This Week on Supply Chain Now: September 12th – 18th

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’s an exciting, transformative period for the global supply chain. After several years of disruptions from the pandemic, high-stakes labor challenges, and unstable global trade, supply chain innovators are looking to future-focused solutions that can help logistics professionals not just survive, but thrive in this complex environment. In this article, we explore nine FreightTech solutions (in no particular order) that are making a significant impact in 2024. 1. Axle: Streamlining Back-Office Operations with AI Axle Technologies is modernizing the logistics industry by leveraging artificial intelligence to streamline time-consuming back-office operations. Their universal data platform simplifies access to logistics data, enabling companies to optimize deliveries, reduce fuel costs, and enhance the sustainability and profitability of trucking. Axle embraces diversity, collaboration, and the 80-20 rule, understanding that customer feedback is essential for innovation. By wrangling diverse data sources into a universal schema, Axle is building the transportation infrastructure of tomorrow, making the industry more efficient and resilient. 2. EAIGLE: Enhancing Visibility with AI EAIGLE uses AI to provide unprecedented visibility into operations at gates and yards. Their end-to-end AI platform works with existing or third-party hardware, including optical and infrared cameras and radar sensors. This hardware-agnostic approach ensures superior accuracy, eliminating false…