Chris Cummings

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…

Stay up to date on all the latest conversations, interviews, and episodes we released this week here at Supply Chain Now! We kicked the week off with a special episode of Digital Transformers with host Kevin L. Jackson and Scott Luton. This episode also featured the Vice President of Strategic Customers at Ratelinx, Andrew Hooser. During this episode Andrew talks about how Ratelinx helps companies unite their data and take action. For This Week In Business History Kelly covers stories from plumbing inventors to a black woman holding incredible records for having a substantial amount of patents. For this episode of Supply Chain Now host Scott gets to chat with the CEO and co-founder of Tommy Run, Bernard Parks and Tandreia Bellamy. One topic that is discussed includes why logistics is an important part of EVERY business model because “everything has to touch a truck”. On Wednesday we released an episode of Logistics With Purpose with host Enrique Alvarez and Kristi Porter. This episode also features Audra Weddle, Shipping Director and Ryan Grabill, Director of International Disaster Service, for Convoy of Hope. This episode focuses on Convoy of Hope and the logistics of disaster outreach. For this special Thursday feature…