Jerry Collins

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! Kelly Barner and Scott Luton brought in the week with an episode of Dial P for Procurement on Supply Chain Now. For this episode, the P in Dial P is for payments. Kelly and Scott welcome Kris Lance with Una and Jim Luff with Chosen Payments, to the show. For Monday’s This Week In Business History, Scott covers the many hats that Ray Kroc wore as he built the Mcdonald’s global brand. On Tuesday, we released another episode of TEKTOK with Karin Bursa and special host Kevin L. Jackson. This episode is all about BLOCKCHAIN, from the basics to process improvements. On Wednesday’s episode of Supply Chain Now, Scott and Greg welcomed Tim Holland, Contingent Workforce and Talent Acquisition Leader and Barb Sexton Vice President, Partner Development for Corporate Services with OMNIA Partners, LIVE to the show as they broadcast from the OMNIA Partners 2021 Connections Event in Miami. Scott and Greg had another opportunity to chat with OMNIA Partners leaders at the 2021 Connections Event as they welcomed Stephen Laratta, Vice President of Partner Development, MRO and Facilities…