There is never a dull moment at the Gartner Supply Chain Xpo shows and, thanks to their superb locations in the US and Europe, neither will there be dull weather. Come May 6 (for the US Xpo in Orlando) and June 10 (for Xpo Barcelona), the “who’s who” in industry will be networking, learning and innovating in all things supply chain.
Actually, in my own experience, the weather goes unnoticed, as each of the brief three-day shows are packed with so much content and expertise that I rarely get to step outside the conference facilities. This year will be the same, as supply chain challenges continue to be as impactful and unpredictable as ever.
As an exhibitor at both shows each year, we are privileged to speak with supply chain professionals and discuss some of their key issues and opportunities. In 2023, we heard from many organizations about challenges in the workforce due to the shortage of talent and skills required to manage complex supply chains, leading to knowledge gaps in planning and execution. We also heard about the difficulty in reacting to rapid changes in supply and demand and the need for better tools and processes to plan with more agility. Most importantly, we also heard many supply chain owners speak to the fact that their supply chain problems actually had root causes outside their organization – especially in manufacturing and engineering.
Addressing the ripple effect
Since Dassault Systèmes has deep expertise in every aspect of the product lifecycle (from “Design to Delivery” as we like to say), we have consistently seen how each stage of the lifecycle is interconnected and interdependent with the others. For example, the upstream and downstream ripple effects when engineering makes a change, or when manufacturing faces unexpected disruption. These ripples can have significant influences on overall customer fulfillment and supply chain costs, and the inability to quickly evaluate the holistic impact has serious business repercussions.
My prediction is that 2024 will see a continuation of these sorts of conversations due to the ongoing disruption of global and local events combined with the continued increase in demand for complex and personalized products. The state of global inflation is also becoming a more persistent factor as interests rates remain high, driving increasing cost of products for consumers.
Countering escalating challenges
To counter some of these escalating challenges, we are seeing very strong interest in the use of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) to help with the analysis and decision making required to navigate supply chain disruptions. Although many companies still rely upon spreadsheets and manual methods (either completely or partly) to support their S&OP and planning processes, it is rare that you will see these methods being used to run truly resilient supply chain programs. To be able to weather the storms created by innovation and disruption, automation and optimization are must-have technologies: there is simply too much data and too many variables to be considered for even small companies to be responsive and agile.
At DELMIA, we have a long record of accomplishment of advanced planning optimization. We have also been hard at work more recently on a range of capabilities related to what we call “Data Science Experiences.” In other words, helping customers make sense of current and past planning data, in order to better predict the future. In these areas, even the best statistical models can fail due to the unprecedented levels of disruption, but the unique capabilities of Machine Learning can have a huge impact. ML’s ability to see patterns in data (both owned and third-party) can be the missing link that helps decision makers develop truly resilient plans.
Learning more about the supply chain
Incidentally, if you would learn more about this particular aspect of supply chain, I will be speaking at the Gartner Xpo in Orlando on Monday May 9 on the topic “Unleashing Supply Chain Resiliency using AI and Virtual Twins”. If you’re not coming to the show, you can also download our eBook on the same topic here.
So, while I don’t think myself, or any of the DELMIA team exhibiting at the Gartner Xpo shows will be in any danger of getting too much sun, I can guarantee that we’re going to be getting a whole lot of networking and education (both given and received) which is something you can’t really ever get too much of.
We look forward to meeting with you in person. We are at Booth 815 in Orlando (and watch for our Barcelona booth location soon). If you are not able to travel to the shows, then reach out and connect with us in your home town – we would love to hear from you!