The supply chain A&DI technology market spans capabilities that provide different types of analytics, focusing on predictive and prescriptive ones. Many of these offerings have been enhanced with AI and DSML capabilities to support supply chain decision making. These capabilities could either be part of a broader supply chain application/suite or a separate encompassing A&DI platform. Such a platform consists of existing and emerging technologies, including: Graph technology, Advanced analytics, AI, DSML, Model development & Digital supply chain twin (DSCT).
Intelligent Retail Business Applications are enterprise applications with embedded AI technologies, such as intelligent automation, data-driven insights, and guided recommendations, designed to help retailers to get a holistic view of their end-to-end business operations. The data generated from business operations encompasses customer, sales, and production activities. Using this data, retailers can improve customer experience, optimize inventory, and make more informed decisions about their marketing and sales strategies. Additionally, reporting and dashboard capabilities present the data to the retailers in easy-to-understand interactive visuals to analyze and monitor the overall performance of their business.
Intelligent virtual store design uses new processes, greater data availability and digital technologies to augment traditional macrospace and microspace planning and in-store POG execution. This includes recommendations to enhance the effectiveness of the assignment of fixtures, services, customer pathways, categories, and merchandise shelf placement across every physical store. Visualization created by augmented/virtual/mixed reality (AR/VR/MR) provides the ability to experience the plan from a customer perspective before any physical construction, renovation or seasonal realignment takes place.
Retail assortment management applications (RAMAs) are a foundational component of modern category management solutions for long life cycle products. Using data & analytics and AI technology, RAMAs can curate targeted assortments to create compelling customer experiences, leading to an increase in sales conversion. Long life cycle products in retail include categories such as grocery, consumables and hard goods. The long life cycle retailers’ traditionally broad approach to assortments is not satisfying customers’ demands for more curated assortments to match their lifestyles. Local trends mean that even more granular store-specific assortments are necessary. Advanced analytics, algorithms, AI and automation will play pivotal roles in driving this transformation through better customer understanding and alignment.
DOM systems use configurable rule-based procedures to orchestrate the fulfillment of customer orders placed through a retailer’s online channel, although many nonretailers are now also exploring or using DOM capabilities within their own supply chain. The purpose of a DOM system is to allow companies to optimize their order fulfillment performance while balancing two primary constraints: - The customer’s expected lead time for receiving their order on-time, in-full - The company’s desire to meet these customer expectations at the optimum fulfillment cost
Reviews for 'Supply Chain Management - Others'
Gartner defines supply chain planning (SCP) solutions as platforms that provide technological support to enable a company to manage, link, align, collaborate and share its planning data across an extended supply chain. An SCP solution supports planning, ranging from demand planning through detailed supply-side response planning and from strategic planning through execution-level planning. It is the planning decision repository for a defined end-to-end supply chain. It is also the environment in which end-to-end-integrated supply chain decisions are managed. It establishes a single version of the truth for planning data and decisions, regardless of the underlying execution technology environment. Organizations use SCP solutions to improve their supply chain planning decisions and reach higher levels of maturity.
Gartner defines transportation management systems (TMSs) as software that supports multimodal planning and execution of the physical transport of goods across the supply chain. It allows a company to manage varying levels of transportation complexity across multiple transport modes and geographic regions. TMS solutions are utilized by companies of differing sizes, operational complexity, industries and geographic locations. TMS solutions are utilized to plan and execute the physical transport of goods across the supply chain. They provide a company with the ability to manage the entire transportation life cycle of an order or shipment. This includes: 1. Sourcing and procuring transportation capacity from third-party companies by supporting bid management and optimization. Intaking orders to provide a shipment plan, including order and shipment consolidation, mode selection, routes, and carrier selection. 2. Taking the shipment plan and enabling communications with carriers to facilitate execution against the plan. 3. Tracking and tracing the movements of shipments from pickup to final delivery. 4. Matching expected transportation charges against actual charges to manage discrepancies. 5. Making better transportation decisions by utilizing embedded analytics and reporting capabilities to measure key performance indicators, such as on-time performance, emissions calculations, and costs by customer, product line and location. TMS solutions enable a company to have tighter control of their transportation operations, optimize costs, improve efficiencies, and have improved visibility into the movement of goods.
Solutions for vehicle routing and scheduling are specialized transportation applications aimed at organizations that directly (e.g., private/dedicated fleet) or indirectly (e.g., contract fleet, crowdsourced fleets) manage shipping assets and resources. These tools are used to develop route plans that meet the delivery objectives at minimal cost and mileage based on the company’s parameters (such as from orders), rules, and constraints. The aim is to minimize transportation costs while satisfying feasibility constraints as to when and where stops are made, what can be loaded in each vehicle, and what routes drivers can serve. More recently, companies are looking at optimizing these routes for sustainability and using alternative fuel fleets to minimize greenhouse gas emissions. These vehicle routing and scheduling solutions may have capabilities to optimize vehicles, trucks, and/or last-mile movements. Most have the ability to take into consideration maximum hours of service guidelines a commercial driver can drive or work. The solutions can create optimized static territorial routes or be used to create more dynamic, real-time optimal routing decisions.
Gartner defines a warehouse management system (WMS) as a software application that helps manage and intelligently execute the operations of a warehouse, distribution center (DC) or fulfillment center (FC). WMS operations natively exploit mobile devices along with bar codes and potentially RFID or other scanning/sensing technologies, to form the transactional foundation of warehouse management. This enables efficiencies of directed work activity (optimization) and the delivery of accurate information in near real time. Core WMS capabilities address, among others, the needs to receive, put away, store, count and pick, pack and ship goods. Gartner also includes additional integrated functionality offered by WMS providers beyond core WMS. These extended WMS capabilities can include more advanced capabilities such as managing labor or optimizing the locating of inventory within a facility.
WFM is a solution comprising software, services and (often) hardware that helps organizations manage the operational deployment of their workers. In most cases, WFM is deployed for hourly paid/blue-collar employees. The deployment of WFM for both hourly and salaried workers can be justified primarily in the following cases: The organization wants both salaried and hourly workers to use the same absence management and/or access control system. To capture the overtime of salaried workers and use that data to calculate gross pay. When salaried workers are scheduled to work dynamic shifts, rather than set “office” hours. When salaried workers must allocate and track their time to projects or tasks and a WFM system is already in use.
A yard management system (YMS) supports the efficient flow of work, equipment and materials through the normally enclosed area outside of a warehouse, distribution center or manufacturing facility (the yard). It provides an overview of yard operations and supports the planning, direction and control of scheduling, movement, parking, inspection and reassignment of trucks, trailers and containers in the yard. YMSs typically oversee the gate/kiosk, the yard itself, and the inbound and outbound dock door scheduling activities. YMSs are typically sold as extended modules of a WMS or as an independent suite and sometimes as part of a TMS. The gate, yard and dock components may be sold independently or as a combined solution.