Could better technology have averted the supply chain crisis? – RetailWire

Jun 10, 2022

According to PwC’s 2022 Digital Trends in Supply Chain Survey, 80 percent of operations and information technology leaders surveyed say technology investments have failed to fully deliver expected results.

According to the survey of 244 operations and information technology leaders, top obstacles to full delivery of results are not getting the expected capabilities and needing more time to implement the technology, but other reasons, including internal shortcomings, were cited.

PwC wrote in the study, “Companies may not have committed to a strategy that’s linked to their investments. Without a clear business case and dedicated change management — including actions such as leadership communications and adequate training — full technology adoption and execution can suffer, and the anticipated value from the investment may not be achieved.”

Cloud was found leading planned investment, but technologies such as third-party analytics, scan and intelligent data capture, RFID and IoT were competitive at lower levels of investment.

Blue Yonder’s Supply Chain & Logistics Executive Survey found that most supply chain executives (42 percent) plan to focus on the implementation and enhancement of warehouse management systems in the next 12 months, followed by transportation management systems (36 percent) and order management (32 percent). Rounding out the top-five were logistics tech supporting supply chain visibility and transparency, 28 percent; and artificial intelligence, 27 percent.

According to the Blue Yonder survey of 150 U.S. executives with responsibility for logistics and manufacturing operations, the top priorities related to improving customer experience amid the ongoing supply chain disruptions were keeping high-demand items in stock, providing consistent on-time delivery, increasing inventory visibility and optimizing fulfillment options.

In announcing plans Wednesday to join freight forwarding and customs brokerage startup Flexport as its CEO, Dave Clark, Amazon’s soon-to-exit consumer chief, expressed his enthusiasm to help Flexport tackle global cross-border movement of goods, which he described as “the most complicated piece of the supply chain,” challenged by varied regulatory rules, geographical distances and siloed network of providers.

He wrote on LinkedIn, “The supply chain has entered everyday national discourse for all the wrong reasons. Put simply, the United States supply chain suffers from a significant fragmentation of technology and process.”

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