With 2019 coming to an end, it’s important to know what the new year will bring the world of supply chains—here are 5 supply chain predictions for 2020.
The year’s almost over. 2019 saw significant changes for supply chains all across the globe. Technological advancements continued coming in thick and fast. Additionally, several preexisting innovation picked up steam. Going forward, many of 2019’s develops are set to continue into 2020. On the other hand, several supply chain changes that come next year could be entirely novel. It’s impossible to know for sure, but there are certainly some indications one way or the other.
This article by Morai Logistics highlights 5 of the most prominent supply chain trends to be mindful of in 2020.
Going Green
More than ever companies will need to make their supply chains green. That means bringing down their carbon emissions and waste. Not only will this be critical for pleasing consumers but also in avoiding sanctions by governments. Furthermore, having a more sustainable supply chain means reducing inefficiencies, further reducing costs.
An Industry Week article further expounds on the value of a green supply chain,
Transportation is the second largest source of greenhouse emissions after electricity generation, Lapide noted. He said companies need to develop energy efficient transportation operations, greatly enhance their reverse logistics capabilities, move toward green product design and take a holistic view of supply chain compliance as they become aware that their image in the marketplace depends not just on their own operations but their whole supply chain.
Focus on Integration
With technology becoming an ever-increasing factor for supply chains, integration is going to continue to be crucial going forward. In fact, even more so than before. As the number of supply chain innovations grow, it’ll become even more important to consolidate them. In turn, as data continues to be an increasingly valuable commodity for smart supply chains, integration will ensure it’s all collected and stored in the same space.
Blockchain’s Gradual Increase in Significance
Blockchain technology hasn’t quite arrived with the impact some predicted. Quite clearly it’s a promising technology, but it needs time. 2020 won’t necessarily be its breakout year, but it should be another year where it makes steady gains. There will be particular focus on TradeLens. It being the most comprehensive and highly adopted blockchain platform in the field of shipping and logistics. Ultimately, the demand for visibility and transparency in supply chains is only going to grow more pronounced. As such, blockchain isn’t going anywhere.
Automation and its Consequences
Automation is only going to become more prominent with each passing year. With that said, that move towards a less human supply chain might have costs in the short term that will become apparent over the course of the year. After all, digitization which is a prerequisite for automation, is extremely expensive and takes time to adjust to.
Trade Ready’s post explains why digitization can be detrimental to companies in the short term,
While many companies are moving to an increasingly digital workflow to reduce costs, in my opinion going digital is itself a big cost as investing in technology would be. While it will be beneficial at some point, investing in infrastructure and training humans will help to increase the productivity of supply chain and eliminate the additional cost of maintenance.
Smarter Warehouse Management with IoT
The internet of things (IoT) is integral to the earlier mentioned integration. When it comes down to smart warehouse management, having devices continually connected to the internet and giving constant feedback is vital. They allow warehouse managers to know the state of their inventory and track the performance of their operations.
TradeGecko emphasizes the importance IoT is set to have in integrating and boosting the productivity in warehouses,
That being the case, supply chain technology will likely become not only more integrated with other such tools, but will also become more specialized, as well. Supply chain teams that adopt this highly-integrated and specialized technology moving forward, then, will almost certainly spur a massive growth in productivity throughout their processes.
