SUPPLY CHAIN
What infrastructure challenges are organisations facing as they scale AI?
IGNASI: The most interesting near-term development is AI that doesn’ t just surface information but helps coordinate action. Instead of flagging a disruption, it maps the downstream impact, pulls up response options and helps move the right people toward a decision faster. That shift from insight to coordination is where a lot of the next wave of value will come from.
Further out, there’ s real potential in scenario planning, which means using supply chain data to simulate how a disruption would play out before it fully develops, so teams can evaluate their options before they’ re in crisis mode. That could genuinely change how manufacturers approach resilience planning.
But both of those things depend on a data foundation that actually reflects what’ s happening in operations. We talk to a lot of manufacturers who want to jump straight to the advanced capabilities, digital twins, autonomous orchestration, predictive everything, before the foundation is in place. The conversation almost always comes back to the same question: Do your systems currently give you a reliable picture of what’ s happening? If not, the advanced capabilities won’ t deliver what you’ re hoping for. The most exciting innovations aren’ t a shortcut around the foundational work. They’ re built on top of it. manufacturingdigital. com 117