Connect With Us
The average enterprise’s B2B trading community includes hundreds of trading partners and requires IT support for managing a wide variety of connections, protocols, and formats. Unfortunately, when it comes to setting up and managing trading partners, many companies are still hobbling along with cumbersome, error-prone manual processes.
Continue readingIf you aren’t already leveraging cognitive technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) in your business network, you may be missing out on critical supply chain improvements.
Cognitive and AI systems use natural language processing and machine learning to understand, reason, learn about and analyze all types of data. Also, they can interact with users in a more natural, conversational manner.
For B2B networks and supply chains, these capabilities can be leveraged for a wide variety of improvements including:
With these capabilities like these, you can plan for (or avoid) disruptions, proactively handle potential issues with suppliers, and ensure you can meet or exceed customer expectations (among many other benefits). Let’s take a closer look at some of the AI and cognitive capabilities available for B2B operations and supply chains today.
Continue readingArtificial intelligence (AI) is no longer the province of science fiction: it’s here, and it can be leveraged by your supply chain to transform the way your company sources materials and delivers finished products.
For many companies, AI and cognitive computing are becoming necessities in their supply chain operations, as these capabilities can help them overcome significant barriers to success.
First, we collect a plethora of data in our supply chains, but often, we miss important opportunities for cost savings and efficiency because we aren’t using that data effectively.
Additionally, artificial intelligence and cognitive capabilities in the supply chain become even more important as Baby Boomers—with their wealth of supply chain knowledge — retire. The new Millennial workforce is packed with tech-savvy workers, but they often do not have the supply chain experience of their senior counterparts, nor do they tend to stay in one position for decades, as previous generations did.Globalization also presents new challenges to the supply chain. As companies continue to grow, they generate and collect even more data, implement more policies and processes, and add many new employees, suppliers, customers, and locations. Consequently, they struggle with analyzing all of this data, bringing new supply chain employees up to speed on policies and best practices, deciding what actions to take when issues arise, and getting relevant insights into the right hands at the right time.
While AI and cognitive capabilities can help companies overcome these challenges and many others, they can also help companies improve—even transform—their supply chains. Let's explore how.
Continue readingIt’s 11:00 p.m. Do you know where that critical shipment is?
When an important shipment containing parts essential to your flagship product is delayed in transit, the delay can resonate throughout your manufacturing process and impact orders. If you don’t know the problem exists in your supply chain, you’re left scrambling to fulfill orders and maintain production levels. Lack of supply chain visibility puts your business at risk, affecting not only your bottom line but also your company’s reputation.
According to research firm Gartner, supply chain visibility is a top priority among supply chain leaders and Chief Supply Chain Officers (CSCOs) across a wide range of industries and geographies. And for good reasons: visibility into your supply chain not only lets you mitigate late shipment scenarios but also helps you proactively mitigate these problems. Supply chain visibility can also help you identify risks and potential savings.
When visibility is combined with business intelligence, predictive analytics, and artificial intelligence (AI)—organizations can gain unprecedented supply chain insights that can transform their operations.
While there are too many benefits to cover in a single blog post, let’s explore three benefits of supply chain visibility that are top-of-mind.
Continue readingHave you ever driven your car with your eyes closed—for just a second? Pretty scary, right? The same goes for driving your business.
Continue readingModern life clips along at an unprecedented pace, and here at Lightwell we have been discussing the comparison of keeping up with the fast pace of life—and all the information that produces—to the experience of keeping up with the supply chain.
On a personal level, when you think back ten years ago, YouTube and Facebook were just getting going, and Twitter was a gleam in someone’s eye. Phones weren’t all that “smart” with people assuming they would just get smaller, and they definitely weren’t thinking “mobile revolution.”
Continue readingWe’ve all been subject to the vagaries of the weather at one time or another--camping holidays, picnics and Wimbledon are all events that can be made or broken by inclement or unexpected weather. Who can forget the huge floods of late 2013/early 2014 causing large areas of the South West of the UK to become inaccessible?
This got us thinking, if you’re managing a supply chain, especially if you’re thinking about becoming demand driven, what would the business impact of these weather disasters be, and how would a demand driven supply chain cope compared to traditional one?
Continue readingHealthcare supply chains are large, and many healthcare organizations are behind other sectors in terms of tech adoption. This can make it difficult for healthcare firms to make meaningful strides in the effort to have more cost-effective, efficient supply chains. Issues can be at the micro level, in terms of employee buy-in and implementation of new products and strategies in facilities. There can also be problems at the macro level, in the effort to develop partner relationships and integrate them effectively into procurement, distribution and support processes.
Continue readingUsing technology to save on labor costs and resource expenses is a top investment priority for nearly every company, particularly those in the manufacturing industry. More cost-efficient facilities, automated order management and data-driven customer fulfillment can reduce the amount of money and time that must be poured into these areas. However, in some cases, the increasing use of technology is bringing about a rise in overall IT costs. Many companies have experienced firsthand the issue of a technological innovation that hasn't significantly decreased labor costs or sped up operations, because the staff and resources needed to maintain expansive IT environments ends up outweighing many of the promised benefits.
Continue readingIn order to keep pace with today’s competitive global supply chains, companies must ensure they are utilizing current supply chain technologies to increase efficiency and keep up with customer demand.
In addition, today there is an array of issues and considerations that supply chain supervisors must keep in mind, including the following:
