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HR Consulting in Industry 4.0

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HR / Recruitment Consulting in Industry 4.0

 

  1. INTRODUCTION

 

The industry is an integral part of any economy.  The mechanization of industry started with the First Industrial Revolution. The Second and the Third Industrial Revolution actually introduced the use of electrical energy, along with electronics and automation. However, driven by social, economic, political and technological changes, today’s economy is said to be facing the Fourth Industrial Revolution. This type of industrial revolution is known as Industry 4.0, which is credited to have brought a wide range of digital transformations in every existing industry or business. This has also brought important changes in the current processes replacing the manual business operations by digital computer structures.

The concept of Industry 4.0 was first introduced in 2011 at the Hannover Fair. Originally, it was a proposal for the growth of a new idea of German economic policy based on high-tech manufacturing plans. Many industries have since embraced the concepts Industry 4.0 and have extended these smart changes into diverse areas such as logistics, smart buildings, oil and gas, smart healthcare and even to smart cities.

The main concept of Industry 4.0 is that the industrial business will be built by global networks in the future which will connect their machinery, manufactures and warehousing facilities as cyber-physical systems and will also control each other intelligently by giving out information and data processing that will head suitable actions. These cyber-physical systems will take the shape of four smart changes which is smart factories, smart machines, smart storage facilities and smart supply chains.

 

 

  1. Significance of Industry 4.0

 

The major significance of Industry 4.0 lies in the creation of a communication pipeline for the constant and real time informational exchange with retailers, manufacturers, health care workers, co-workers, customers themselves etc. Its main mechanism is the dependence on machines that will stream data via wireless sensors and then sending these data to smart services or product providers and decentralized multiple small centers, where large amounts of data are analyzed. The benefit of such automation is the individual customer-oriented transformation of products and services that increases the value for both the concerned organizations and customers. With the use of electronics and information technologies in manufacturing and services, all processes have become fully atomized and digitalized during the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Small and medium industries have been significantly transformed by new age technologies such as 3D printing and new sales online services. But if we look through the customer point of view, the main benefit is personalized service or product in real time, which leads to satisfaction and loyalty benefit in case of provider companies. On the other hand, companies have to understand how associated consumer products and services can perform as a critical basement in their decision-making process.

There is a common misunderstanding that Industry 4.0 benefits only the manufacturing industries but it will also benefit the manufactures. Manufacturers are the prime focus of Industry 4.0’s but it will also influence its other contiguous areas. It not only has an impact on the local cyber-physical systems and local industrial processes but also on the entire value chain, including the producers and manufacturers, suppliers, and workers.

Two of the main tools that accompany the Industry 4.0 revolution are the smart factory and smart manufacturing, which is also known as intelligent factory or factory of the future. In this field, the manufacturers are well equipped with sensors, actors, and autonomous systems. The introduction of new technologies, machines and equipment will improve all the technological processes autonomously through self-decision making and optimization. This will result in self-organization of the manufacturing process which will change the logistics and production chains.

Another important idea of Industry 4.0 is the smart city concept. A smart city is also known as the city of the future which consists of six components such as the smart economy, smart living, smart people, smart governance, smart mobility and smart environment. It should be an outcome of seemingly faster development of the ‘next-Gen’ IT and traditional economy. It will be related to the effective assimilation of the Internet, broadcast network, telecommunication network, wireless broadband and other sensor networks with the Internet of Things (IoT) technology at the center.

In addition, Industry 4.0 involves the attainment process of materials and describes as to how a product moves through the production and delivery process to the customer. Deep analyses of the current execution of new technologies were made in the production sector to comprehend the evolution of the industrial workforce with that of Industry 4.0.  Nowadays the main focus of the future industry is on the interaction of its constituent elements in production and the final products are created with as much automation as possible, to go with the present technological progress. New technologies are an integral part of our daily life. It is also important for expanding more with further development of the Internet and technologies such as 3D printing, customized products, greater online sales services etc.

 

 

The added advantage will be seen more in the new products and new solutions in a foreseeable future. Each of the objects produced can be possibly connected and networked. As a result, different business will be designed that involves the use of the Internet and connectivity. Industry 4.0 manufactories will increase their productivity and competitiveness which in result will enlarge their industrial workforce. Many technological changes will occur which may include execution of Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) for production, smart manufacturing, embedded actuators and sensors, augmented reality, networks of microcomputers, and linking the machines to the value chain and so on.

 

Once these changes are implemented into a business, manufacturers will be able to create new jobs with the adoption of Industry 4.0. Although the type of job and the required skills will vary depending on the manufacturing process and the use of new technologies, the demand for new skills (catalyzed by new technological changes) will help the emergence of new jobs. Apart from the manufacturing industry, Industry 4.0 has impacted the oil industries a big way of late.  Many giants in the energy sectors have also embraced the Industry 4.0 processes into their operations and they have found immediate results, particularly in the areas of energy storage and the deployment of renewable energy.

Thus, it is only sufficient to say that Industry 4.0 will definitely bring about significant transformations into the economic sector and also to the social and political landscape as a whole.

 

 

  1. Industry 4.0 and HR practices

 

Because of the benefits of globalization and increased collaboration between EU, US and Japan and other countries, the industries have changed a long way, with the global spread of Industry 4.0. The Fourth Industrial Revolution has been able to give a complex vision on future of the industry that includes the use of Big Data Analytics, interconnected machines, connected devices, cyber-physical systems, cloud computing, software and Industrial Internet of Things (IoT). The HR domain of organizations has not been resistant to this phenomenon either.  HR practices have also taken a leaf out of the global smart practices shown by Industry 4.0 and a new area called Smart HR 4.0 has got evolved. Smart HR 4.0 portrays a bright canvas for digital transformation in the HR functions of recruitment, learning and development, social sharing etc.

Smart Human Resources 4.0 is a new idea which is growing as a part of the overall 4th Industrial Revolution and is distinguished by the innovations in digital technologies such as Big Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence and fast networks such as 4G and 5G. With significant changes due to come into effect in the future, HR 4.0 will have its own set of execution challenges and sets of benefits. These benefits will, of course, depend on how the concerned organization adopts it.

The benefits of Smart Human Resources adoption are:

  • To attract, develop and employ new age talent.
  • Systematic and faster HR operations.
  • Slender HR departments.

The HR department of any organization is responsible for handling all the related aspects of the employee life cycle, from recruitment to exit. HR plays a key role the in organizational growth. However, most of the departments in HR across different organizations today are seen to be playing only an operational role. This resulted in highly inefficient processes which are further worsened by inadequate technology infrastructure. On the other hand, technology is experiencing rapid changes. The new age technology such as the Internet of Things is enabling the digital world to be connected to physical things. This resulted in the generation of a huge amount of real-time organizational data which is guided by massively scalable storage capacities simultaneously using cloud technology.

Not only technological innovations, but the industry is also witnessing vast changes in employee generations joining the organizations.

Smart human resources 4.0 is powered by the new generation employees and new technologies. The employees have the potential to transform all the HR processes taking into account the aspects of talent onboarding, talent development and talent off boarding.

 

Just like any other concept, the incorporation of Smart HR 4.0 practices is not without its fair share of challenges. Smart Human Resources execution challenges can be explained as follows:

  • Firstly, in selecting the correct set of new technological tools.
  • Dealing with the present organizational culture.
  • Handling employees’ expectations.

