“Supply chain” is a term that describes the planning, searching, production,

distribution and delivery of products or services from the place of origin before
consumption.
Supply Chain Management (SCM) is a formal term for managing the physical and
informational flow of materials and finished products and goods in the supply
chain. So, modern SCM requires advanced business processes, with the latest
technology and technologies. Efficient and smart management supply needs to
ensure accessibility to the right product at the right time and in the right place at
the right price.
Significant gains in computing technicians and data processing stimulate
entrepreneurs to develop innovative new digital technologies and opportunities.
These technologies, including new tools (Autonomous Robotics, IoT, RPA and
Blockchain, which will be discussed in more detail) and artificial intelligence, play
a huge role in the digitalization of Supply Chain Management.
This paper shows an overview of the study and a description of the main trends,
characteristics, benefits, and future capabilities of Digital Supply Chain
Management. Digital Supply Chain Management is in line with current trends in
businesses and information technology, which will allow companies to receive
new benefits, in costs, service and lead time. The implementation of these
solutions leads to increased collaboration and transparency in the supply chain.
This creates a basis on which modern logistics technologies and strategies can be
built and on where the benefits are created for the effective management and
development of supply chains.
The purpose of this paper is to clarify and define the positive relationship
between transportation and logistics systems through digitalization of the supply
chain and integrated new technologies. Our central research question is:
“Digitalizing the supply chain greatly benefits logistic performance”. The first part
of this paper will give a deeper insight in the supply chain, then the development
of logistics and transport-related sectors based on a historical overview.
Afterwards, it is followed by information about the digitalization process of
Supply Chain Management through AI, Autonomous Robotics and IoT. This article
also establishes a relationship between the level of digitalization of a country and
its logistic performance.
Before we look closer into some current trends in Supply Chain
Management, and specifically into the digitalization trend, we briefly
want to discuss the development of Supply Chain Management over
the years.
In the 1940s and 1950s, the focus of research was how to use
mechanization to improve labourintensive processes and how to take
better advantage of space by for example changing the layout of a
warehouse. During these years, the use of pallets became more and
more widespread.
During the 1950s, intermodal containers and vehicles to transport
these containers were developed.
In 1960s, more time-dependent transportation was transferred from
rail to road. From this decade on, data regarding logistics was
computerized, in comparison to doing everything manually as
happened before.
During the 1980s, personal computers became more widespread,
causing a period full of technological advancements. Large scale
optimization algorithms were first created. Newly developed
technologies were soon used by many commercial companies.
During the 1990s, the term ‘supply chain’ became widely used, as a
result of growingglobalization that went together with the need for
logistic strategies that were able to deal withthe more and more
complex networks.
When new technologies are developed and legislations change, Supply Chain
Management changes too. An important example of a new technology is drone
technology.
As of today, using drone technology, this process can be speed up significantly.
Additionally, when the supply chain is in danger to be interrupted, drone
technology can identify the exact problem and cause the problem to be solved
before drastic measurements like a shutdown must be taken. Thirdly, drones can
be used for carrying and moving different fairly light items in a warehouse or
distribution centre. Innovations in drone technology the coming years might pave
ways to new techniques, making supply chain processes more efficient along the
way.
Not only drones, but also artificial intelligence plays a growing role in Supply
Chain Management. Artificial intelligence can be defined as any device that can
perceive its environment and take actions that maximize its chances at success at
some goal.
The last couple years, the industry has been mostly focused on machine learning.
Machine learning occurs when a machine observes output and the accuracy of it,
and changes its own actions to improve future output. In short, a machine uses
experiences to learn and improve
A third new development in Supply Chain Management is robotic process
automation. Smart robots can automate common operational processes in a
business, with the help of machine learning and artificial intelligence, as discussed
in the previous paragraph. Additionally, natural language processing(NLP) is used
in order to ensure better human interaction. Robotic process automation is
supposed to identify the required inventory levels and consequently match them
with the actual inventory, without the need of human interaction. The data
produced by robotic process automation can be analysed and used to improve
the processes, resulting in a greater efficiency.
Firstly, it makes it easier to adapt to demand of customers and to scale up
operations more quickly. Secondly, staffing costs can be significantly reduced.
Additionally, a company will suffer less from human errors, resulting in a higher
quality of output. However, robotic process automation does not come without
its challenges. Implementing it too quickly or not integrating it properly might
lead to financially challenging overheads. Also, poor automation can lead to
incorrect output that is hard to resolve.
Conclusion
Digitalization will have a huge impact on Supply Chain management. The use of
innovative digital technologies will simplify and standardize processes.
This article outlined the various benefits of using new technologies for supply
chain management. Autonomous robotics, AI, RPA and blockchains will help in the
digitalization of logistics and increase the ability of companies to get more profit
at this stage. Manufacturers can get more, and consumers can pay less.
We showed that the use of blockchain technology in the digitalization of SCM has
significant potential benefits that are relevant to a growing logistics
infrastructure. Among the main ones, it is worth expanding the scope of
interaction due to the disappearance of physical boundaries to establish close
relationships, increasing the speed of operations, increasing the transparency of
doing business, increasing security and reducing the risks of fraud, as well as
minimizing the risks of errors and reducing the level of costs due to the full
automation of the interaction process.
Also, the IoT, along with blockchain, plays a large role in the process of
digitalization and has a huge impact on it. The Internet of Things in logistics can be
used to exchange and combine data between multiple devices and sources, which
gives a practical advantage in the future from supply chains - not only in
management and decision-making, but also the loading, delivery and distribution
of cargo. To put it all in a nutshell, we can say that the digitalization of the supply
chain will lead to a greater advantage in the field of logistics, as during this
research we saw that the introduction of new technologies gives growth in profit,
reduces costs and also accelerates logistics processes.