenecks by catering minimal efforts to meet the delivery targets.