Rick D. Blasgen

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…

Special Guest Blog Post written by Demostenes (Demo) Perez, Photo by Rikin Katyal   After more than 25 years in logistics and supply chain management and having led over 200 regional distribution projects, I’ve come to realize that the questions people don’t ask are often the most important. Throughout my career, I’ve worked with global multinationals, emerging brands, and family-run businesses. I’ve helped move everything from underground mining equipment to high-fashion goods, from pharmaceuticals and food to toys and chemicals. Some supply chain models I helped design are still thriving today; others were shut down after a few years. Many didn’t even make it past the drawing board. In that time, I’ve had the privilege of collaborating with logistics professionals from nearly every corner of the world and making lifelong friends in the process. Yet no matter the company size or product type, I still wish more people would ask these five questions before launching or scaling their operations in Latin America: 1. How well do I understand the diversity within Latin America? “Latin America” is often treated as a single market. It’s not. Logistics conditions in Mexico are completely different from those in Brazil. Colombia, Argentina, Peru, and Chile…