Supply Chain Innovation Technology: IoT and Beyond

The supply chain management industry is growing and changing before our very eyes, and new technologies are at the very heart of that change. In the same way that a solid supply chain is the cornerstone of business efficiency and effectiveness, investing in supply chain innovation technology can help improve your business processes and cost margins while giving you a strong advantage over your competitors.

We will look at exactly how these novel technologies are changing the face of the supply chain industry, how you can use them to get ahead, and what areas you'll need to closely consider before you make any decisions on implementing new technology.

Unveiling the Power of Supply Chain Innovation

The world is now smaller than it's ever been for businesses; 'far away' markets are no longer inaccessible due to globalization, providing more opportunities for businesses who previously couldn't achieve global reach due to size. As  globalization continues, companies will keep trying to develop their supply chains to be more and more efficient — easier said than done when they span more countries than ever.

Supply chain innovation can revolutionize traditional supply chain practices by leveraging cutting-edge technologies to increase efficiency, transparency, and responsiveness. One technology in particular that's fast-tracking this growth in supply chain innovation is the Internet of Things (IoT). The IoT allows physical devices to connect to one controlled network, enabling real-time data collection and analysis across the entire chain.

Integrating IoT devices such as GPS trackers of RFID tags allows companies to have clear visibility over inventory levels, transportation conditions, and even production processes. This allows for more informed decision-making, and provides a wealth of data to enable companies to perform extremely accurate predictive analyses.

Supply chain innovation provides new avenues for business growth that were previously closed off to all but the largest businesses.

Embracing the IoT Revolution

So how exactly can supply chain innovation and the IoT change the future of your supply chain? Let's take a look at some of its main applications and how they can help your business.

Asset tracking

GPS sensors can be used to track the real-time location of goods throughout the entire transport chain. This allows you to accurately plan your shipments, and provide the highest quality information to both your vendors and end customers. This data can also be used to highlight potential bottlenecks or areas for improvement within your supply chain.

Inventory management

Using technologies such as RFID tags can help automate your stock monitoring process. This reduces the likelihood of human error, increasing inventory accuracy and allowing you to optimize your stocking process. The collected data can then be used in predictive algorithms to give you information on ordering trends that you may not have seen previously.

Maintenance

IoT devices can also help with your maintenance processes by predicting when equipment is likely to fail. Sensors can detect performance issues or anomalies, allowing you to schedule repairs before any potential failure. This predictive maintenance can save your business a lot of money by helping avoid large-scale supply chain breakdowns.

Beyond IoT: Exploring Emerging Technologies

We know you're probably eagerly looking to implement IoT into your business's supply chain practices as we speak, but there are so many other technologies currently innovating in the supply chain space beyond IoT.

Blockchain technology has emerged in recent years as a viable means to ensure the authenticity and provenance of goods being sold — reducing the likelihood of counterfeits and leading to more ethical sourcing practices throughout the entire supply chain. Blockchain is a decentralized and, more importantly, an uneditable record of transactions. All of this works to provide a more reliable and trustworthy supply chain.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is another technology that's been adding a lot of value to various industries such as marketing or finance, but it can also play a role in supply chain innovation. Using AI models, demand forecasting can be optimized to provide more accurate data. It can analyze huge amounts of data to discover previously unseen relationships and trends, all of which can be used to drive supply chain efficiency.

Overcoming Implementation Challenges

You're probably wondering what the catch is when it comes to these technologies — there's no way it could be that simple to improve your supply chain efficiency, right? While the technologies are extremely useful, your business needs to consider a few things before you can begin to implement them.

First, you need to make sure that your employees are equipped to work with any new technologies brought in. This is where investing in strong training programs is so important. You'll need to identify skill gaps, develop a plan to address them, and then ensure that the training program is engaging enough for employees to stick with it. At Skill Dynamics, we can help with all of this through our extensive suite of eLearning programs. Take a look at one of our course catalogs to see where we may be able to help your business improve.

You'll also need to consider the costs of investing in new technologies, along with how they integrate into your existing tech stack and operations. You may want to consider a phased implementation approach to spread the costs out, and to mitigate any major issues that come with changing full systems to suit new technology. Pilot projects with small teams could be a useful experiment here —  particularly as you decide which technology suits your supply chain best.

Maximizing ROI with Supply Chain Innovation

As globalization continues, creating a supply chain that can provide a substantial ROI for your business will become even more important. Embracing these supply chain innovation technologies can ultimately help your business reduce costs through more optimized inventory management, reduced transport expenses, and minimized downtime through advanced predictive maintenance of equipment.

A more efficient supply chain will also lead to higher customer satisfaction, and likely a competitive advantage over other companies due to your ability to respond to risks or market changes more quickly.

Technologies will only continue to innovate. It's important to invest in them now to give your business the best chance of succeeding.

Pioneering the Future of Supply Chain Management

Supply chain innovation is getting continually more advanced, and is changing the face of the industry as we know it. With such a clear focus on profitability and sustainability among companies now, developing supply chain efficiency has emerged as one of the core ways to address both issues, and technology has a vital role to play in achieving this.

Businesses should look to embrace a culture of innovation when it comes to these technologies. Invest in innovation to stay ahead of the curve and to drive growth to separate from your competition. Whether you're starting your supply chain innovation journey, or you've begun but want to go further, we can help ensure your employees are among the very best trained.

Get in touch today to see how we can help you stay ahead of supply chain innovation.