supply chains

Within ten years, the global supply chains have undergone tremendous change with the advent of e-commerce and digital platforms like Amazon. These have contributed greatly to the supply chain with Direct-to-Home product delivery systems. But due to the COVID-19 pandemic effect, the number of packages to transfer products has declined greatly. During the pandemic’s hit, sourcing PPE kits, testing kits have exposed the fragmentation in the global supply chain. After that, vaccinating people also highlighted the need for a robust global supply chains. These challenges also influenced the dynamics of global trade. 

Bearing this in mind, the emerging industries post-pandemic will need to reinvest supply chains in a way to tackle many more problems of such in the future. This can be possible only with the help of digital technologies. But, to fully understand the trends that will shape next-gen supply chains it is vital to decoding digital technologies. 

The digital supply chains is more of a product journey that takes place in the digital tracking systems. But unfortunately, the visibility of the chain of tracking the vents in the digital world is not used by all industries. The demand for this type of digital supply chains is huge since governments, businesses, and consumers are looking towards these kinds of technologies. Thankfully new trends shaping the next-generation supply chains can take root in the end-consumer demand businesses. 

Blockchains have gained popularity with cryptocurrencies. In terms of digital ledger technology (DLT), data records are created and updated with the consent of all parties who are involved in the business process. This can bring trust in data since it is immutable. 

AI technologies such as augmented intelligence, machine learning, and smart technologies are evolving day by day at a faster pace. While talking about the supply chains, all three have their roles to contribute. AI machines are capable of analyzing and predicting the demand of data which can help the manufacturers achieve an efficient supply chain that is cost-effective too. 

Coming to GS1 serialization, it is a standard technique used to concoct numbers and characters that are providing product consignments with a unique identity. This technique is developed by GS1, an international, non-profit organization that publishes a system of supply chains standards, serialization works on security and scalability. Today GS1 standards are used by more than 2 million companies operating in 145 different countries. 

With consumers focusing more on safety, ethical sourcing, climate change, the demand for provenance tracking is yet to explode. Several governments have already started to work on preparing regulations to track provenance information. This is already witnessed by the healthcare industry where countries are following the lead taken by US DSCSA and European FMD. 

All these technologies and their convergence can greatly contribute to providing robust and secured visibility of the product and its journey. The increasing demand for provenance tracking is an indication for businesses to build a great supply chains future.