Supply chain monitoring is no small task. With so many moving parts that need to be monitored, technology is proving to be a powerful tool to help supply chain professionals do their jobs more effectively than ever before.
Autonomous Planning Applications
Autonomous planning leverages technologies such as machine learning, IoT and AI to analyze past and current real-time data, empowering companies to anticipate problems and quickly respond to disruptions. In the context of supply chain monitoring, these technologies can be very effective tools for helping companies gain a competitive edge and protect their bottom line by improving visibility throughout the supply chain.
For example, let’s say a supplier is located in an area that’s prone to hurricanes and tropical storms. Machine learning technology could be used to monitor news reports for information about weather events and notify you when there are reports of a storm developing that could potentially impact the supplier’s ability to deliver. That way, you have more time to create a backup plan to keep things moving. Or perhaps IoT technology could help you see that past shipments have experienced delays at a certain port and a new route could be planned to avoid those delays.
Think back to the early days of the coronavirus pandemic when products like hand sanitizer and cleaning supplies suddenly became hot items that were flying off the shelves of grocery and drug stores. When faced with a situation like this, where past consumer demand trends for a certain product might not suggest anything out of the ordinary should be expected, real-time data could alert you to sudden changes in demand and give you a chance to adapt.
These technologies can also be used to monitor the condition of equipment and other high-value assets and detect signs of damage, allowing for repairs to be made at an ideal time before minor damage or defects progress into costly equipment failure down the line.
Overcoming Autonomous Planning Obstacles
Autonomous planning solutions certainly have the power to fully transform the planning process and enable self-driving planning processes, and companies can see its potential. Half of all planning professionals are expecting to make investments in advanced planning technologies and 54% are expecting to make changes to their planning processes. But 85% also say they have a difficult time leveraging these types of technologies in the supply chain.
Bristlecone’s autonomous planning solutions are built on a continuous, closed-loop, self-driving integrated planning infrastructure powered by our data lake, digital twin, data aggregation, well-defined touchless planning processes and AI-infused decision-making. Our solutions are driven by speed, connectivity, transparency and resiliency, helping you boost productivity and service levels and improve forecasting. Contact us to learn more.
