Christelle Delenclos

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…

Another BIG week at Supply Chain Now! If you missed an episode, get a quick summary and listen here! On Monday, we published a new episode in This Week in Business History. Scott shared the stories of a few retail legends, the birth of Motown, and more! Supply Chain Now · “This Week in Business History for August 17th: Retail & Radio Legends are Born”   We continued the Today in Manufacturing series on Tuesday as Kelly Scheib with Proterra joined Laura Madajewski, Jason Moss, and Scott on the podcast on Tuesday.   Supply Chain Now · “Serving the People Behind the Numbers: Kelly Scheib with Proterra”   On Wednesday, we published this week’s Supply Chain Buzz, where Scott and Greg shared the top supply chain stories of the week.   Supply Chain Now · “The Supply Chain Buzz for August 17th: Imports Up, Cold Chain Explosion, & Good News”   On Thursday, we shared an excellent interview on supply chain leadership as Scott & Greg spoke with Rick Blasgen, the President & CEO of CSCMP.   Supply Chain Now · “Leading the Supply Chain Industry Forward: Rick Blasgen with CSCMP”   And we wrapped up the week a little…