Marty Parker

Prospects of supply chain automation have the industry abuzz. It’s even become a major sticking point in the International Longshoremen’s Association contract negotiations with the United States Maritime Alliance. The dockworkers do not want ports to automate processes out of fear they will lose their jobs to machines. Today, there are seemingly endless possibilities for optimization. Terms like generative artificial intelligence and machine learning have become commonplace in discussions about ways to gain efficiencies and reduce costs. Can man and machine work together as businesses leverage automation for optimization? Beyond the Buzz: Understanding the Automation Imperative Machine learning, a subset of artificial intelligence (AI), is described by Business News Daily as a later-stage development in which machines take in data on their own and then analyze it. Automation, on the other hand, is fixed on repetitive tasks; after a job is performed, an automation system “thinks no further.” The Business News Daily article explained that “automation involves an entire category of technologies that provide activity or work without human involvement,” while AI involves “a machine exhibiting and practicing something similar to what we describe as human thinking – that is, the ability to interact in thousands of ways with the…

It has been another busy week for Supply Chain Now! Did you catch all the episodes? If not, no worries! Check them all out here:   We started out the week with a new episode in our Logistics with a Purpose series sponsored by our good friends at Vector Global Logistics. Listen as Scott, Greg, and Enrique have a great conversation with Mickey Horner with Rise Against Hunger.     On Tuesday, Scott and Greg were joined by AIAG’s CR Summit speaker Joerg Walden, CEO of iPoint.     Then we published the new and improved Supply Chain Buzz, with Scott and Greg sharing and discussing the latest news and events in Supply Chain and beyond.     Scott and Greg were joined by Randy Strang with MedShare on Thursday for another episode in the Logistics with a Purpose series, sponsored by Vector Global Logistics.     And to wrap up the week, Scott and fellow host Fred Tolbert with Demand Solutions were proud to host three exceptional Supply Chain students from the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business.