 

Another important point to consider here is the changing nature of HR practices due to the influence of Industry 4.0 processes. If we take the example of the industrial production sector, we will observe that significant changes have taken place in the industrial production processes during phases of industrial revolutions. Firstly, we saw the advent of steam power generation; then came the use of electricity and now is the time for automatization. However, we need to keep in mind that the technological waves did not decrease the overall employment rate at all, in spite of the widespread preference for automatization. Instead, it has experienced a gradual growth during this time. Although there has been a dramatic reduction in the number of manufacturing jobs, new jobs came into existence to suit the new skills demanded by the new processes attached to the Industry 4.0 practices. It is expected that HR practices in the manufacturing and industrial production ( along with all supported business) will see major changes with the advent of upcoming digital disruption. The production business will become increasingly capital intensive and the labor cost advantages attached earlier to the traditional pockets of low-cost areas will be reduced significantly. This is going to impact the HR consulting in this industry a big way.

Industry 4.0 has been able to bring in important changes into the industries, more particularly into the way jobs are executed by the industrial workers. As a result, scopes of certain jobs have got completely changed, while some kinds of jobs have totally disappeared. Some companies have also developed plans to replace some of the human workers totally with robots to assist the workforce. There will be a significant decrease in the number of routine or physically demanding jobs as well.

While there will be an increase in jobs that require problem-solving, flexible responses and customization-investments and constant change are the main challenge faced by industry HR 4.0 as there is a need to build a complex value network that produces and distribute quality HR products.

 

 

  1. Conclusion

An organization, on the other hand, requires a successful Smart Human Resources 4.0 strategy so that it can cope up with the Industry 4.0 transformation challenges. Big Data and AI are such emerging technologies that will automate most of the HR processes in an efficient and leaner HR team. The next generation talent will be attracted towards the organization through smart mobile apps along with AR/VR. This will also facilitate smart remote interactions between teams. The changes in both the organizational structure and leadership style would be required for efficient Smart Human Resources 4.0 implementation. This will also allow the HR departments to play a more planned role in the growth of the organization.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lean Specialized recruitment company

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Lean Specialized recruitment company

The trend of lean specialized personnel consulting is growing rapidly in today’s commercial world. Typically, in lean specialized personnel consulting, the task or specializations accomplished the consultants need to execute various responsibilities associated with the lean management of commercial setups.

In the lean specialized personnel consulting, the consultants ensure that the client cut down on the wasters and makes sure that the existing process can be made more efficient. While doing it, the organizations also look at increasing its profit margins along with the expansions of business horizons.

Lean Specialized Personnel Consulting: An Efficient Team Work

The lean specialized personnel consulting is basically teamwork, where each team members is assigned with certain specific duties. The overall and prime objective of lean specialized consulting is to achieve various specific goals of projects.

While offering lean specialized personnel consulting, the consultants or the consulting agencies are guided by a specific set of effective and time-bound guidelines.

Hence, in the process of lean specialized personnel consulting, the consultants and the consulting agencies should be shortlisted based on the fulfilment of the below three prime requirements.

  • The consultants must have requisite training and certification for the role
  • Requisite experience and successful track record
  • Have an efficient and qualified team

Prime Responsibilities of Lean Consultants

One of the prime responsibilities of lean personnel consulting is extending personal specializations. Further, lean consultants are also responsible for identifying the various best practices in the industry and implement them efficiently in a time-bound manner. The lean consultants are also responsible for access to the requirements of clients correctly and take the required necessary steps to address the issues and the challenges involved.

The primary goal of the lean management consultants is to eliminate the no value activities from the system and assist businesses towards the implementation of methodologies which can largely streamline the presently followed processes that do not result oriented and profitable.

In short, the basic role of the lean consultants is to reduce the wastage of time, effort and money which will, in turn, ensure that the activities undertaken are time as well as cost-efficient. Further, lean consultants also need to ensure that the outcomes meet the required industry standards and qualities.

Lean Specialized Personnel Consulting: Experience and Expertise

For the organizations, figuring out the needed expertise and experience among the available lean consultants is a key challenge. The professionals offering specialized lean consulting services need to have the requisites experience and skills to drive the task entrusted. In such a scenario, the skill set of the lean consultants needs to be highly specialized for streamlining of the process towards driving improvements. Generic experience and skill set will not be enough for such a task.

Key is Providing Effective Guidance

Learn specialized personnel consulting always involves offering effective guidance. Such guidance is always based on the technical knowledge and expertise of the consultant. Such directions must be able to break down the complex tasks to simpler ones.

Thus, the accomplishment of the task involves a clear road map of pre-work and event planning; although the task accomplishment does not end here. The lean consultants further need to offer support and drive continuous improvement activities for the enterprise and their activities. All such activities must lead to the desired goal of cost economy in projected lesser efforts.

It is to be noted that there is a fundamental difference between coaches who imparts training on lean management and lean consultants. The roles of coaches are only to impart training whereas the lean consultants are like a friend, philosopher and guide to the enterprises and the executives; they lead them on a right path towards greater success and profitability.

List of Expectations for the Lean Specialized Personnel Consultants (Example: For the Industries Like Manufacturing)

If one is looking out for hiring lean specialized personnel consultants for a manufacturing enterprise; they should look out for the below points prior to making the hiring decision.

  • Do not always focus on the price point. Review the skill sets and experiences carefully
  • Prefer consultant who loves to discuss wrenches and drills instead of only pie and bar charts
  • Always try to treat consultants like a god. Ensure to follow their recommendations rigorously without challenging them. It is to be noted that defensiveness is self-defeating. If you are finding it difficult to trust your consultant, it is always good to opt for a right replacement
  • Remember that consults should not execute anything. To ensure that the new set of skills to take root in the enterprise, the in-house workforce must execute the responsibilities in the close supervision of the consultants. The goal of the organization should be the permanent implementation of lean skills within its system
  • Ensure to pull out everything from the consultants in terms of recommendations and ideas

Lean Specialized Personnel Consulting: Rising Demand in Finance Domain

The role of financial executives continues to expand. There has been an increasing trend that is echoed on how enterprises work with lean consultants. Today, enterprises are increasingly looking at specialized assistance from the lean consultants from ERP upgrades to navigating period of accelerated growth. Further, firms are also seeking experienced project professionals for various broad ranges of activities.

Learn specialized personnel consulting becoming an area of growing emphasis is business systems. According to a recent study conducted by Robert Half Management had reported that more than 61 per cent of chief financial officers work with lean consultants. These consultants are primarily engaged with performance improvement initiatives of the enterprises.

The study has further excerpts that more than 55 per cent of chief financial officers expect these consultants to work for finance and accounting projects. In addition, more than 25 per cent of them wants to engage them in finance, governance, risk and compliance works. The study has also reported that the demand for consultant assistance for finance optimization project has been experiencing steady growth.

Today, organizations rely on lean financial consultants to lead key projects and senior level roles on an interim basis. Increasingly, consulting is becoming an attractive career option among experienced professionals, who loves to enjoy greater time flexibility and increased exposure to diverse challenges.

How an organization find or understand that they need specialized expertise from lean financial consultants. Answers to the below five questions will help in finding out the same.

Is there any high-level initiative that is of a finite duration or a onetime need for the organization?

Across small as well as large-scale initiatives organizations can collaborate with skilled and experienced professionals who have the requisite expertise to focus on the specific challenge in hand. For example, organizations can hire consultants both on an individual or team level to streamline various requirements such as business process improvement, financial systems upgrade and activities such as merger and acquisitions.

Is there an upcoming initiative in the organization, for which the required set of skills not available in-house?

For certain initiatives, the in-house staff may not possess the requisite skills and full-time hire may not also is the requirement for a shorter duration. In such a scenario, organizations always look out for short time consultant who has the requisite knowledge and skill set to fulfil the need. Further, organizations can direct such consultants to nurture the requisite skills and industry best practices among the in-house staffs and across various levels of the organization.

Is there any senior-level position vacant in the organization or there is a requirement of changing skill set?

There may be a time when senior level financial roles can be vacant in an organization which need to be staffed by a financially skilled professional. In some cases, the employer or an organization may not be ready to hire a fulltime replacement immediately.

In such a context, some organizations may have immediate short-time demands during various business stages, such as during their high growth cycles or during the stages of pre-IPO.

In such scenarios, organizations may need assistance from experienced executives to hold the post, until a full-time executive is confirmed or finalized. Financial consultants with specialized skills as required by a specific organization can fill such positions for an interim basis meanwhile the organization determine its long-term goals.

Are there any additional projects within the organization which need special attention and the internal staffs do not have requisite skills and capacity to handle it?

In certain cases, the workload of an organization can spike exponentially where the limited internal workforce is not sufficient to handle that. In such a scenario, the specialized lean consultants can step in immediately to address the rising business demand of the organization. This will allow the needed space for the full-time workforce to focus on the core competencies of the organization.

Are There Any Cyclical Demands Which Requires Any Additional Consulting Support?

Most of the financial and accounting activities are cyclical and they come with monthly, quarterly and annual deadlines. In such scenarios, external financial consultants can be hired to handle the additional cyclical pressure and responsibilities. Across such cases, the organizations usually look at various seasonal supports externally.

Hiring A Lean Specialized Personnel Consultant: What are the Pros & Cons?

It has been observed that organizations follow two types of growth models. A set of organizations highly relies on its internal workforce drive business performance to chase growth. On the other hand, a certain set of organizations plays lean and hires specialized consultants towards maximizing their business performance.

These specialized consultants are primarily the third-party entities who collaborate with the organizations when needed. As part of their collaboration, these entities understand the business operational flow of an organization, offer growth strategies and take it forward from what already achieved.

Instead of assigning a set of employees with the task of streamlining existing operations, the lean consultants work towards offering specialized assistance to optimize various business processes of the organization.

If an organization’s area of operation is manufacturing, hiring a consultant could be the move that the organization is looking at transforming its business and operation processes to achieve greater efficiency.

What do Consultants do?

Offer Growth Strategies: Growth is the prime goal for every organization or businesses regardless of the industry it’s operating into. For the various industries such as manufacturing, following sustained growth is highly difficult. Sustained business growth in the manufacturing industry highly depends on several factors such as in certain cases the innovations can be slow as well as risky.

In such scenarios, the hiring of growth consultants rightly pays off. In the cases, where an organization is aware of the limitations and has goals, but do not aware of the process of implementing a winning strategy to promote the growth, a consult can be handy with sound solutions.

In such organizations, the lean consultants can use multiple tactics to assist the manufacturers to innovate the new products faster while limiting the risk, effort involved and production costs.

 

 

Nurture the Workforce: As the experienced and older employees continue to retire, the younger workforce can become confused as they may not have an understanding of what the industry has to offer. Due to which attrition can become a challenge for the organizations. In such a context, the lean consultants become the key towards bringing organizational transformation by imparting customized training to the workforce on the new technologies and industry best practices.

To attract the younger generations in the traditional industries such as manufacturing, lean consultants streamline their efforts to recruit millennials by showcasing their industry. For example, some enterprises organize open events at their facilities and invite students and younger generations. Such efforts help in showcasing internal processes of a manufacturing-based organization and potential career opportunities for the future.

Implementation of Lean Operations: In manufacturing, the concept of continuous improvement is at its core. At a small or a mid-sized level, continuous streamlining of the operational process is usually simpler and easier. But, when an organization grows exponentially with offerings of multiple products and multiple production processes, it becomes difficult for an organization to streamline its various efforts.

In such contexts, the lean consultants can become very helpful in streamlining multiple operation processes towards continuous performance improvements. Specialized consultants work towards the implementation of lean operation by eliminating the waste across several areas starting from front office to distribution.

Optimization of Supply Chain: Constant optimization of the supply chain is the winning strategy for sustained business growth of the manufacturing-based enterprises. An experienced and highly skilled supply chain consultant strategically helps toward the improvement of product distribution at a better and lower price point.

Advantages of Consulting

Offers Assistance from a Specialist: An external consultant most likely to have experience from the exact field that you are into and also have past experience that may too mirror your current situation. Collaboration with such a consultant offer you peace of mind by knowing that the business is in the right hand who has been in a similar situation before.

Get an External View on Your Operations: Sometimes, there is a need for a neutral external perspective to understand the scope of improvements. In certain cases, it helps in operational improvements, instead of a known internal approach. With an outsider view, the current business challenges can get cleared up towards the achievement of desired goals and the improvement of overall efficiency.

The hiring of Consultants is Affordable than Hiring a New Employee: It is to be noted that hiring an employee usually cost more than hiring a specialized consultant. The hiring of a new comes along with the added cost such as the requirement of workspace, technology, benefits and more. On the other hand, consultants are hired specifically hired for a specific time-bound project. Thus, consultants come much cheaper than hiring a full-time employee. However, it’s too depends on the scale and magnitude of the project.

Disadvantages of Consulting

One has to note that hiring and steering an external consultant towards right direction does not come without any challenges. One should ensure that the role of consultants needs to be well defined and their prime role needs to revolve around the elimination of inferior practices which is slowing down the organizational growth but not to insult the organizational intelligence.

The working relationship between organization and consultant should be collaborative, friendly and professional. Else, in some scenario, a piece of advice may look like criticism.

The business collaboration should always remind the common goals, i.e. improvement of operational efficiency of the organization.

Lean Specialized recruitment company

Final Thoughts

While the lean specialized personnel consultants are usually hired to focus on one project; but based on the success ratio in such assignments, organizations may like to extend their services for longer periods towards getting assistance in various other specialized areas. Such collaborations are always mutually beneficial.

Organizations should always evaluate the advantages and disadvantages linked with hiring a potential consultant such as specialization, skill and experiences before making a hiring decision.

 

People Factor: Key for Change Driver in Immunization Supply Chain Management

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People Factor: Key for Change Driver in Immunization Supply Chain Management

Efficient human resources management is the foundation of an ideal supply chain management process. Desired outcome from a supply chain system cannot be achieved without effective people and innovation management. Due to which, there is a growing trend towards the adoption of next generation immunization supply chain (ISC) management programmes to deal with today’s complex operating environment.

Role of an effective leadership is the key for the success of any immunization program. In every such program, he or she will be the ultimate driver who will empower immunization supply chain with the change or improvements needed.

Before going into the further details, let’s understand what is Immunization Supply Chain?

According to Gavi – The Vaccine Alliance, immunisation supply chain is an ideal healthcare supply chain ecosystem which includes all the stakeholders of an ideal healthcare system from people to activities, infrastructure and resources planning, whose roles are extremely important to transport vaccines to the end users in perfect conditions to ensure the immunization goals of a society or a country.

Foundation of Successful immunization programmes

According to World Health Organisation, an ideal immunisation programme is always designed based on functional, end-to-end supply chain and logistics systems. In such an operation, effective logistics and controlled supply chain process ensures efficient vaccine storage, handling, and stock management within ideal temperature management in the defined cold chain system. In such a scenario, the prime goal of entire end-to-end process is to ensure uniform service delivery towards uninterrupted availability of vaccines.

Change Leadership: An Essential Ingredient for Efficient Supply Chains Management

To encounter the modern-day challenges, there has been a constant process and people evolution witnessed by the supply chain industry. To ensure end-to-end perspective and uninterrupted availability of vaccines to the children, the new age immunization supply chain system must adapt to the ever-evolving industry requirements. But, who will lead the change towards future ready next generation immunization supply chain management?

Change leadership is very complex to define, but is the key element towards transformation, which empowers people to work towards a new vision in supremely controlled environment by minimising disruptions. An ideal change leader crafts an environment that can lead towards desired change which is self-sustainable.

In a modern immunization supply chain setting, change leadership program is a part of systematic human resource development programs. Such development programs rely on the below listed foundation blocks:

  • Engagement of key supply chain stakeholders towards the importance of leadership and effective leadership for adaptive supply chain management system
  • Sustained growth of human resource as a system with implementation of effective recruitment plans and strategic as well as standard operating procedures
  1. Regular skill enhancement and training programs for workforce development to tackle modern day challenges
  2. Formulation of actionable guidelines for better performance management and retention of human resource
  3. Ensure participation in leadership development programs from the supply chain managers, which will make them industry ready

Leadership for the Next-Generation Immunization Supply Chain

Change leadership needs to be supported by effective management so that innovations provide the desired results. According to a study of Burkina Faso on the need of efficient leadership in district level vaccination program reported that the effective leadership qualities of the appointed medical officer is the prime enabler towards the increase of team performance and widening of vaccine coverage.

This study suggested an array of change management qualities and competencies which are important for adaptive immunization supply chain, these includes,

  • Be the role model
  • Inspire the team and people with professional excellence, innovation and communication
  • Possess the aptitude to foresee and understand the macro environment and the goal to see the bigger picture; also teach others to learn the same
  • Lead with social influence

Successes and Challenges in the Field

Adaption towards the next generation immunization supply chain needs improvements across small parts or components of the entire system. In addition to these changes, the need of a change management leader is must, who is capable of driving these required improvements across the supply chain management ecosystem with the power of advocacy and his or her social influence capabilities. With such drives and multilevel end-to-end communications, innovations will flourish and the desired change will be established.

Let’s understand and cultivate the key efficient & effective leadership approaches which help leading successful change management.

  • Ensure that the whole ecosystem is focused towards the change that is desired. It is immensely important to drive the entire system and the people towards one goal. Uniformity will reduce dependencies and this will drive people towards innovations and improvements.
  • Ensure performance recognitions. Creating a space for performance recognitions and conversations drives creativity and helps in overcoming road blocks.
  • Upshift to co-creating future. Gone are the days of the reactive approaches. Today, creative tensions demand immediate resolution and recurring shifts towards co-creation for the sustained future. In a co-creating environment, immunization supply chain focus on three key enablers:
  1. Effective supply chain managers
  2. Concrete supply chain management improvement plans
  3. Data driven future ready supply chain actions

Efficient data management and data driven decision enables the modern-day immunization supply chain management. Such evidence-based decisions and operations allow supply chain leaders and managers to take informed decisions for future developments, evaluate outcomes and performance over a period of time.

People Factor: Key for Change Driver in Immunization Supply Chain Management

Final Thoughts

Towards driving the required change, improvements and sustainability immunization supply chain demands an effective change management leader. In today’s complex business environments, human resource plays a pivotal role in identifying and grooming such a leader who is armed with right skills, accountability and motivation to drive the desired improvements.

As mentioned, effective leadership must be well placed in the context of comprehensive change management. However, there are no short cuts to it; such leadership traits and qualities need to be groomed and cultivated in a formal human resource setting.

 

 

 

Understanding the Relationship between Human Resource Management (HRM) on Supply Chain Management (SCM)

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Understanding the Relationship between Human Resource Management (HRM) on Supply Chain Management (SCM)

While supply chains have been playing a crucial role in several industries for many years, it is only in the past few years that supply chain management (SCM) has been treated as a separate strategic branch which can be improved to benefit businesses.

As soon as SCM started receiving its due importance, there began a search for the factors that affect supply chain and its functioning. While factors like inventory control, product design, industry standards, procedure costs, and distribution strategies were some of the few that were initially discovered to abundantly impact SCM, human resource management (HRM) is the latest to join the list.

While there have been a few studies done in the past to understand the impact of HRM on SCM, the research by the Department of Business Administration of University of Barcelona, Spain, clearly pointed out the relationship between the two.

The purpose of the study was to understand the impact of HRM on SCM which in turn also impacts organizational performance (OP) and customer satisfaction (CS), factors which play an important role between SCM outcomes (SCMO) and HRM.

The study used the previously validated structural equation model (SEM) which is based on five attributes including SCM implementation (SCMI), HRM, organizational performance, customer satisfaction, and SCMO. A survey was conducted on the basis of this model and 231 responses were recorded.

The study confirmed the significant impact that HRM, directly and indirectly, has on the SCMI and SCMO. Overall, the study suggests that successful implementation of SCM can not only help improve SCMO directly but it indirectly also increases OP and CS.

These findings make a very strong case for organizations to apply proven HRM practices to their supply chains to improve SCM to an extent where it starts functioning as a competitive edge. While businesses never thought of SCM as something that could be impacted by HRM, understanding the relationship between the two is simpler than it looks.

Working of a Supply Chain

If the complicated terminologies are sidestepped for a minute, supply chains are nothing but people. The entire chain is a group of organizations which work in downstream or upstream flows of services and products to deliver the final product to the customers.

This ‘group’ of organizations can be within a single company where delivery or supplies and production of products occur or can also be a very complex network of 3rd party suppliers, distributors, sales outlets and service providers. SCM aims to enhance the overall performance of the supply chain along with that of individual firms.

While several organizations have now started recognizing how important SCM is, most of them are yet to understand the fact that successful SCM relies on the people who are part of the supply chain. It is on the basis of the efficiency of the members of the supply chain that the supply chain would function.

There are already several studies that have confirmed that impact of HRM on the performance of the employees. The same practices can be adopted by the human resource department for the people who are part of the supply chain to improve their efficiency and performance.

From recruiting and selection, training and development, to compensation and incentive there are several practices in HRM that can be successfully used to improve the overall SCM.

If all of this is to be said in simple words, it basically means that the performance of the supply chain relies in the hands of people who are part of the chain and HRM is an efficient tool to improve the efficiency of the supply chain members and ultimately improve the supply chain and overall functioning of the organization.

 

Understanding the Relationship between Human Resource Management (HRM) on Supply Chain Management (SCM)

 

Improving Customer Satisfaction with HRM

While the positive impact on SCM through successful HRM practices is clear now, how the same can also help in improving customer satisfaction as the University of Barcelona study suggests?

This relationship too if pretty straightforward. Supply chains are only as strong as their weakest link. For instance, let us assume that you run a business in the USA and import products from China. You’ve selected an exporter and have successfully moved the products through customs and then to the distribution center sooner than expected.

But what if the distribution center delays the delivery to the customers? Your customers would surely be unhappy and this means that the supply chain of your company has failed. It is not difficult to understand that the retail industry relies mostly on customer satisfaction. In other words, the success of your supply chain has a deep relation with how happy your customers are.

So, you see there is an indirect relationship between HRM and CS too. With the help of successful HRM practices, you can improve your supply chain which in turn will help you improve customer satisfaction. There are a few time-proven ways in which supply chain can be improved for better CS. Some of them are-

  • Selecting the right transportation partners
  • Improving logistics planning
  • End-to-end supply chain analysis
  • Using technology for improving visibility and tracking inventory
  • Linking back-end and front-end deliveries
  • Measuring supply chain performance on a consistent basis

While all of these steps revolve around SCM, HRM is indirectly involved in implementing them and making sure that they deliver the expected results.

Conclusion

HRM was always considered a strategy of managing the workplace culture and environment. It is with the help of studies that its impact on other crucial business processes has come to light. With businesses now focusing on SCM to gain a competitive edge, improvements to HRM seems to be an efficient way to directly improve the supply chain and gain added benefits with respect to organizational performance and customer satisfaction.

