Page 27 - Logistics News - March_April 2022

TH O UGHT LEAD ERS HIP

Managing predictive

supply-demand cycles

By Melissa Jantjies, Business Solutions
Manager: Advanced Analytics and Artificial
Intelligence for SAS in South Africa

With events of the past two years severely disrupting supply chains
worldwide, organisations have had to rethink how they manage
product shortages amid increasing customer demand.

he global semiconductor chip shortage has had has become apparent is the need for all stakeholders in the
a negative impact on manufacturers reliant on supply chain to automate much of the time-consuming and
Tproducing electronics. And with some experts resource-intensive processes through advanced analytics,
predicting this could last until 2023, everyone from artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning.
automakers to computer companies and smartphone
manufacturers are feeling the pressure, with new orders In the pre-pandemic days, the supply chain was just
for cars and components facing massive delays. More another siloed process in the organisation. As the adoption
than ever, anticipating shipping disruptions and customer of AI in the organisation and the need for data scientists
demand have taken on mission-critical importance. have grown, the supply chain has become integrated into
the enterprise.
Rethinking the customer journey

Understanding the customer and deploying meaningful The future of predicting demand
communications are essential in today’s environment. But The ideal future state is where demand planners use
more than that, it is about elevating individual customer predictive, AI-driven demand planning. This sees them
journeys to ensure the right offers are delivered at the right becoming empowered to deal with whatever happens next,
time and in the right channels. Personalised guidance, even Black Swan events such as the pandemic.
as opposed to pushing products, will result in improved
engagement, a better overall experience and increased In this optimal environment, demand planners will
margin and revenues. bring more value to the business through automated,
accurate, fast forecasting activity. This will result in process
While this can effectively be done in the fast-moving improvements and collaboration across the company,
consumer goods segment, it is more challenging in the car benefitting customers and consumers as the organisation
sales segment. Central to managing electronics shortages, now gets powered by more advanced analytical capabilities.
which have already seen several automotive manufacturers
either delay new models or remove features from existing Demand planning is critical to the profitability of
models, is analytically driven demand planning. retailers, consumer goods and manufacturing operations
worldwide. The impact of getting it right or wrong on L O GI S T I CS NEWS
Embracing automation customer perceptions of a brand is significant. The
Incorporating technology in supply chain management pandemic has highlighted how disruption can strike at any
and demand planning has always been critical. But what time. •

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