Supply Chain Disruption Fuels Investments in Technology

Nearly 80% of supply chain leaders say their digital transformation has accelerated due to the pandemic, according to a report released by MHI in collaboration with Deloitte, the 2022 MHI Annual Industry Report Evolution to Revolution: Building the Supply Chains of Tomorrow. As a result, investment in supply innovation over the next two years is expected to rise dramatically, according to the report, provides new insights into trends and technologies that are transforming supply chains and the priorities of the people who run them.

Of the 64% of respondents increasing investments, two out of three say they will spend more than $1 million over the next two years. Investments are particularly growing in the middle ranges from $5 million up to $100 million—where 41% say they spend more than $5 million and 18% say they will spend more than $10 million.

“Supply chain leaders have never been in a better position to drive impactful and lasting change for the industry,” said John Paxton, CEO of MHI. “With the white-hot media spotlight chronicling the after-effects of the pandemic, the importance of supply chain is finally coming into focus in boardrooms across the world.”

The 2022 report, the ninth in a series of annual industry reports published by MHI and Deloitte, provides updates on the innovative technologies that have the most potential to transform supply chains, including projected adoption rates of the next five years for each of the 11 categories of technology covered in the report and an analysis of common barriers to adoption.

The technologies covered in the report are:

• Artificial intelligence
• Predictive analytics
• Inventory and network optimization
• Robotics and automation
• Wearable and mobile technology
• Driverless vehicles and drones
• 3D printing
• Internet of Things
• Cloud computing and storage
• Sensors and automatic identification
• Blockchain

Supply chain technology adoption predicted to rise sharply

According to this year’s respondents, all technologies covered by the survey are expected to achieve an adoption rate of 66% or higher over the next five years. Cloud computing, which is now the standard platform for most supply chain software, continues to have the highest current adoption rate at 40%. Inventory and network optimization is expected to rise to the top over the next five years, with an expected adoption rate of 87% (in a statistical tie with cloud computing at 86%). However, artificial intelligence is expected to see the most accelerated growth—rising from 15% to 73% over the next five years, a nearly five-fold increase.

Click here to read the full feature in the digital version of MHI Solutions.