With the rising competition across every industrial sector, businesses are now searching for innovative ways to improve their performance. Working on SCM is a new and effective way to not just bring more transparency to the business practices but also improve your reach through better customer satisfaction.

Even the traditional HR practices like recruitment and planning, training, and performance appraisal can be applied to the supply chain in order to attain larger benefits which would help organizations gain significant benefits over time.

 

 

 

The Similarities between Human Resource Management and Supply Chain Management

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The Similarities between Human Resource Management and Supply Chain Management

Human resource management is an effective management of the workforce in an organisation. This is the backbone of any business that gives it a competitive edge over others. The quality and productivity of the workforce determines the progress and sustainability of the business. A human resource management system is very similar to a supply chain management system because human resource management handles a chain of inter related departments with diverse job responsibilities working with an aim to achieve a common objective.

Recent times have noticed great developments in the supply chain industry in terms of automation, cost cutting, software aided operations, automated vehicles, etc. The introduction of these new concepts can be beneficial for the Human Resource department too. There is a lot that the human resource management system can imbibe from the supply chain management system.

Supply chain management system works on modularization. This means that the links within a supply chain management are commutable, interchangeable, compatible and exchangeable. The supply chain management system cannot allow any breakdown in the movement of goods and services. Similarly, the human resource management system must also incorporate the concept of modularization in their workforce. This will enable the human resource management system to ensure a continuous flow of workforce and prevent scarcity of manpower. Just as the demand for products is a regular affair so is the demand for talented manpower.

It has to be kept in mind though, that no matter what, humans and products cannot be equated in the same manner and so, the principles and metrics of supply chain management may not necessarily fit in to the human resource management system. The human resource management system will definitely hold its own defined techniques, procedure and practices. The modus operandi is bound to be different for both the systems. However there are certain common modularization practices that the human resource management system can incorporate in its operations:

  1. Outsourcing: Supply chain management involves a lot of channel or outsourced partners. Many HR functions can be outsourced too. Third party deployment can be done for security services, housekeeping, web development, etc. Even a part or all of the hiring requirements can be outsourced to job consultancies.

 

  1. Automation:

    Video Interviews or Interactive Voice Questionnaire can be used to select and filter candidates in the first round. This increases the efficiency of the operations, minimises biasness and saves time on the part of the recruiter. Automated mails can be used to notify candidates about job openings and also to share feedback of the interview to the candidates.

 

  1. Creating Human Inventory:

    Most job openings witness a large number of applicants compared to the number of vacancies. As a result, many good candidates are waitlisted for the next opening. These waitlisted candidates can be kept as reservoir or human inventory. A human inventory will consist of a pool of shortlisted applicants who are qualified and suitable for future openings. This minimises time and effort of the selection process.

The Similarities between Human Resource Management and Supply Chain Management

Every process is unique in its own way. We can derive many useful concepts for every process, be it supply chain or manufacturing. These concepts can be further modified and modulated into process specific approaches and used for overall growth of the business.

Role of Human Resource as compared to Supply Chain Management

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Role of Human Resource as compared to Supply Chain Management

Contrary to normal perception, human resource (HR) is not simply a people-facing function. It’s has a lot in it to be considered as a core-competency in any business. But for some reason, most businesses are yet to realize the full potential of the HR function.  Very often HR fails to get the due credit or empowerment necessary for it as the business is not clear as to what should be expected of it. Because of this lack of clarity, HR is entrusted with unrealistic and unaccountable goals at times and hence, HR seems to be at the receiving end of all the blames and troubles.

Additionally, the quality of talent in HR functions is also not up-to-the-mark. This is expected as they have been brought up on seemingly unclear norms and expectations. As a result, they have not been able to clarify their position or articulate their contribution to the business.

The HR functions in a supply chain industry face a similar fate as well. Here we will discuss how crucial role the HR function can play when it comes to the supply chain processes-

 

  1. Supply of raw materials – We know that it is the duty of the SCM function to take care of the sourcing of and bringing in raw materials. In a similar way, it is the duty of the HR function to bring the best available talents required to operate the business appropriately. HR will partner other departments to ensure that all the important processes are in proper order before the final assessment and selection are made by the functional department. HR does the critical task to ensure that a standard and well-developed capability is followed across the organization and talents are hired through a consistent assessment process. Also, HR needs to ensure that the actual cost of hiring is strictly within the established benchmarks.

 

  1. Transition from raw materials to finished goods – SCM does the work of bringing in the goods and forwarding or making them ready for the next process. Similarly, it is the job of an effective company management to make sure that every employee receives the inputs in a proper way so that he can perform to the best of his ability. Thus, he can contribute to the organizational growth as well as grow himself, in conformity to the culture and values of the organization. This role of the management is overseen by the HR function as it performs the role of the manager to each and every employee. HR keeps an eye that a well-defined and clear process prevails in the organization and every manager is skilled and competent enough to understand this. HR does this by preparing periodic MIS on the health/performance of the talents in the organization and that of the organizational processes as well.

 

  1. Conscience keeper  -HR plays another vital role in keeping the conscience in an organization. It keeps a proper check on whether the operations of a business are consistently conforming to its values or not. It has to stamp its authority and raise alarms if the culture is not supporting to the strategy or there is a deviation from the mission & vision of the organization. In this role, HR needs to work in close collaboration with the top management (CEO and other leadership teams) and must tell the truth in an unflinching and ‘no-nonsense’ manner.

 

  1. Quality assurance and quality check – In a supply chain business, it is in the scope of the SCM to ensure a proper quality assurance and quality check before the goods are forwarded to the next step. In a similar manner, the HR team needs to establish if the entire system of processing the input to output is conforming to the prescribed designs and expectations or not. HR needs to wear the ‘hat ‘of a quality checker at some critical points in the business processes. Also, in collaboration with the managers, it needs to play an important role in quality assurance as well, in order to raise the level of capability of each individual.

 

  1. Taking care of the transactional metrics – Just like every function in an organization is responsible for some core activities assigned to them, the HR team is also accountable for some unique activities. It is their responsibility to keep the compensation benchmarks in an organization up-to-date as per industry standards and ensuring seamless implementation of transparent and consistent policies across the organization are just a few of them. Of course, their functions are multi-dimensional and are not limited by the boundaries of their core competencies.

 

The SCM can benefit by applying the HRM practices in it

From the above discussion, we have seen that there is a definite similarity between the SCM and HRM functionality. In fact, the SCM can apply HRM best-practices to better manage their activities.

 

  1. Use of HRM practices can unify the supply chain

 Various factors such as the globalization of the supply markets, product proliferation, shorter product life-cycles etc have made business environments extremely complex. HRM practices can unify supply chain partners to develop inter-farm relationships and create valuable knowledge-sharing routines. In this way, they can have a more streamlined and coordinated supply chain and gets that much-needed competitive advantage.

 

  1. Better use of ‘people’

The supply chain is a complex network of service providers, raw material suppliers, distributors etc and the success of this network depends heavily on the achievements of people involved in every step herein.

The HR practitioners have put in place effective processes and practices that can improve the performances of the ‘people’ and the firm as a whole. These can be implemented in a supply chain to achieve its ultimate objective- to improve the performance in every step.

 

  1. Availing benefits of HR strategies

A traditional HR strategy refers to developing flexible systems involving HR practices to promote the business strategies of the organization. Application of these strategies in a supply chain provides broader benefits such as better management of SCM partners, better prediction of labor demand/supply across the supply chain and many more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supply Chain Gets Smart with Artificial Intelligence

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Supply Chain Gets Smart with Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence is truly revolutionizing every aspect of the world, from public institutions to private, affecting each and every industry. Logistics is no exception to the universal reach of AI. Therefore,  supply chain can overcome many of its risks and gaps by the applications of AI.

