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Artificial Intelligence and Supply Chain

Learning about the machines needed to make machines learn

In these time with many countries on lockdown the international system of back and forth still goes on. Artificial intelligence is increasingly being used in this area of society too.

AI in the supply chain planning segment seems to have several reports about by various market research companies. There is critical research on this topic by research institutions, the ideas on how to profit and apparently the foresight/market aspect. It is the latter it concerns — April 2020 a report came out from Meticulous Market Research Pvt. Ltd (MMR).

They outline an adoption of artificial intelligence in the supply chain.

Arguing that it:

“…allows industries to track their operations, enhance supply chain management productivity, augment business strategies, and engage with customers in the digital world.”

There is a widening implementation of computer vision and rising demand for AI-based business automation solutions. There is an evolving supply chain automation.

In this report they segment the AI supply chain market into the following:

• Component (hardware, software, and services)
• Technology (machine learning, computer vision, natural language processing, cognitive computing, and context-aware computing)
• Application (supply chain planning, warehouse management, fleet management, virtual assistant, risk management, inventory management, and planning & logistics)
• End-user (manufacturing, food and beverages, healthcare, automotive, aerospace, retail, and consumer-packaged goods)
• Geography

According to MMR the machine learning segment accounted for the largest share of the overall artificial intelligence in supply chain market in 2019.

This is due to:

1. Increasing government initiatives.
2. Ability of AI solutions to efficiently handle and analyze big data and quickly scan, parse, and react to anomalies.

Beyond this the computer vision technology has been growing the most due to end-use industries for monitoring operations, spotting suspicious behavior, and preventing thefts.

They map geographic scenarios different regions:

• North America.
• Europe.
• Asia Pacific.
• Latin America.
• Middle East.
• Africa.

As perhaps can be expected North America has the largest share.

“In 2019, North America commanded the largest share of the global artificial intelligence in supply chain market, followed by Europe and Asia Pacific.”

The factors such as growing proliferation of the Internet of Things (IoT). The Asian Pacific region is registering faster growth in the overall artificial intelligence in supply chain market.

Within this they mention a list of major players operating in global artificial intelligence in supply chain market:

• Intel Corporation (U.S.).
• Amazon.com, Inc. (U.S.).
• Google LLC (U.S.).
• Microsoft Corporation (U.S.).
• Nvidia Corporation (U.S.).
• Oracle Corporation (U.S.).
• IBM Corporation (U.S.).
• Samsung (South Korea).
• LLamasoft Inc. (U.S.).
• SAP (Germany).
• General Electric (U.S.).
• Deutsche Post AG DHL (Germany).
• Xilinx (U.S.).
• Micron Technology, Inc. (U.S.).
• FedEx (U.S.).
• ClearMetal, Inc. (U.S.)

Amongst these many seem relatively well-known.

A quick search online reveals the following.

“LLamasoft, Inc. provides supply chain management software. The Company offers software advanced analytics, capacity planning, cost to serve, demand modeling, inventory and network strategy, risk mitigation, simulation, and other related solutions.”

“Xilinx is the inventor of the FPGA, programmable SoCs, and now, the ACAP. Xilinx delivers the most dynamic processing technology in the industry.”

Xilinx is a semiconductor manufacturing company, so this makes sense.

“Micron Technology, Inc. is an American producer of computer memory and computer data storage including dynamic random-access memory, flash memory, and USB flash drives.”

“ClearMetal, Inc., based in San Francisco CA (USA), is a leader in the Continuous Delivery Experience (CDX), enabling supply chain organizations to optimize logistics and provide their customers with easy access to trusted, live information about their shipments.”

In a different report Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Supply Chain Market — Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast (2019–2027).

“The global artificial intelligence in supply chain market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 45.3% from 2019 to reach $21.8 billion by 2027; wherein, Asia-Pacific region is expected to register fastest CAGR throughout the forecast period.”

Whether this will be the case is hard to know — it is after all a prediction.

However it is unlikely to think that the field of artificial intelligence will experience a drastic decrease in the coming few years.

Thus hardware and supply chain in relation to artificial intelligence is one of the areas worth following.

This is #500daysofAI and you are reading article 312. I am writing one new article about or related to artificial intelligence every day for 500 days. My focus for day 300–400 is about AI, hardware and the climate crisis.