仓库自动化策略与优化

From Automationto Autonomy:The Supply Chain2035 RoadmapGartner for Supply Chain Introduction Over the next 10 years, businesses will progressively delegate decision-makingauthority to technology. Chief supply chain officers (CSCOs) and supply chainheads of strategy must prepare to respond to the opportunity of hyperautomationand responsibly manage the implications on the workforce. To corroborate thishypothesis and help CSCOs establish the right path forward, we collected researchfindings across Gartner, with a focus on two key enablers. 1. The evolution of technologies, from emerging to mainstream.The Gartner HypeCycle for Supply Chain Strategy, 2020 estimates that technologies such as roboticprocess automation (RPA) will reach the Plateau of Productivity in two to five years.Next, digital supply chain twins, supply chain control tower, blockchain in supply chainand machine learning (ML) are expected to reach the plateau in five to 10 years. Finally,AI will need more than 10 years to plateau. 2. The evolution of the workforce, specifically digital natives or Gen Z enteringthe workforce.Members of Gen Z are often described as digital natives becausethey have been familiar with digital technologies their entire lives. Gen Z, prepared tochallenge the digital status quo, is expected to be the innovator. CSCOs should activelypursue the opportunity to hire members of Gen Z, and should maximize the effectthese younger employees can have on supply chain digitalization. To prepare for the next 10 years and beyond, CSCOsshould consider the following three steps as theyput together their strategy and roadmap to thehyperautomated supply chain of the future. Figure 1 maps out the path of supply chain autonomy against the potential careerpaths of Gen Z. Step 1:Automation by 2025 Over the past 40 years, companies have invested a lot to automate routine administrativetasks through ERP implementation, and made substantial investments in industrialautomation and robotics to streamline their physical operations. There remains a greatnumber of tasks and processes that can be further automated, especially acrosstransactional processes and decision making. RPA is rapidly emerging as a low-hangingfruit, especially to streamline processes such as procure to pay, order management andcustomer claim management. Gartner estimates that more than 70% of commercialenterprises have dozens of hyperautomation initiatives underway. These initiatives aretoo often disparate or siloed, and they are either not aligned to business outcomes ornot coordinated with business objectives across functions. Over the next five years, CSCOs are expected to roll out more coordinated and business-impactful RPA initiatives as the technology is maturing and experiencing mainstreamadoption. As members of Gen Z start to be hired, employees’ mindsets toward digitalizationwill also expect to mature, preparing the ground for the next level in this model. Step 2:Augmentation by 2030 Over the following five years, a range of technologies are expected to reach thePlateau of Productivity, making hyperautomation capable of automating more complextasks and decisions with increasing intelligence. Hyperautomation will help automatecomplex tasks and decisions that have typically required human judgment (e.g., selectingacross multiple planning scenarios), significantly expanding human capabilities, andincreasing the accuracy and speed of decision making (e.g., finding insights intoterabytes of real-time data). Companies at this level will employ humans to controland orchestrate the automated supply chain, leaving technology to do most of theheavy lifting. As Gen Z employees start to reach leading positions, the process of adoptinghyperautomation will speed up. As awareness and acceptance for hyperautomationgrow, we expect CSCOs will launch more holistic, end-to-end initiatives clearly tiedto business objectives. Step 3:Autonomy in 10+ Years The final destination is supply chain autonomy, when all traditional human low-valueactivities in the supply chain will be fully automated. This might happen sometime after2030, when AI, maturing along with “human augmentation” provides the prospect ofa fully automated supply chain. This supply chain will have minimal direct humaninvolvement and interference from a traditional work perspective, which will suit theexpectations of digitally native Gen Z employees very well. All of the supply chainleaders we interviewed agree that, sometime after 2030, a large majority of their supplychain activities will most likely become fully autonomous and self-healing. However,they don’t expect a lights-off supply chain, with no people at all. They all agree thathyperautomation supplies an opportunity to free up people’s time for the value-addedwork that only humans can perform. Redefining supply chain strategy, driving innovation, taking care of customer serviceand experience, and controlling AI data and decision making are supply chai