Artificial Intelligence is simply intelligence that is displayed by machines. The machines’ learning and action-based potential copies the autonomy unlike conventional process-oriented intelligence. In other words, AI is the simulation of human intelligence by computers. The 3Vs of big data or the core of AI is the ability to recognize volume, velocity, and variety. This in turn is used to find correlation among massive data.

Most experts categorise AI into two blocks-Augmentation and Automation. The former assists and aids human beings with their routine tasks while the later operates independently without having to rely on human intervention.

Supply Chain Adapting to AI

Back in 2010, a research predicted that supply chain management would gain immensely from the applications of artificial intelligence. The research suggested various ways in which this could happen-setting inventory safety levels, transportation network design, purchasing and supply management, etc. Thanks to the exponential growth of AI over the last decade, these things have been made possible.

The tools that AI offers in the sphere of logistics have been deemed to have huge potential for augmenting the top-line and bottom-line value. There are the 6 applications of artificial intelligence that supply chain management can foster:

  • Forecasts and Analysis

Any industry is highly dependent on the supply chain planning which forms an important part of the respective business’s supply chain strategy. Artificial intelligence steps in when it can enable forecasting within the inventory, or demand and supply. Additionally, machine learning can boost the agility and optimization of the decision-making involved in supply chain management.

With artificial intelligence, the SCM industry can come up with the best possible plan of action which is determined out of algorithm and machine-based analysis.

If a business sells sanitary equipment, it can use an AI based tool to predict the demand of each of their products on a daily basis. AI does so by analyzing the historical sales data of all the models and the data so delved into includes date and time of purchase, number of items purchased, and other information.

The machine learning tools can learn the peculiar trends in terms of seasonality, or type of product and it also considers factors like weather data and news events that might have affected the sales of a particular period.

  • Warehouse Execution System

A reliable warehouse and inventory management is one of the most significant aspects of supply chain planning. An industry-specific yet universal challenge that businesses incur is either overestimating or underestimating the required stock.

Artificial intelligence based algorithms and data have such a streamlined predictive capacity, that it can forecast supply and demand as mentioned before. This feature of AI can be applied to supply chain management for overcoming issues that lead to shortage or excess of inventory.

Another way in which AI can be used for this industry lies in using the tools of localization and mapping. Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) in warehouse management have had issues in the past but with a machine vision, AGVs can operate automated material handling in a traditional space like buildings.

In fact, Warehouse Execution System (WES) utilizes AI to make the supply chain systems more efficient.

  • Logistics and Shipping

In today’s day and age, customers and clients expect accurate and timely delivery. But that has pressurized the companies to the extent that they now look to better their shipping and logistics facilities. Companies indeed prefer to mark an improvement here because they benefit while making customers satisfied at the same time.

Artificial intelligence enables faster and more accurate shipping which lowers the transportation expenses. In the present context, AI has also allowed companies to turn to environmental friendly operations and reduce labour costs. The best examples have been set by Amazon and pizza delivery chains which have turned to AI based drones to deliver their products to their customers.

  • Choosing Suppliers

Profitable supplier selection and maintenance of a sound professional relationship with suppliers is yet another important work for businesses. With the advent of certain factors like sustainability, CSR and supply chain ethics playing a role in the decision making of supply chains, businesses have to choose the perfect supplier.

Even a slight complacent decision can snowball to reduction in goodwill and bad PR. Thankfully, AI and its almost magical use of intelligent algorithms has enabled firms to have access to supplier-related data. The companies can now check real-time data about their suppliers like history of operations, location, previous clients, etc.

  • Chatbots for Customer Satisfaction

Companies are always in dire need of a reliable but foolproof system of customer communication and correspondence, which can at times determine their reputation and rapport with their past, present and future clients. Customers often face forced waiting time for answering their queries or have to converse with people multiple times.

 

AI gives a solution to this problem by providing conversational interfaces (or chatbots) which could provide multiple advantages to businesses. To name a few, chatbots can reduce the cost of transactions, sales cycle time, as well as enhance customer loyalty. The chatbot response machine powered by AI has a multi-dimensional interface in which it considers factors like the context of the issue, the history, and customer response management.

 

  • Decipher Untapped Information

AI and Machine Learning have a versatile set of elements and one of them is used to convert foreign data in a standardized format. This element is called Natural Language Processing (NLP).

NLP is an immensely resourceful application for logistics. NLP navigates through data of customers, competitors, regulators and suppliers to find compelling answers for business needs. In fact NLP is versatile in itself as it can be utilized for speech recognition, question answering, reputation monitoring, ad placements, market intelligence, and regulatory compliance.

 

In the supply chain management sector, NLP is most useful in deciphering data that is in a different language, thus enabling companies to understand more about a foreign subject like a supplier.

Supply Chain Gets Smart with Artificial Intelligence

Evolving SCM with Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence has made its presence felt in a positive way across every sector and industry. The challenges faced by supply chain management strategies and operations are now dissolvable with the help of artificial intelligence and machine learning. The system and algorithms put forth by AI grows and evolves with every unit of data, making it more and more independent of human intervention whilst being as close to human behavior as possible. The future is right in the hands of those who utilise the wonders of artificial intelligence, and supply chain management can bag this opportunity.  

 

Reference Link Provided: https://medium.com/@KodiakRating/6-applications-of-artificial-intelligence-for-your-supply-chain-b82e1e7400c8

 

Reference Link Used:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/247523024_Artificial_intelligence_in_supply_chain_management_Theory_and_applications

https://www.spendedge.com/blogs/5-ways-ai-can-enhance-supply-chain

https://www.techemergence.com/natural-language-processing-business-applications/

 

 

Supply Chain Gets Smart with Artificial Intelligence

by


Supply Chain Gets Smart with Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence is truly revolutionizing every aspect of the world, from public institutions to private, affecting each and every industry. Logistics is no exception to the universal reach of AI. Therefore,  supply chain can overcome many of its risks and gaps by the applications of AI.

Artificial Intelligence is simply intelligence that is displayed by machines. The machines’ learning and action-based potential copies the autonomy unlike conventional process-oriented intelligence. In other words, AI is the simulation of human intelligence by computers. The 3Vs of big data or the core of AI is the ability to recognize volume, velocity, and variety. This in turn is used to find correlation among massive data.

Most experts categorise AI into two blocks-Augmentation and Automation. The former assists and aids human beings with their routine tasks while the later operates independently without having to rely on human intervention.

Supply Chain Adapting to AI

Back in 2010, a research predicted that supply chain management would gain immensely from the applications of artificial intelligence. The research suggested various ways in which this could happen-setting inventory safety levels, transportation network design, purchasing and supply management, etc. Thanks to the exponential growth of AI over the last decade, these things have been made possible.

The tools that AI offers in the sphere of logistics have been deemed to have huge potential for augmenting the top-line and bottom-line value. There are the 6 applications of artificial intelligence that supply chain management can foster:

  • Forecasts and Analysis

Any industry is highly dependent on the supply chain planning which forms an important part of the respective business’s supply chain strategy. Artificial intelligence steps in when it can enable forecasting within the inventory, or demand and supply. Additionally, machine learning can boost the agility and optimization of the decision-making involved in supply chain management.

With artificial intelligence, the SCM industry can come up with the best possible plan of action which is determined out of algorithm and machine-based analysis.

If a business sells sanitary equipment, it can use an AI based tool to predict the demand of each of their products on a daily basis. AI does so by analyzing the historical sales data of all the models and the data so delved into includes date and time of purchase, number of items purchased, and other information.

