The supply chain is changing to meet the demands of new e-commerce demands, and increasing cooperation among retailers, manufacturers, and suppliers is required. Advancements in supply chain technology are made for supply chain resilience as the industry grows and higher standards are met.
Here are a few instances of how supply chain technology has helped logistics operations improve.
Forecasting future demand
In the past, forecasting demand was difficult and unreliable in traditional logistics. Supply chains used to be ignorant of operations because there was a disconnect between upstream and downstream activities. This led to significant stock imbalances, making inventory reconciliation difficult.
It’s now feasible to link all sales and distribution centers together. This gives you a complete picture of inventory movement and data throughout a supply chain network, allowing you to make better decisions about not just how much stock to reorder and when, but also where to store certain items based on demand and which channels to sell through based on performance.
On-demand delivery
On-demand logistics and delivery are contingent on speed and effectiveness. With advancements in AI, robotics, and other automated technologies, supply chain management systems enable for faster supply chain expectations.
Logistics experts can focus on growing coverage, streamlining processes, and determining how to optimize logistics to get products to where they need to be in the most cost-effective and fastest way possible by automating much of the supply chain.
Higher order accuracy rates
It’s difficult to maintain a higher order accuracy rate (between 95 and 98 percent) when processing a large number of orders while avoiding technology.
Supply chain technology continues to reduce time-consuming, manual activities that are susceptible to human error. Warehouse robots, for example, are intended to minimize errors by picking orders correctly, packing them efficiently, and classifying them correctly.
It also gives business owners the information they need to increase order accuracy. Launch Fulfillment, for example, is a fulfillment company that provides access to a variety of distribution metrics that may assist merchants in determining a perfect order metric as well as other measurements to easily evaluate performance.
Real-time monitoring
The supply chain for ecommerce businesses is in motion 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and inventory levels and demand changes on a regular basis (and sometimes suddenly).
Real-time monitoring allows business owners and their employees to have a closer look at operations without being constantly involved.
When it comes to inventory management, real-time monitoring is essential. Real-time inventory data gives an accurate and transparent picture of inventory levels at any one moment in time. It also shows insight into past and future demand as well as SKU and channel performance.
Automated shipping
Optimizing a shipping strategy to save money while still meeting customer requirements is difficult.
Automated shipping solutions take the complexity out of shipping by putting client orders that need to be filled in a line and removing some of the manual activities. The use of robots may be as complicated as shipping technology gets, or as simple as adding a layer of software or laying down infrastructure such as conveyor belts.
3PLs that offer technology-enabled shipping options include FedEx, UPS, and DHL. Launch Fulfillment gathers transit times, cart values, shipping methods, and ecommerce delivery destinations to assist you save money on shipping while experimenting with various pricing strategies.