Reimagining Supply Chain: Four Technologies To Watch
Reimagining Supply Chain: Four Technologies To Watch
IT Data Solutions
Imagine owning a manufacturing business that holds no inventory and fulfills orders at lightning speed with minimal labor. That’s exactly what happens in the world of independent book publishing. If you find a Sam Polakoff novel at your favorite online bookseller, the book is printed on demand by a computer, moved along an automated conveyor, packed and shipped with nary a human being doing much of anything.
Short of paper and ink, there are few raw materials, and the customer is overwhelmingly satisfied with the product velocity and its quality. Now, can you say that about your manufacturing business?
3D printing is already changing the supply chain.
Maybe not today, but we are all moving in that direction. Technologies like 3D printing (aka additive manufacturing) and warehouse robotics are working hand in hand to make this closer to reality than you might realize. Think about all that 3D printers are now routinely manufacturing.
The list is enormous, but here is a small sample: braces, hearing aids, shoes, engine parts, aircraft parts, building materials, razors and even frames for your glasses. 3D printing operations are perhaps the closest thing to my self-published book analogy. It’s ideal for customization and, if set up properly, minimizes the need for inventory and human labor.
One day, everyone will have a 3D printer in their home, order a product and download the software with a one-time use license. Your customized product will be produced in minutes on your own home printer. No shipping costs, no waiting. Contrast this to traditional make-to-order operations where an abundance of time is spent going back and forth on product design, tooling, prototype creation, minimum production runs and human beings to pick, pack and ship. 3D printing sounds like progress to me!
Warehouse robotics is a growing trend.
Speaking of warehouse robotics and pick, pack and ship, that world is changing rapidly. According to Amazon’s own webpage on innovation, its warehouse robots work in concert with human labor, handling the less desirable tasks like moving pallets and heavy objects across the distribution center. At present, only about 15% of Amazon’s 175 worldwide distribution centers use robotic labor. Look for that number to increase quickly in the next few years.
Autonomous vehicles are paving the future highways of trucking.
Once the order is ready to go, it must be transported to the end customer. There has been a truck driver shortage in the U.S. for more than a decade. Younger people don’t seem to be intrigued by the profession regardless of how much money gets dangled in front of them. As older, long-haul drivers retire and owner-operators sell their rigs, the road will be paved for autonomous vehicles to move goods across the highways.