The machine learning tools can learn the peculiar trends in terms of seasonality, or type of product and it also considers factors like weather data and news events that might have affected the sales of a particular period.

  • Warehouse Execution System

A reliable warehouse and inventory management is one of the most significant aspects of supply chain planning. An industry-specific yet universal challenge that businesses incur is either overestimating or underestimating the required stock.

Artificial intelligence based algorithms and data have such a streamlined predictive capacity, that it can forecast supply and demand as mentioned before. This feature of AI can be applied to supply chain management for overcoming issues that lead to shortage or excess of inventory.

Another way in which AI can be used for this industry lies in using the tools of localization and mapping. Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) in warehouse management have had issues in the past but with a machine vision, AGVs can operate automated material handling in a traditional space like buildings.

In fact, Warehouse Execution System (WES) utilizes AI to make the supply chain systems more efficient.

  • Logistics and Shipping

In today’s day and age, customers and clients expect accurate and timely delivery. But that has pressurized the companies to the extent that they now look to better their shipping and logistics facilities. Companies indeed prefer to mark an improvement here because they benefit while making customers satisfied at the same time.

Artificial intelligence enables faster and more accurate shipping which lowers the transportation expenses. In the present context, AI has also allowed companies to turn to environmental friendly operations and reduce labour costs. The best examples have been set by Amazon and pizza delivery chains which have turned to AI based drones to deliver their products to their customers.

  • Choosing Suppliers

Profitable supplier selection and maintenance of a sound professional relationship with suppliers is yet another important work for businesses. With the advent of certain factors like sustainability, CSR and supply chain ethics playing a role in the decision making of supply chains, businesses have to choose the perfect supplier.

Even a slight complacent decision can snowball to reduction in goodwill and bad PR. Thankfully, AI and its almost magical use of intelligent algorithms has enabled firms to have access to supplier-related data. The companies can now check real-time data about their suppliers like history of operations, location, previous clients, etc.

  • Chatbots for Customer Satisfaction

Companies are always in dire need of a reliable but foolproof system of customer communication and correspondence, which can at times determine their reputation and rapport with their past, present and future clients. Customers often face forced waiting time for answering their queries or have to converse with people multiple times.

 

AI gives a solution to this problem by providing conversational interfaces (or chatbots) which could provide multiple advantages to businesses. To name a few, chatbots can reduce the cost of transactions, sales cycle time, as well as enhance customer loyalty. The chatbot response machine powered by AI has a multi-dimensional interface in which it considers factors like the context of the issue, the history, and customer response management.

 

  • Decipher Untapped Information

AI and Machine Learning have a versatile set of elements and one of them is used to convert foreign data in a standardized format. This element is called Natural Language Processing (NLP).

NLP is an immensely resourceful application for logistics. NLP navigates through data of customers, competitors, regulators and suppliers to find compelling answers for business needs. In fact NLP is versatile in itself as it can be utilized for speech recognition, question answering, reputation monitoring, ad placements, market intelligence, and regulatory compliance.

 

In the supply chain management sector, NLP is most useful in deciphering data that is in a different language, thus enabling companies to understand more about a foreign subject like a supplier.

Supply Chain Gets Smart with Artificial Intelligence

Evolving SCM with Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence has made its presence felt in a positive way across every sector and industry. The challenges faced by supply chain management strategies and operations are now dissolvable with the help of artificial intelligence and machine learning. The system and algorithms put forth by AI grows and evolves with every unit of data, making it more and more independent of human intervention whilst being as close to human behavior as possible. The future is right in the hands of those who utilise the wonders of artificial intelligence, and supply chain management can bag this opportunity.  

 

Reference Link Provided: https://medium.com/@KodiakRating/6-applications-of-artificial-intelligence-for-your-supply-chain-b82e1e7400c8

 

Reference Link Used:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/247523024_Artificial_intelligence_in_supply_chain_management_Theory_and_applications

https://www.spendedge.com/blogs/5-ways-ai-can-enhance-supply-chain

https://www.techemergence.com/natural-language-processing-business-applications/

 

 

10 Reasons Supply Chain Management Should Start Using Machine Learning

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10 Reasons Supply Chain Management Should Start Using Machine Learning

Businesses now and before have relied on intelligence gathering operations to assess the performance of the supply chain. The supply chain is a crucial element of business operations as it propels the factors that make a business stand out amongst its competitors. Therefore, the velocity and swiftness originate from how businesses adapt to the required changes in demand and supply.

However, despite the importance of logistics and procurement operations, few companies have been able to merge their supply chain in their processes. According to a survey, only 23% of procurement firms consider using supplier collaboration.

With inconsistencies in the procurement-supply chain dynamics, there are challenging outcomes like supply shortages or uncompetitive pricing, or even delivery delays.  But machine learning is changing supply chain management and solving the issues that the logistics industry faces today.

What is Machine Learning?

Machine learning is a technology by which computer systems can get learning based on some given data. Companies can use machine learning to come up with a good algorithm relevant to the market. Machine learning is different because it produces special algorithms, which unlike traditional algorithms learn from the market factors.

Another special feature of machine learning is the least human intervention in computer systems. It is a progressive tool in which, with every addition of data in the data bank the system becomes more intelligent. This feature helps the data to be interpreted and makes it more manageable.

Machine learning can also be incorporated with big data sources like digital markets and social media. This enables companies to use data signals from other sites that consumers generate.

The Ways in Which Machine Learning is Changing the Logistics Industry

  1. Reducing the time that is wasted on repetitive functions

Those involved in the supply chain process are aware of the wasted time on repetitive tasks. Machine learning allows a business to carry out better quality control tasks with a fraction of the time spent via manual methods.

Thus, machine learning is effective at automated quality inspections.  Machine learning algorithms can determine if a product is damaged. These algorithms even suggest the most appropriate corrective action to repair products and assets.

 

  1. Informed Forecasts based on Empirical Evidence

 Machine learning enabled systems can interpret data from supply chain operations. This makes the system make an informed guess or forecast on the upcoming performances based on these past pieces of evidence. The algorithms created by machine learning learn from all the past data. This can be revolutionary in terms of predictive analytics for supply chain management strategies and help them shape their decision-making plans.

 

  1. Automated Alerts to Avoid or Mitigate Crisis

Any company that has to deal with supply chain management has to follow a set of protocols for its operations to be foolproof. But in case of any crisis in the functioning, companies depend on many experts of the field to review existing protocols and blueprints in order to fix the point of failure.

Once it is found what the point of failure is, companies have to make a range of decisions to resume production back to normal. Machine learning is useful in this situation because instead of asking people for help, turning to powerful algorithms that give insights, warnings and automated recommendations is a better deal.

 

  1. Monitoring Supplies through Natural Language Processing

Natural language processing enables ease in supply chain management. It monitors overseas suppliers by collecting news about them from all over the world and translating it into the preferred language.

This aspect of machine learning allows a system to understand and interpret human colloquies like social media engagements, publications or any other data. It empowers executives to monitor their vendors across borders in the realm of supply chain management.

  1. Judicially Improving Delivery Performance

Machine learning combines the positives of unsupervised learning, supervised learning and reinforcement learning to find all the catalysts that affect supply chain management. Not just that, it does all of this by reducing product costs and appropriating processes that mitigate any risks in operations.

10 Reasons Supply Chain Management Should Start Using Machine Learning

  1. Consumer Engagement

Through machine learning algorithm, businesses can personalize solutions by automating customer services. Chatbots are one such consequence. Through a tailored algorithm, one can create a bot that deals with supplier queries and concerns. These bots reduce the amount of required manpower.

