Forbes Magazine makes 4 predictions for your Supply Chain in 2018

With a New Year approaching quickly, supply chain experts are taking the measures necessary to ensure that they’ll be staying ahead of the coming trends of 2018.

In an article written by Paul Martyn, published to Forbes Magazine, there were 4 predictions made for supply chains in 2018.

Digital Supply Chain Trends become Reality

The digital supply chain network (DSN) has been a topic of discussion amongst industry leaders for years. 2018 might just be the year for realization of these technology-driven dreams.

“The supply chain industry has been talking about using disruptive data-driven technology, including machine learning, artificial intelligence and IoT for years. In 2018, we expect to see that talk turn more concretely to action,” says Jon T. Lindekugel, senior vice president, 3M Supply Chain.

Trends show that software vendors are racing towards discovering implementations of ML and AI into their solutions, and the IoT saw record investment in 2017. We’ll have to wait to see but 2018 could very well hold the materialization of a much anticipated vision.

CSR is getting a bump on the SCM agenda

In a world of instant twitter alerts and unprecedented brand visibility, there is little room for supply chain errors. The volatility of today’s media, mixed with growing consumer concern makes for a Molotov cocktail your brand doesn’t want to be at the wrong end of.

Supply chain risk mitigation has become an issue of top-line importance. For this reason, companies will continue to refine their supply chain strategies to ensure their implementing socially and environmentally responsibility at every turn in 2018.

Consumer Demands are driven by Transparency

Procurement and sourcing will continue to be areas of consumer scrutiny in 2018.

Consumer trends display that consumers want to know exactly where their products are coming from with complete transparency and traceability. Major brands are utilizing digital supply chain networks to increase transparency, giving the consumer exactly what they want; a snapshot into the interworking of their products' life-cycles.

Sustainability reporting will continue to play a big role in ensuring the quality and ethicality of production within consumer brands. Ending the ‘greenwash’ of sustainability strategies, and getting down to systemic sustainable action will be the real trend to be expected in 2018.

It’s all about the Intelligence

As the trends showed in the 2017 CPO Survey from Deloitte, Analytics are seen to make the biggest technological impact on procurement in the next two years.

Forbes article furthers this notion, reporting that supply chain applications will begin to become more intelligent within their data sets, rather than just displaying passive data.

"In 2018, intelligence and insight will substantially change the way supply chains are managed, moving them from reactive to responsive at last. This breakthrough will come in large part thanks to further automation of data gathering and their analysis made possible by advances in software-driven equipment. With the ability to collect information about both supply and demand, these smart machines will accelerate the ability of supply chains to move more quickly, accurately and frequently," predicted Jim Lawton, chief operating officer at Rethink Robotics (Martyn 2017). 

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