Revolutionizing Supply Chains: Unleashing the Power of Supply Chain Automation

Understanding Supply Chain Automation 

Most manual supply chain operations are not only inefficient but may at times prove harmful to your company, They are also out-of-date. 

A typical supply chain management process consists of:

Why is Supply Chain Automation relevant for your business? 

Automation in the supply chain implies the use of technological solutions to carry out or speed up those processes without the involvement, attention, or labor of humans. 

A business can reduce the amount of manual labor necessary to carry out specific business functions. The future of supply chain automation involves integration of automation technology like artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and process automation onto the supply chain. 

The Role of Automation in the Supply Chain Management 

It is true that it is currently not feasible to completely digitize every aspect of your supply chain. However, businesses can do so by automating certain crucial procedures and jobs. Here are a few processes in the supply chain you might want to automate. 

Back-office 

Supply chain automation greatly simplifies management of routine business operations and administrative tasks. Document annotation tools enable you to automatically pull data from purchase orders into your software, process invoices and seamlessly effect vendor payments and maintain financial records. 

Automation has a positive impact on supply chain analytics as well because it frees up business owners' time to focus on running their operations rather than monitoring key performance indicators.  

Supply chain automations enables your company with more precise insights that can be used to enhance both present operations and future planning.

Supply chain automation example includes enhanced demand forecasting and procurement.

Future of supply chain automation 

Involves deployment of predictive analytics with the help of  machine learning algorithms for historical data of inventory and sales. 

A smoother, quicker decision-making process is made possible by cognitive analytics where machine learning and artificial intelligence models can be trained on human decisions, with the help of data sets. The deep neural network-based ML processes enable AI to make decisions with ease.

Transportation 

Some of your logistics can benefit from transportation automation. 

Automations for route-optimization select the best routes and carriers for shipments, which can speed up delivery and cut shipping costs. 

Numerous automation tools offer real-time transit tracking for improved supply chain visibility. This makes it possible to monitor the locations of your vehicles, the inventory items that are in transit, and any potential delays. 

The movement of goods can then be optimized using this data in order to lower transit times and related operational costs  

Warehouse

The two supply chain activities that use automation the most are fulfillment and warehousing. 

Advanced supply chain automation software is capable of receiving and processing orders, and sending out customers tracking information. Some warehouse automation solutions use goods-to-people (GTP), while robotic devices are used to support human workers in the warehouse picking process, when it comes time to pick orders. Additionally, pick-to-light (PLT) systems, which use barcodes and LED lights, can increase how quickly employees find the right items to pick.

In case your business operates with multiple warehouses, these applications can also automatically route each order to the nearest fulfillment center. 

In order to reduce dimensional weight and lower the chance of damage, you can also use the box selection algorithm to make sure that each order is shipped out in the ideal package size. 

Advanced supply chain automation solutions have additional capabilities for figuring out the best places to store inventory to maximize available space while improving picking effectiveness. 

 Logistics is something you don't bother to think about until it breaks, and with Artificio you can be rest assured that nothing seems to go wrong. Our clients are very pleased and amazed at how efficiently our software has accurately processed numerous orders. 

Inventory 

With advanced technology like AI and ML, it is possible to automate most of the aspects of inventory management, though some of the areas call for human intervention. Automatic reorder point notifications help in timely replenishment of stocks. This keeps stockouts at bay and backorders when you reach a threshold amount for a specific component.  

To benefit from savings in time and to enjoy hassle free operations, many retailers have resorted to supply chain automation of the entire restocking process. They set up automatic re-ordering whenever an SKU reaches its threshold. 

The best insight into inventory levels tells you precisely how much stock you have left at any given time. This comes from automatic inventory counts that are reflected on a real time basis.

Key benefits of automation in the supply chain 

Your supply chain processes may benefit in a variety of ways from automation. Here are a few ways that your business can benefit from automation in the supply chain. 

• Automation of manual processes 

With the help of supply chain automation, your company can shift employees' attention away from tedious, time-consuming tasks and toward jobs that demand human interaction. 

For instance, producing necessary documents, processing orders, allocating picking slots, and paying invoices can take a long time. By automating these tasks, you can assign them to automation solutions that can accomplish them much more quickly, freeing up human workers to handle issues that actually require their input. 

As a result, your supply chain is more efficient because you aren't wasting your employees' time and interest on jobs that another system could handle. 

• Minimizing human errors 

When tasks are carried out manually, it is very probable that a thing will go amiss because humans are prone to errors. 

Automation reduces your risk of mistakes by eliminating humans from the process, which can stop errors like: 

• Accidental order duplication 

• Entering inventory or order information with errors 

• Incorrectly entering customer data (email, contact number, shipping address, etc.) 

• Selecting and including the incorrect product in a purchase order 

Improved supply chain transparency 

It takes a lot of coordination, communication, connectivity, and dedication from supply chain stakeholders such as retailers, suppliers, and service providers to maintain supply chain visibility. 

Information is automatically processed and recorded in almost real-time, thanks to supply chain automation. This makes it possible for important parties to track inventory, access crucial information when needed, and communicate quickly across the supply chain. 

The efficiency of your supply chain will therefore increase as a result of the quicker identification and elimination of bottlenecks that will stop further delays and disruptions. 

A fulfillment platform that offers all the information in one-stop location is the need of the hour in most businesses. Therefore, having a simple interface like Artificio's dashboard can help you and your business associates get insights on what you have, where it is, what the problems are, as well as providing much more visibility into what you need to do. 

Enhanced CX (Customer Experience) 

Your customers will gain from the streamlining of your supply chain brought about by automation. A largely automated supply chain helps you retain high customer satisfaction levels and loyalty rates while quickly fulfilling and shipping accurate orders to customers. 

Artificio Can Help You! 

If you are looking to streamline your supply chain and reap the benefits of automation, then here is how Artificio can help.

Supply Chain Automation software from Artificio is a collection of tools made possible by cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning and data analytics,   

Our comprehensive pack of solutions enables your business to achieve supply chain resilience, operational excellence, and end-to-end supply chain strategy. Artificio’s supply chain automation solutions has contributed towards operational excellence, with significant improvements in key value drivers such as: 

• Increased operational efficiency and cost savings 

• Improved inventory management and demand forecasting 

• Enhanced customer satisfaction through faster order fulfillment 

Accelerate useful intelligence with our data driven insights to quickly spot opportunities and seize them, promoting supply chain optimization, synchronization, and continuous improvement for the here and now, the next, and beyond. 

The most recent technologies, such as cloud platforms, machine learning, and artificial intelligence, power Artificio's Integrated Digital Planning solution.  

Get on a call with our experts today!