Supply-chain disruptions are inevitable, so shippers need to have multiple plans to deal with those headaches, says Dennis Anderson, chief innovation officer at ArcBest.

The three biggest supply-chain disruptions that operators are most concerned with today are labor shortages, operational inefficiencies and safety issues, Anderson says. While technology isn’t always the answer to those problems, it certainly can help, and robotics and artificial intelligence are among the top solutions available.

“We're seeing some significant change in how people use data to learn more about these inefficiencies or safety challenges and exactly what to go do to address them,” he says. “Leveraging those things with robotics and automation is certainly a way to address a lot of those challenges.” 

In transportation, data capture is instrumental in saving costs, especially in fuel consumption, by routing trucks more efficiently either in the city or in linehaul over the road.

In logistics, things go wrong from time to time, and staying informed about trends and solutions is a primary way a company can “future-proof” itself against supply-chain disruptions. At the same time, Anderson says, a company doesn’t come up with a technology in search of a problem. It’s important to understand up front what pain points already exist. Knowing that first can determine the tools and technology needed.

From the third-party logistics provider’s perspective, it’s important to realize that innovation is an iterative process. “A lot of times the initial solution that you imagined is not the one that lands and the one that ultimately works,” Anderson says. “So there's a lot of collaboration, a lot of communication and partnership that has to go on between a logistics provider and the shipper. It’s important that there's a feedback loop and understanding of what is actually working if an innovation is to take hold.”