The great supply chain meltdown of the past few years still hangs over Canadians as consumers face the possibility of empty shelves and shortages when we can least afford them.
At pharmacies, we are seeing bare shelves where essential cold and flu medicine should be. At supermarkets, we are seeing empty bins where fresh fruits and vegetables should be. At auto dealerships, lots that were once filled with shiny new vehicles are now near empty, with customers being told they must wait months for new orders to be delivered. Cities like Regina and Windsor are being reported to still facing a baby formula shortage.
At the same time, it was reported Canadian farmers were throwing out enough fresh produce to feed entire provinces.
Canada is falling behind in the race to improve the performance and reliability of our supply chain. The sooner we face the problem and take dramatic action, the sooner we will have long-term solutions.
Many factors brought us here. Some we knew about, like obsolete technology and infrastructure. Others caught us by surprise, like a labour shortage in the middle of pandemic-induced economic uncertainty.
Source: Toronto Daily Star
Date: March 3rd, 2023
Discussion
- “Assetflo, a venture that deploys machine learning and AI algorithms to track inventory movement across the supply chain and optimizes operations at large warehouses and distribution centres via localization that works both indoors and outdoors. Their customers report a massive reduction in delays in order processing for on-time delivery.”
What is “localization”?
It is getting information (data) on inventory down to the shelf-level. That is, exactly and precisely where something is, not just “in the warehouse” - “Demand forecasting is an essential but misunderstood part of supply chain management. Real-time AI data collection and analysis produces immediate insights into the demand for a product right down to the minute and square kilometre.”
How might this software work, in general terms?
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