Technology,
emails and software have kept into all types of businesses. Consumers want
minute to minute notification of where their products are and when the products
will reach them. In today’s global and complex chain of supply chain processes,
technology has been the differentiating factor giving them a competitive
advantage over other industries. Initially technology was intended for
business-to-business interactions but now due to high level of consumer
interaction with the processes technology has crept into business to consumer
process also.
Following
gives a description of the top technologies that are used by supply chain
processes in various industries:
1) Connectivity and Communication :
Mobile
handsets, Bluetooth, personal area networking have all contributed a great deal
in not only connecting the various distribution centres in the supply chain
management processes but also the consumers to customer care representatives
who give minute by minute detail of the flow product.
2) Advanced Wireless: Voice & GPS :
The integration
of voice and GPS into computer systems and their falling costs have made it
easy for different industries to track the supply of the goods. Use of GPS is
significantly helpful in the supply chain process because multiple agencies and
people can track it without any investment on integration. Thus there is no
expenditure in its implementation or coordination. In the words of V. Manohar,
Information technology Manager of Azko Nobel India says that GPS is an integral
part to optimise routes, communicate delivery status to consumers and also
optimise the warehousing operations.
3) Speech recognition:
Imagine,
labours giving instructions to the machines by literally speaking to them. At
the same time, they can use their hands to do something else. Also, it is much
easier for resources to give instructions to the electronic devices than to
follow a set of steps to give an instruction to a computer or other electronic
terminal. There need not be any money also to spend in training the labours to
know the gadgets used in the manufacture or supply chain process. For instance,
Lighthouse for the blind is a non-profit organization in St. Louis that employs
non-sighted workers. It innovatively made use of the speech recognition technology
to improve the accuracy of warehouse picking by 25%!
4) Digital Imaging & Mobile printing:
With digital
imaging, there might be no need for employing resources to verify the delivery
of an item. Digital imaging can capture images and these images can in turn be
used to capture delivery to customers or to capture the image that a product or
raw material has safely and soundly reached its destination shelf. This is
definitely another innovative way of using the technology in the supply chain
management.
Also, mobile
printing can be used in conjunction with Digital imaging to generate electronic
invoices. Mission Foods which is one of the world’s largest producer of tortillas
have innovatively started using mobile printers to generate handheld invoices
rather than manual invoices.
5) Bar Coding techniques and RFID:
Usage of 2-
dimensional barcoding is the trend everywhere. Supermarkets such as Coles,
aircrafts such as Emirates all use barcodes for tracking the products and boarding
passes respectively. This technique has minimum manual interaction and tracks
their processes effectively. World’s most coveted company in supply chain management
– Wallmart uses radio frequency identification (RFID). These are different
because with RFID merchandises can be tracked from a distance unlike bar codes.
They can be used as smart tags on products. The employers can track the flow of
such products quickly with their electronic handheld devices. Therefore, they
can be easily used to track shoplifters and other ways of not-legal flow of
products out of the stores.
Thus,
business needs such as tracking of items, ensuring timely delivery of products,
security and maintaining inventory – all can be effectively taken care by
technology.
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