The Smarter Supply Chain of the Future is Available Now

Volatile. That’s perhaps the best word to describe today’s global market-place. Like economies and financial markets, as supply chains have grown more global and interconnected, they’ve also increased their exposure to shocks and disruptions. Supply chain speed only exacerbates the problem. Even minor missteps and miscalculations can have major consequences as their impacts spread like viruses throughout complex supply chain networks.

The Smarter Supply Chain of the Future addresses

• Instrumented – Information that was previously created by people will increasingly be machine-generated — flowing out of sensors, RFID tags, meters, actuators, GPS and more. Inventory will count itself. Containers will detect their contents. Pallets will report in if they end up in the wrong place.

• Interconnected – The entire supply chain will be connected — not just customers, suppliers and IT systems in general, but also parts, products and other smart objects used to monitor the supply chain. Extensive connectivity will enable worldwide networks of supply chains to plan and make decisions together.

• Intelligent – These supply chain decisions will also be much smarter. Advanced analytics and modeling will help decision makers evaluate alternatives against an incredibly complex and dynamic set of risks and constraints. And smarter systems will even make some decisions automatically — increasing responsiveness and limiting the need for human intervention.

This study is based on face-to-face conversations with nearly 400 supply chain executives worldwide