• Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Supplier Directory
  • SCB YouTube
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Logout
  • My Profile

  • CORONAVIRUS
  • LOGISTICS
    • Air Cargo
    • All Logistics
    • Express/Small Shipments
    • Facility Location Planning
    • Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
    • Global Gateways
    • Global Logistics
    • Last Mile Delivery
    • Logistics Outsourcing
    • LTL/Truckload Services
    • Ocean Transportation
    • Rail & Intermodal
    • Reverse Logistics
    • Service Parts Management
    • Transportation & Distribution
  • TECHNOLOGY
    • All Technology
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud & On-Demand Systems
    • Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
    • ERP & Enterprise Systems
    • Forecasting & Demand Planning
    • Global Trade Management
    • Inventory Planning/ Optimization
    • Product Lifecycle Management
    • Sales & Operations Planning
    • SC Finance & Revenue Management
    • SC Planning & Optimization
    • Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
    • Supply Chain Visibility
    • Transportation Management
  • GENERAL SCM
    • Business Strategy Alignment
    • Education & Professional Development
    • Global Supply Chain Management
    • Global Trade & Economics
    • HR & Labor Management
    • Quality & Metrics
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • SC Security & Risk Mgmt
    • Supply Chains in Crisis
    • Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility
  • WAREHOUSING
    • All Warehouse Services
    • Conveyors & Sortation
    • Lift Trucks & AGVs
    • Order Fulfillment
    • Packaging
    • RFID, Barcode, Mobility & Voice
    • Robotics
    • Warehouse Management Systems
  • INDUSTRIES
    • Aerospace & Defense
    • Apparel
    • Automotive
    • Chemicals & Energy
    • Consumer Packaged Goods
    • E-Commerce/Omni-Channel
    • Food & Beverage
    • Healthcare
    • High-Tech/Electronics
    • Industrial Manufacturing
    • Pharmaceutical/Biotech
    • Retail
  • REGIONS
    • Asia Pacific
    • Canada
    • China
    • Europe
    • Latin America
    • Middle East/Africa
    • North America
  • THINK TANK
  • WEBINARS
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
  • PODCASTS
  • VIDEOS
  • WHITEPAPERS
Home » Q&A | A.I. Comes to Supply-Chain Education

Q&A | A.I. Comes to Supply-Chain Education

November 20, 2018
Robert J. Bowman, SupplyChainBrain

The traditional "Beer Game" gets a makeover with the application of artificial intelligence.

A.I. and machine learning promise to revolutionize not just supply-chain education, but the everyday lives of planners and analysts, according to Sara Hoormann, principal with OpexAnalytics.

Q: Give us a quick reminder of what the Beer Game is.

Hoormann: Most people, especially if they've been in a supply-chain MBA or undergrad program, have probably sat down at a table and played the Beer Game. It’s a collaborative game where there are four spots on the supply chain. Everyone is looking to place orders to not run out, to make sure that they're supplying upstream and downstream. It teaches the Bullwhip Effect, caused by the innate, human panic when they receive demand that they know they can't fill. So they over-order, and then under-order, because they don't want to pay for overstock. It teaches you to look at the whole supply-chain, and the impact of visibility and information-sharing.

Q: The Beer Game has been an important part of supply-chain training for many years. Now we’re bringing artificial intelligence to it. How does that affect the use of this training tool?

Hoormann: We worked with a senior research associate at Lehigh University to show how A.I. and deep neural net activity could make operational decisions for a company. The idea was to train a reinforcement-learning algorithm to play the Beer Game, and show people what it's able to do. In the game, there are two options. You can play against the A.I., or you can play with it on your team, and see if it calms the panic and the Bullwhip Effect. In most cases, the A.I. wins.

Q: So the machine is making better decisions?

Hoormann: Yes, it’s finding patterns and teasing them out. That's what deep learning is doing. It’s able to go much further than people can go visually or manually, and identify patterns and features that lead to better decisions in the long run. But I would never say that complete automation is the way to go. If A.I. is making a better decision 90 percent of the time, then planners are then freed up to make more intelligent decisions about those other 5 or 10 or 5 percent. Then can just monitor it, instead of having to do all of the manual, laborious processes that they usually have to do. A.I. is going to find its niche in learning and making good decisions here for most of it.

Q: As the years go by, will machines take over more and more of these decisions, and the human role become more diminished?

