4 minute read
Technology
Innovative approaches
How smart wearables, IoT and AI-powered software can enable and enhance remote operations across the supply chain.
By Rami Darwish
Apainful experience from more than two years of worldwide disruption is identifying the vulnerability of the supply chain model that was shaped by past globalization.
While by the end of 2021 more than half of office workers had relocated their workstations to their homes to keep up productivity even during a pandemic, it is the digitization of deskless workers – comprising about 80 per cent of the global workforce – that is now moving into the focus of public attention.
How to make global supply chains more resilient? With exogenous shocks expected to occur – Covid-19 and the invasion of Ukraine just being the most recent examples – enhancing supply chain operation’s efficiency, adaptability and nimbleness is imperative for companies who want to navigate the new reality of a less predictable global market.
Employing smart solutions in workflow management of field services is a crucial aspect of achieving the efficiency gains necessary to profit in this challenging environment. The awareness that smart wearables, IoT- and AI-powered software can open new sources of revenue in industries traditionally constituting the backbone of supply chains – manufacturing, oil & gas, logistics, infrastructure, raw materials, maritime or construction – has enticed a wave of technological advances.
First, there is the large amount of tracking, documenting and data collecting work, which in remote work environments even today still relies on outdated technologies – like written logs and other ‘pen & paper’ workflow management tools.
Not only are these methods expensive and time-consuming for frontline workers as well as the back office – they are also prone to error and inhibit large-scale data analysis to better understand inefficiencies in the business.
Secondly, mobile applications, IoT devices and wearables – like smart watches – finally bring digitization to deskless workers. While office workers have been equipped by companies with high-end tools for more than a decade, only a fraction of corporate expenditure on digital solutions has targeted workers in the field.
Take a complex work environment typical of supply chain operations at the junction of different industries – for example, large ports. New technologies provide workers with the capability to manage a multitude of tasks, problems and incidences. Information can be reported in real-time and accurately. Seamless communication between back office and frontline staff enables correct incident identification and makes timely, appropriate responses possible.
This equally applies to the area of scheduling and dispatching of personnel. AI algorithms and machine learning software are able to learn from the vast amounts of data collected during operations, providing mission control with a bird’s-eye view unattainable by traditional methods of workflow management.
The efficiency gains connected to such improvements are extraordinary, with some companies reporting 40 percent gains in efficiency, as well as reductions as high as 20 percent in operating costs.
Lastly, the increased transparency afforded by these solutions casts a new light on decisionmaking and the allocation of responsibility within companies. If they are deeply embedded in a company’s operations and embraced by employees at all levels, they enable a wellcoordinated work environment with decisions that are traceable and understood by everyone involved.
Automation is still often falsely accused of threatening workers’ jobs. In contrast, it is perhaps the most meaningful improvement to frontline workers’ day-to-day jobs in decades. Smart software and wearables greatly enhance the productivity and self-reliance of the individual employee – decreasing administrative burdens and affording deskless workers to focus on their specialties, while increasing their stake in value creation.
Digital supply chains exist in the perilous continuum of progressively evolving globalization, novel fragmentation and areas of complete market decoupling – with opposed tendencies playing out their effects all at once, while consumers continue to expect the smooth functioning of just-in-time, compartmentalized global production chains. Answering these challenges requires innovative approaches.
The 21st century’s shortened supply chains reacting to rapid changes in business models or demand structure rely on several conditions – among them suitable regulation, a super-flexible workforce and risk-tolerant capital. Supply chain businesses may, however, increase their chances to succeed in this adverse environment by implementing today the huge technological progress now available to optimize their operations at every step of the value chain. D
For a list of the sources used in this article, please contact the editor.
Rami Darwish is CEO of Arrow Labs. Founded in 2011 with the mission to make deskless work simpler, better and more productive, Arrow Labs transforms the way companies manage field resources through smart technology wearables and services. Arrow Labs MIMS Software Platform enables frontline workers to delegate and collaborate on field operations intelligently and in real-time, helping businesses reduce operating costs by up to 20 percent and increase staff productivity by 30 percent. Headquartered in the UAE, Arrow Labs services clients across the globe, from industries such as facility management, maritime, hospitality, logistics, security, and oil & gas.
