Table of Contents
- What is supply chain technology?
- Supply chain tech for the modern world
- Five Supply Chain Trends for Small and Medium-Sized Companies to Watch in 2021
- Conclusion
For both big and small-sized companies, manufacturers, retailers, warehouse operators, and logistics, the year 2020 has been dizzying. It has been extremely difficult on their operations, forcing them to adapt more quickly to keep up with larger competitors.
Supply chains make up an important aspect of most businesses today, with 70 percent of industry professionals predicting that the supply chain will spearhead better customer service before the end of 2020.
So, we have seen exciting trends in the industry take shape.”
- By staying on top of supply chain management trends and issues, you can make sure that your company can readily adapt to changes. (FinancesOnline)
- 57% of companies believe that supply chain management gives them a competitive edge that enables them to further develop their business. (GEODIS)
- Micro-fulfillment centers can reduce costs associated with an order of 75%. (Industry analysts)
What is supply chain technology?
Supply chain technology may be defined as any digital equipment used to simplify supply chain processes for shippers and carriers.
The functions in a supply chain include product development, distribution, finance, marketing, operations, and customer service. Supply chain management results in lower costs and a faster production style.
Supply Chain Tech For The Modern World
Technology is the saving grace of any modern business with supply chains needing to adapt to rapidly changing demand alongside pandemic procedures.
For ecommerce companies, Innovative technology is the most valuable experiencing surges in sales, with more consumers shopping from home than ever.
For ecommerce success, Personalization will be the key in 2021 and beyond, with 80 percent of consumers more likely to make purchases from brands that offer personalized experiences.
This goes for supply chain management as well, where personalization and a consolidated user experience can make all the difference.
Five Supply Chain Trends for Small and Medium-Sized Companies to Watch in 2021
As supply chain operators begin evaluating their strategies for 2021, these trends will be a crucial part of their planning.
1. Warehouses are shrinking
Traditionally, many warehouse operations were designed to ship pallets filled with similar merchandise to one retail location. But today, due to the rise in eCommerce, warehouse operations are rapidly shifting to more “piece-based” fulfillment, where a diverse set of goods must be quickly shipped to numerous locations.
Supply chain companies are looking into new warehouse fulfillment solutions that let them do more with less and get goods to customers faster.
By using options like on-demand warehousing, companies are also controlling the size of their warehouse operations, where they lease extra warehouse space on a short-term basis.
2. In-store fulfillment is growing
As more shoppers choose “no contact” pickup options such as buy-online/pick-up-in-store (BOPIS), supply chain companies are also increasingly relying on store inventory to support fulfillment, which grew 60% in the last year. Get the best service for search engine optimization san diego
68%manufacturers, retailers, and logistics firms expect the reliance on store-based fulfillment to increase in the next few years, and more than 76% report that they already rely on store inventory to fulfill orders.
3. Inventory management will become even more critical
The push for better inventory management will accelerate, as businesses explore new and varied fulfillment options.
if companies don’t know the exact location of every piece of inventory at the moment it is ordered, or if they don’t know whether they even have the item in stock, they cannot quickly and efficiently fulfill orders of goods stored in multiple facilities.
In fact, according to IHL Group, U.S. due to out-of-stock inventory, retailers alone lost nearly $145 billion annually and most retailers have less than 75% inventory accuracy.
Today, Companies are using wireless-enabled inventory management solutions and item-level RFID to track inventory in real-time, so they know exactly how many items they have — and exactly where each item is located.
4. Labor challenges will become less burdensome
A lack of labor continues to plague the industry, but technology is helping supply chains overcome productivity and labor challenges. Wearable scanners and mobile computers that can drastically enhance worker productivity and the number of orders that can be picked each day, guide workers through the picking process. By making it easier for new employees to learn the picking process, this technology can also slash hours off training.
5. Prescriptive analytics will become a supply chain “must-have”
In 2020, the lightning-fast changes in consumer behavior quickly made supply chain companies realize they needed better visibility into their operations so they can adapt more quickly to unexpected demand or supply shifts.
Businesses are turning to prescriptive analytics solutions to achieve that visibility. Prescriptive analytics solutions analyze operational data using “patterns of behavior,” using sophisticated algorithms to look for distinct operational areas that can be enhanced.
In rapidly specifying operational inefficiencies, good prescriptive analytics systems create easy-to-interpret reports designed to assist supply chain companies.
This makes them accessible even to small- and medium-sized supply chain firms, which traditionally have limited IT resources and no access to data analysis experts.
Conclusion
These are just a few of the trends we’ll see in 2021 and beyond as supply chain works continue to undergo huge operational shifts.
Warehouse operators, retailers, manufacturers and logistics companies are not only shifting their operations to meet changing consumer requirements but are increasingly relying on technology to help them do it.
80% of supply chain organizations are aiming to invest in new technologies to be competitive, which means 2021 will continue to be a year of big changes.
