Going Digital is inevitable is the mantra of 2020 and a lot of progress has already been there in this area with the rise of Artificial Intelligence, IoT, Industry 4.0, and Machine Learning in this decade. Further, Covid-19 has propelled this change due to a new normal of remote working and work from home strategies. However, all these technologies have some limitations as they can do repetitive and complex tasks with present logic and data. But, human intervention is needed for the events where present logic and data is not available. This is where Augmented Intelligence comes into the picture.
Augmented intelligence is a design pattern for a human-centered model of people and AI working together. It helps an organization to save time, reduce operating expenses, eliminating manual error, and facilitates employees to focus more on factual functions and complex duties in the supply chain. Augmented intelligence in the supply chains is about helping them to become faster and smarter in their performance.
Augmented intelligence combines inputs from human planners, customer service, flexibility, and common services rendered during supply chain activities. It has an edge over Artificial Intelligence which has more focus on repetitive and tedious work. Augmented Intelligence systems are feedback-driven, self-learning, and self-assuring system that emulate and extend human cognitive abilities that will have an added advantage over Artificial Intelligence.
Augmented intelligence is bringing the capabilities of the machine in terms of intelligence since they go beyond the monotonous process and adding to the capabilities of decisions making, and with the advent of augmented intelligence which has the capability of automation, has expanded the technology, and come into operation that was once dominated with a human being in the supply chain.
Areas where Augmented Intelligence play a vital role in Supply Chain Management
Logistics:
Augmented intelligence helps planners in real-time logistic operations by using intelligence, altering based on predictive analysis, as it gets information about the real-time position and the estimated time of arrival of goods based on satellite data. Augmented intelligence is an extract of the relevant data, and able to link the in-house existing data, which is normally complicated as they are of low-quality data.
Augmented intelligence predictive alerts can include time, the arrival of trucks based on traffic conditions, repairs needed based on Global Positioning Systems, detection of goods damages, insurance claim based on temperature sensors in case of a cold chain, and future supply-demand based on multiple variables.
Container Management:
Apart from this, Augmented Intelligence helps in optimization of empty container logistics by adopting know-how of how many containers to load/unload at each destination, allocation needed to each customer, getting empty containers back at the right time, right location, and in the right condition to optimize Supply Chain.
Refer containers that use the advanced Remote Container management technology leverages efficiency in cold chain management by providing full visibility into conditions of the refrigerated cargo during transit. Augmented intelligence on the controlled atmosphere container helps extend the shelf life of groceries, fruits, by slowing down the aging process in the supply chain. Augmented intelligence is a powerful tool and over performs humans or machines alone in supply chain management.
Supplier Performance Management:
Augmented Intelligence solutions help to monitor supplier performance by automatically identifying risks, designing a corrective action plan, strategic allocation of resources to mitigate the risk, and the real-time monitoring of the same to increase supply chain efficiency.
In the supply chain the expectation of the suppliers to adopt certain capabilities on market-based supplier intelligence relationship monitoring risk, mitigation, strategy identification optimization of real-time resources alignment. The application of augmented intelligence in the Supply Chain is to make the entire process of the supply chain more streamlined and the processing of human labor, and with organizations looking forward to reducing cost and errors in the supply chain.
Communication & Decision Making:
The internet is being used as a communication medium is used to send instant messages, and the use of chatbots, which has automated the conversation to streamline procurement, related tasks through automation. The very purpose of the chatbot is to help the initial step in procurement in the supply chain, chatbots are to automate with a customer communicating direct calls and exchanges.
The supply chain of what is today is impacted from augmented reality, in material handling, but is empowered from the entire, new generation of technology, from robots to augmented intelligence to Big Data, along with all available information decision, and governed by automation to do forecasting and planning in the supply chain. To develop disruption of a combined wave of the utilization of the Internet of Things, computers, manned by operations which are part of the decision system, which substitute management as an automation step in the supply chain.
Warehouse Picking Optimization:
In the supply chain, augmented intelligence will provide benefits in a warehouse in picking optimization, as each digital picking list will help to display the efficient path, through a warehouse, guide the person to pick the correct packages. In facility planning augmented intelligence, the supply chain will be able to visualize the test of the arrangement, re-arrangement, all virtually, and thus save the cost of operation.
In supply chain freight container loading augmented intelligence will replace the physical loading process, and step by step instruction will be set the load or unload the items into the container, by given the size dimensions, weight, and a number of packages. Most trucks are equipped with a Global Positioning System, navigation systems, as this will allow the efficient route of shipments without causing any significant distraction to the driver in the supply chain.
Blockchain:
In the supply chain, a block in a Blockchain is a record of a transaction. It is like a worthless paper that transforms into valuable currency, with a signature in it, the augmented intelligence provided in the block, are exceptionally good, as they provide an unalterable document of the transaction. In this context of currency, it stores the place, time; value i.e. currency, and the location of purchase.
There is minimal identifying information, and the augmented intelligence is linked to every block and a unique digital signature of the transaction of the participation’s in the supply chain, and every block is distinguished from one another through a unique code, which bears a string of numbers. With the use of the Debit or Credit card to make transactions in the supply chain the technology verifies the bank account connect with the banks and process the transaction in the supply chain.
Inventory Management:
Augmented intelligence plays a role in inventory management, by using image recognition to perform inventory analysis, and remove constraints in inventory audit in the supply chain.
Augmented intelligence can also excel in handling large data, spotting any different anomalies providing intelligence to the context of the data available in the supply chain. Augmented intelligence system can spot orders not routed through the proper ways, with the appropriate shipments which have been an exception to handle customer-related in automated conditions, reducing the need for human interference or involvement in the supply chain.
Data Analytics and Management
Data analysis is used to improve the identification of processes and problems using augmented intelligence that is to identify the process and improve and get insights into the supply chain.
Identification of variable factors in augmented intelligence is to identify variables that influence the process, which may hold a key the problem like the categorized variable of time, of the day, either day time or night time, size of the batch, size of stock-keeping units. Collecting data in augmented intelligence in most organizations has been complex, with ERP clinical data to some of the data in existence, with the packaging process being rectified in conjunction with MIS.
Conclusion:
In the supply chain augmented intelligence and machine learning chain help human expertise, and be good at analyzing huge data, and find a pattern, and correlation that may not come into observation during human analysis and would take a longer time.
Augmented intelligence combines the strength of humans in reasoning creativity judgment and flexibility with machines that recall accuracy speed and logic to give an incredible boost to the cognitive thinking helping humans to take up a better performance, rather than being obsolete. It works with existing humans and reduces the risk of decision error, and minimizes the handling of the customer engagement to adjust and improve the conditions in the supply chain.