Technology Issue: Enter the “great digestion” era

It seems clear the “great automation acceleration” period that gained momentum during the pandemic is now shifting into what we’re calling the “great digestion” era.

If you were lucky enough to walk the floor at Modex in Atlanta earlier this year, you would have felt awash in new automation innovations geared to improve efficiency and accuracy, speed order cycle and fulfillment times, alleviate strains on the workforce, and ultimately enhance customer satisfaction.

With so much AI-enhanced software, advanced automation systems, robotics, and mobility being introduced—and now being put to the test and proven out as integrated solutions in many operations—we now need time to absorb it before we can make practical and sound decisions.

But how should this be done? That’s the big question that we hope this year’s Technology Issue may help answer.

I think Bryan Jensen, chairperson and executive vice president of supply chain consultancy St. Onge Co., puts it into perspective well: “Right now, it’s akin to approaching a magnificent buffet when you’re ravenous. One certainly can’t eat everything. The key is to decide how much of which choices you need to get the most satisfaction, and more importantly, avoid terminal indigestion. The right mix and measure is personal, just as the right mix and measure of automation will be unique to your operation’s needs.”

A good appetizer would be to start on page 16 where contributing editor Bridget McCrea rounds up the state of the core supply chain management (SCM) software applications that create the very foundation on which the digital supply chain is built.

“The days of slow, invisible supply chains that ‘worked behind the scenes’ continue to fade in the rearview mirror,” says McCrea. “Today, companies are improving their demand forecasting and gaining real-time visibility across their networks, and at the heart of these improvements are the mission-critical SCM applications being put to work by the modern shipper. Those static forecasts based on historical data are long gone.”

A staple on our Technology Issue menu is our Annual Technology Roundtable that I’ve conducted for the past 20 years. This year I’m honored to be joined by Brock Johns, senior principal analyst at Gartner; Norm Saenz, partner, managing director at St. Onge Company; Howard Turner, director, supply chain systems at St. Onge Company; and Dwight Klappich, vice president and fellow at Gartner.

These thought leaders offer their unique insights into the current logistics management environment; the challenges that environment has created; and where we really stand in terms of applying the latest software, automation, and robotics innovations to help streamline operations in 2024. Some of their responses may come as a surprise.

And while Gartner’s Klappich offers a terrific take on how we’re starting to see an evolution in the robotics market, moving from a single robot platform doing a single task to holistic robotics systems, editor at large Gary Forger wraps up this year’s Technology Issue with his look at where we stand with autonomous mobile robots (AMRs)—one of the true pioneering robotics solutions.

“I’ve heard estimates that tens of thousands of AMRs are deployed worldwide because the mission is simple: reduce the cost of shipping everything,” says Forger. “You could say the benefit of AMRs has been fully digested.”