Hoormann: Probably, yes. But it frees up humans to concentrate on things like acquiring new suppliers for a new product. Oftentimes when we talk about A.I., there’s this fear that it's going to replace everyone. It will replace certain job functions, but it will also allow humans to make the more crucial, one-off, alert-based decisions, as opposed to spending their time doing mundane tasks.

Q: Are we talking a technology that’s essentially reactive? Or is it something that has predictive capabilities, so that you can prepare for things in a better way?

Hoormann: It can do both. In the case of projects we've done with clients in the past, the system is just alerting the customer-service agent or planner to the potential for an issue based on something it's seen before, so they can take corrective action up front.

Q: How is this changing the skillset required of supply-chain professionals in the future?

Hoormann: We want people who are well-versed in all the technologies that are out there. But it’s also about how they approach a problem, and figure out the core drivers behind it.

Q: So we need more people with analytical skills?

Hoormann: Yes. It’s a challenge, though. We face this problem every day, when we’re looking at recruiting. We might have a person who’s super-technical, but also needs to be able to relate to the client, who knows the problem and application to the business really well. The team we have is very diverse; I think that's what it requires. It doesn't always come down to one person. It's a team environment, the bringing together of these two skills.

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED VIDEOS

Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain) Supply Chain Planning & Optimization Technology Education & Professional Development
KEYWORDS Big Data/IOT Education & Professional Development SC Planning & Optimization Technology
  • Related Articles

    Q&A | A New Approach to Acquiring Supply-Chain Technology

    Q&A: Matching Supply Chain Training to 21st-Century Needs

Robert J. Bowman, SupplyChainBrain

Watch: Can Colleges Help Close the Supply Chain Talent Gap?

More from this author

Wake up to live
“Supply Chains in Crisis”
updates and the latest Supply Chain News!

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter

Timely, incisive articles delivered directly to your inbox.

Popular Stories

  • Medical drone

    Amazon May Be Proof That Delivery Drones Aren’t Practical

    Last Mile Delivery
  • digital work

    Supply Chain Managers Are Quitting in Unprecedented Numbers

    Coronavirus
  • North Jakarta, Indonesia

    Physical, Financial Visibility: A Dual Approach to Supply Chain Resilience

    Supply Chain Planning & Optimization
  • Heat Wave Triggers Blackouts

    Vast Swath of U.S. at Risk of Summer Blackouts, Regulator Warns

    Supply Chain Security & Risk Mgmt
  • Worker using tablet

    Podcast | Stitching Together the Physical and Digital Supply Chain

    Technology

Digital Edition

Scb may 2022 sm

2022 Supply Chain ESG Guide

VIEW THE LATEST ISSUE

Case Studies

  • 3PL Doubles Productivity With Robots to Fulfill Medical Supply Orders

  • E-Commerce Company Cuts Order Fulfillment Time by 40%

  • Fashion Retailer Halves Fulfillment Time With Omichannel Automation

  • Distributor Scales Business by Integrating Warehouse Automaton Software

  • Fast-Growing Fashion Brand Scales E-Commerce Fulfillment With Whiplash

Visit Our Sponsors

Yang Ming Alithya Barcoding
Blue Yonder BNSF Logistics Generix
GEP GIB USA GreyOrange
Here Honeywell Intelligrated Inmar
Keelvar Kinaxis Korber
Liberty SBF Locus Robotics Lucas Systems
Nvidia Old Dominion Parsyl
Redwood Logistics Saddle Creek Logistics Schneider Dedicated
Setlog Holding AG Ship4WD Shipwell
Tecsys TGW Systems Thomson Reuters
Tive Trailer Bridge Vecna Robotics
Whiplash    
  • More From SCB
    • Featured Content
    • Video Library
    • Think Tank Blog
    • SupplyChainBrain Podcast
    • Whitepapers
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
  • Digital Offerings
    • Digital Issue
    • Subscribe
    • Manage Your Subscription
    • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Events Calendar
    • SCB's Great Supply Chain Partners
    • Supplier Directory
    • Case Study Showcase
    • Supply Chain Innovation Awards
    • 100 Great Partners Form
  • SCB Corporate
    • Advertise on SCB.COM
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • Data Sharing Opt-Out

All content copyright ©2022 Keller International Publishing Corp All rights reserved. No reproduction, transmission or display is permitted without the written permissions of Keller International Publishing Corp

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing