SUPPLY CHAIN ANALYTICS – IoT AND SUPPLY CHAIN OPTIMISATION:

Spreadsheets, ERP systems, servers, the traditional architecture and tools of data. Let's explore some of today's more advanced supply chain analytics tools. Tools that help us gather, communicate and understand immense amounts of data in real time with analytical capabilities using IoT.

Humans read articles written by other humans. We text each other. We read the comments of others on social media. Humans communicating with humans through an internet of people. Now imagine an internet of things, IoT, where a pallet asks a robotic forklift to place it in a truck, where the truck automatically opens its doors to receive the pallets, where a shelf in a distribution center is now anticipating the arrival of the pallet.

The internet of things is changing supply chains. It offers supply chain managers the opportunity to gather accurate and reliable data, to automate supply chain activities, to process payments immediately, perhaps via blockchains and in the process, to find opportunities for improvements.        

Plus IoT sensors can be put on nearly anything, inventory and pallets, vehicles and robotics, personal electronic devices, livestock. You can even place them throughout facilities like manufacturing plants, warehouses, stores, and office buildings. IoT puts all of your traditional analytics on steroids, higher quality data and in real time, which means better analytics information.

And once you've made a decision, automated execution. Supply chain optimizations are powerful systems built on complex mathematics. What do they do? Well, imagine if there was a formula that told you how many units of inventory to buy, how many to put at each facility, how many workers to schedule, when you should manufacture goods, how to deliver all of your goods, the fastest.

Imagine if that formula could do all of this for you at the same time. And could also predict future demand. Now imagine if it could adjust to changes in demand. As well as changes in the cost of materials, labor, and energy. Finally consider how this knowledge could be used with IoT to develop a strategy and communicate the strategy with machines and people throughout the supply chain.

This is supply chain optimization, predicting the future, developing a strategy based on sound mathematics, and then executing it immediately. Together, the internet of things and supply chain optimization will make supply chains faster, smarter, and more efficient.

Humans read articles written by other humans. We text each other. We read the comments of others on social media. Humans communicating with humans through an internet of people. Now imagine an internet of things, IoT, where a pallet asks a robotic forklift to place it in a truck, where the truck automatically opens its doors to receive the pallets, where a shelf in a distribution center is now anticipating the arrival of the pallet.

The internet of things is changing supply chains. It offers supply chain managers the opportunity to gather accurate and reliable data, to automate supply chain activities, to process payments immediately, perhaps via blockchains and in the process, to find opportunities for improvements.

Plus IoT sensors can be put on nearly anything, inventory and pallets, vehicles and robotics, personal electronic devices, livestock. You can even place them throughout facilities like manufacturing plants, warehouses, stores, and office buildings. IoT puts all of your traditional analytics on steroids, higher quality data and in real time, which means better analytics information.

And once you've made a decision, automated execution. Supply chain optimizations are powerful systems built on complex mathematics. What do they do? Well, imagine if there was a formula that told you how many units of inventory to buy, how many to put at each facility, how many workers to schedule, when you should manufacture goods, how to deliver all of your goods, the fastest.

Imagine if that formula could do all of this for you at the same time. And could also predict future demand. Now imagine if it could adjust to changes in demand. As well as changes in the cost of materials, labor, and energy. Finally consider how this knowledge could be used with IoT to develop a strategy and communicate the strategy with machines and people throughout the supply chain.

This is supply chain optimization, predicting the future, developing a strategy based on sound mathematics, and then executing it immediately. Together, the internet of things and supply chain optimization will make supply chains faster, smarter, and more efficient.