The pandemic underscored the critical role of supply chains in organizational operations, highlighting the need for resilience. This was further emphasized by events like the Suez Canal blockage in 2021. As we transition beyond the pandemic, integrating AI into supply chain management is increasingly vital, offering the potential to transform these systems into more resilient and efficient frameworks.
AI, a multifaceted field, is capable of performing tasks traditionally requiring human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision making, and language translation. It’s true power lies in learning and adapting over time, making it a significant technological advancement.
SAP has integrated AI capabilities across its cloud applications, notably through Joule, a natural language, generative AI co-pilot. Joule can be incorporated with SAP Build Process automation, allowing users to generate workflows using natural language requests. In supply chain management, particularly within SAP S/4 Transportation Management, AI can deliver substantial benefits.
1. Joule Co-Pilot in the Transportation Cockpit
Joule enhances user interaction with the transportation cockpit, offering numerous benefits to transportation planners. These professionals can use Joule to plan transportation demand, identify the cheapest carriers, explore alternative routes, and conduct "what if" scenarios.
Text to Action: Traditionally, transportation planners perform actions through numerous clicks. With Joule, they can issue commands like “Plan all open demand with a Good Issue date in the next 2 days” or “Plan all freight units originating from Peachtree City.” Joule’s data model is trained to execute these commands, querying datasets and performing planning actions accordingly.
2. Freight Rating
Freight rating involves analyzing historical freight spend by carrier, lane, and product. AI can analyze trends, seasonality, peak season volumes, and carrier performance to predict future freight rates. This information is invaluable for procurement negotiations and transportation planners. Customer service agents can also benefit by obtaining accurate freight costs for specific lanes and adding markups based on trends.
3. What-If Simulation
A significant gap in logistics has been the lack of effective what-if simulation scenarios. AI can simulate scenarios such as the impact of changing product weight on routing and freight costs or comparing savings between LTL and FTL shipping. Joule can temporarily alter master data for simulations without affecting the core database, empowering businesses to assess changes before implementation.
4. Logs and Change Tracking
Understanding why certain actions result in specific outcomes has been challenging. Change documents and application logs are often insufficient. Joule can analyze change documents and provide summaries, offering impact analyses of changes. This capability reduces the need for internal IT support and enhances user understanding of system interactions.
We are on the cusp of a new revolution in supply chain management, with AI at its core. By exploring and implementing AI use cases within the SAP S/4 Digital Supply Chain suite, we can significantly enhance operational efficiency and resilience. By adapting and evolving our approach, we can harness the power of AI to build more resilient and efficient supply chains, ensuring operational excellence in a post-pandemic world. \
We at ArchLynk are excited to hear about your experiences and ideas. If you have any AI use cases in mind, please share them with us. You can submit your AI use cases here, and our team will get back to you to explore potential collaborations. Together, we can drive innovation and achieve remarkable results in supply chain management.
