Top 8 Supply Chain Technology Trends in 2019

Gartner has identified the top 8 supply chain technology trends in 2019. Their top strategic supply chain technology trends have broad industry impact, but have not yet been widely adopted. They might be experiencing significant changes or reaching critical tipping points in capability or maturity.

“These technologies are those that supply chain leaders simply cannot ignore,“ said Christian Titze, research vice president at Gartner. “Within the next five years, if half of large global companies are using some of these technologies in their supply chain operations, it’s safe to say that the technologies will disrupt people, business objectives and IT systems.“

The top 8 supply chain technology trends in 2019 are:

1. 1. Artificial Intelligence: AI technology in supply chain seeks to augment human performance. Through self-learning and natural language, AI capabilities can help automate various supply chain processes such as demand forecasting, production planning or predictive maintenance.
2. 2. Advanced Analytics: Advanced analytics span predictive analytics as well as prescriptive analytics. The increased availability of IoT data and extended external data sources such as weather or traffic conditions allow organizations to anticipate future scenarios and make better recommendations in areas such as supply chain planning, sourcing and transportation.
3. 3. IoT: The IoT is the network of physical objects that contain embedded technology to interact with their internal states or the external environment. Areas that IoT might have a profound impact on are enhanced logistics management, improved customer service and improved supply availability.
4. 4. Robotic Process Automation: RPA tools operate by mapping a process in the tool language for the software “robot“ to follow. They cut costs and eliminate keying errors.
5. 5. Autonomous Things: Autonomous things use AI to automate functions previously performed by humans, such as autonomous vehicles and drones. They exploit AI to deliver advanced behaviors that interact more naturally with their surroundings and with people.
6. 6. Digital Supply Chain Twin: A digital supply chain twin is a digital representation of the relationships between all physical entities of end-to-end supply chain processes, products, customers, markets, distribution centers/warehouses, plants, finance, attributes and weather. They are linked to their real-world counterparts and are used to understand the state of the thing or system in order to optimize operations and respond efficiently to changes.
7. 7. Immersive Experience: Immersive experiences such as AR, VR, and conversational systems are changing the way people interact with the digital world. Immersive user experiences will enable digital business opportunities that have not yet been fully realized within global supply chains.
8. 8. Blockchain in Supply Chain: Although supply-chain-related blockchain initiatives are nascent, blockchain has potential to fulfill long-standing challenges presented across complex global supply chains. Current capabilities offered by blockchain solutions for supply chain include traceability, automation, and security.