An efficient interactive communication channel can help businesses in tracking worldwide suppliers, manufacturing unit staff, warehouse distribution, and transportation towards retailers. It is important to let go of the myth that chatbots are not intelligent; their smartness depends upon the people that create them.

 

  1. Predictive Analysis for New Products

Machine learning can be a boon if businesses want to drive up the sales of new products. Algorithms created by artificial intelligence can be so sincere that they can apply practical approaches of asking partners, coming in contact with direct or indirect sales teams. These manoeuvres can help companies to know how much of a new product or service they will be selling.

What machine learning does in this respect is that it considers all the causal factors that can influence demand (which have not been pointed out before). This can help in proper supply management of a new product.

  1. Supplier-Specific Data

One of the key functions machine learning based algorithms can perform is to improve the supplier quality management. It does so by tracking or tracing all data pertaining to the particular supplier and then finds patterns in the quality levels of the supplier.

It does all this in isolation and is unassisted. Machine learning systems can independently chalk out product hierarchies. Finally, the systems can also save many manual hours as it organizes track-and-trace reporting.

  1. Assessing Equipment Performance

Every business that uses machinery and equipment wants to reduce long-term costs by being able to reduce the depreciation rate of its assets. They try to extend the lifespan of their fundamental assets involved in supply chain management. These assets can be machinery, engines, or warehouse equipment.

Machine learning plays a role here as well.  It analyses machine-driven data to find out what factors influence the efficiency (or a lack of) in machinery.

  1. Comprehensive Operations: End-to-End Visibility

Machine learning’s biggest advantage is that it functions from the beginning to the end. In logistics, it begins its work even before the data has to process. First, it can disaggregate all the data by removing unnecessary data. Next, it estimates the volume that may be in demand. Furthermore, it estimates dimensions as well by applying industry-specific standards and all business rules and protocols. Finally, it predicts any gaps in the operations based on historical data.

In the terminology of those involved in machine learning systems, this is a 3D loading visualisation.

Conclusion

The human touch in technology is revolutionizing everything around it. To understand, think of Leonardo da Vinci-he was an expert in mathematics, biological and evolutionary sciences, philosophy and physics, fine arts and critical thinking all at once. Machine learning is the Da Vinci of the logistics industry.

Supply chain management and the greater industry of logistics can benefit from machine learning. As per Harvard Business Review, as of the first quarter of 2018, only a mere 7% of all companies are using Artificial Intelligence to automate their operations.

But machine learning gives quantifiable results. It reduces the time wasted on manual labour functions, allows businesses to make better decisions based on empirical data, and even sends important precautions and alerts. But the beauty of machine learning is that it does not stop there. It recommends the solutions to avoid a crisis, helps monitor suppliers across the world and across various lines of industries.

Therefore, machine learning simplifies the intricate operations of supply chain management systems by optimizing the very operations and functions prone to faults. Machine learning is not the future, it is the present.

10 Reasons Supply Chain Management Should Start Using Machine Learning

How to attract supply chain employers through social media profiles

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How to attract supply chain employers through social media profiles

In today’s world, we cannot imagine our lives without social media and recruiters are no exception as well. Recruiters spend enough time on social media like most of us do and they use social media platforms (in addition to job portals) to search qualified individuals for various openings in the supply chain portfolio.

This is the reason why it is imperative for you to have a strong presence on multiple platforms in order to enhance your chances of being spotted on the next drive by supply chain recruiter. You should make it a habit to use social media for your own professional networking and try to present yourself as a consistent ‘brand’ by optimizing your profile.

Here are a few tips to do so in an effective way-

  • Have your photograph taken by a professional and use as your profile picture in all online platforms
  • Make sure to use the same handle, name or description across all

your profiles on the social media. For example, if ‘SCM Expert’ is your handle, make sure to place it in all your profiles. If anyone searches for ‘SCM Expert’, your profile stands a good chance of appearing in the first page of his search.

  • Do set a ‘Google Alert ‘on your own social media accounts to find out what potential recruiters or employers would find if they go through your profile. If you can spot anything negative, correct or delete that piece of information from the profile so that it cannot be obtained through an internet research.
  • Make sure to use SCM centric keywords with your profile. Identify some of the most used search terms that may be linked to your supply chain qualifications, experience or skill set and incorporate them into each one of your online profiles. For example, if your expertise is in logistics, you may very well include keywords such as 3PL, transportation, intermodal, warehousing and so on.

While doing so, do make sure that there exists a natural flow of these keywords and it does not look to the reader that these keywords are ‘stuffed’ in an attempt to improve the search rankings.

With such a method- your profile stands a very good chance of getting a higher ranking when a recruiter is going through a targeted search for qualified candidates on Google or Linkedin and with a certain keyword or skill.

 

Some top social platforms for recruiters to search for supply chain talent.

 

LinkedIn

It is one of the most widely used platforms used by recruiters to search for supply chain talent. Recruiters search for parameters such as years of experience, degrees, skills and other specific keywords and look for potential candidates suitable for their requirements.

In order to obtain maximum benefits, you need to have a complete profile and need to be participating actively in this platform. You may do the following things to show up on the radar of a recruiter-

  • Comment on articles, contribute to discussions and engage in posts. In this way, you can gain the attention of potential employers and will be able to build your own network in a foreseeable future.
  • Update your profile on the setting “Open for new engagement/opportunities”. It will invite SCM recruiters to have a look at your profile as they would be aware of the fact that you are looking for new career opportunities.
  • You should follow the potential organizations you want to work for.It will keep you posted for news items or new job postings for these organizations.
  • Include yourself in a sizeable number of LinkedIn groups, more precisely, in popular SCM LinkedIn groups.

 

Facebook

Though Facebook is more popular as a personal or recreational platform to associate with family members and friends, it also provides a useful opportunity for professional networking.

Here are some tips for you to attain maximum advantage from this platform-

 

  • Complete the education and work sections of your profile so that potential employers may find it easy to know more about you.
  • Include yourself in groups related to your industry and experience. You may join facebook groups such as ‘Logistics and SCM professionals‘, ‘SCM Jobs ‘ and so on.
  • “Like” the pages of your potential employers, target companies or supply chain associations in order to keep track of their news, job postings, related contents, and suggestions.
  • Make it a point to ‘clean’ your profile and remove inappropriate or negative images and posts that could air a negative impression about you.
  • Be a regular part of the new job posting platform launched by Facebook.

 

Twitter

 

It is another important way to keep track of news and views about the constantly evolving supply chain industry as well as the new job openings. Here are some tips for you to attain maximum advantage from this platform-

 

 

  • Include important keywords( to highlight your expertise) in the Twitter bio to be more discoverable to your potential employers.
  • Tweet or retweet regularly about news and topics related to your functional area.
  • Use catching hashtags like #logistics, #supplychain, #manufacturing, #procurement and so on.
  • Try to follow each and every company on your target list. Some companies maintain separate Twitter handles for tweeting about their upcoming jobs. Always be in touch with these as well.
  • It is another good idea to use trending social media tools such as Hootsuite. This will help you automate your tweets so that you can optimize your presence on such social media platforms.

How to attract supply chain employers through social media profiles

Websites/Blogs

Blogging is a great way to let your thoughts known to the world.  You can express your views or thoughts on topics related to supply chain and highlight the professional skills in an opportune moment.  You can make use of WordPress, the widely used blog hosting site. It includes a lot of plug-ins to help you create a highly optimized site.

 

Conclusion:

By nature, the supply chain industry is built on relationships, networks, and communication and, being ‘social ‘ is the key for you to make inroads and be successful in this industry. Therefore, it is key for you to recognize and use the enormous potential of social media to meet the demands of this evolving industry.