“ Its Frito-Lay manufacturing plant uses lasers to hit chips and then listen to the sounds coming off the chip to determine Venky Arun
SUPPLY CHAIN
So which organisations does Venky feel are best-practice leaders in supply chain digitisation ?
He begins with a rider , saying that digitisation of supply chains “ is still in its early stage ” and that most companies “ are working on improving the what , where , and how they digitise their supply chain ”.
PepsiCo ‘ digitally mature ’ He adds : “ There is no one leader in digitisation , but we do see companies that have more mature digital capabilities .”
Such as PepsiCo , which Venky says is using one of its biggest brands – Frito-Lay – to launch new Industry 4.0 initiatives .
“ Its Frito-Lay manufacturing plant uses lasers to hit chips and then listen to the sounds coming off the chip to determine Venky Arun
TITLE : PARTNER OF STRATEGIC OPERATIONS
COMPANY : KEARNEY INDUSTRY : PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
Arun has been with Kearney for over 10 years . He was previously Vice President and Associate Partner . He was previously an Associate Engineer with Accenture . texture . Algorithms process the sound and determine the chip texture to automate the quality check for Frito-Lay ’ s chip processing systems .”
Another example is UPS , which is using an AI-powered GPS tool called ORION ( On-road Integrated Optimisation and Navigation ) to create the most efficient routes for its fleet .
“ Customers , drivers , and vehicles submit data to the machine , which then uses algorithms to create the most optimal routes ,” he explains . “ Instead of backtracking or getting stuck in traffic , ORION helps drivers make their deliveries on time and in the most efficient manner . The routes can even be changed on-the-go , depending on road conditions and other factors .
Asked what his advice to businesses would be if they could afford to digitalise just one aspect of their supply chain , he returns to the subject of customer-led decision making .
“ The customer is at the core of any supply chain . Availability of the right product at the right time is becoming more and more important and that ’ s an area where digitisation can enable businesses to make more-accurate inventory decisions .
“ Digitisation and advanced analytics can help predict consumer habits and forecast seasonal demand to minimise the costs of overstocking excess inventory . When applied to demand forecasting , AL and ML principles create highly accurate predictions of future demand .”
Here , he gives the example of US retail giant Walmart , which is using AI- and ML-based predictions to balance its network “ and is placing inventory in the right location , at the right time ”.