Supply Chain Collaborative Technology

The supply chain has always provided leadership in the use of technology to delivery on promises and now provides leadership in the use of collaborative technologies and Internet of Things technology to deliver results and promise of new capabilities.  The supply chain is at the forefront of leveraging technologies and partner relationships to meet the changing demands of the marketplace. These technologies are focused on collaboration and extending capabilities in ways that not only support market demands but also and probably most importantly disrupting the market by combining technologies and collaborative practices.  The supply chain is best placed for these types of developments and experimentation because of the engineered practices that are part of the supply chain DNA and also the demands on the supply chain to control costs.

There is no better example than the experimentation in the supply chain with blockchain and drone technologies and capabilities.  The blockchain technologies provide support for market demands to track and trace products through the supply chain and the the drone technologies provide support for controlling costs and supporting capability demands in a changing workplace and workforce.  Over and over the supply chain has displayed an openness and drive to incorporate technologies that can support not only the demands of the market and also the demands of the supply chain to improve and increase collaborative capabilities across the supply chain partners.  These tendencies and drive to experiment with technologies to meet the demands of the supply chain market and partners only increases in velocity as time and technologies progress.

The supply chain must continuously renew and expand in order to adjust to the market demands and the supply chain in particular is a great example of a network that imitates a living organism in the collaborative network to support the demands of the market.  Again, these capabilities and practices in the supply chain network are the result of the demands of the market and the extensive partner network and increase in specialized service providers. The supply chain has long ago learned the importance of collaboration to support the market demands and in addition, the supply chain has also recognized early the importance of flexibility and especially specialized service providers to deliver on the specialized needs of the supply chain in an on demand basis.  These practices came about and were nurtured by the supply chain engineering foundation that incorporates the continuous improvement model to evaluate and incorporate change.

The market demands to contain costs encouraged the supply chain to develop a strong network of collaborative partners to support these demands.  This network of collaborative partners is probably the greatest strength of the network by providing the basis and framework to encourage the collaborative practices. I think that the collaborative partners provide the basis for the supply chain to grow and further disrupt the marketplace.  I see the collaborative partnerships as the single greatest differentiating factor between the supply chain network and other networks in the business marketplace. Like so many other disrupting developments across the many marketplaces, the supply chain has grown into this force through a series of changes and partnerships that have become a significant force for change.