Can Logistics Technology Replace Human Decision Makers?

You are head of transportation for a large apparel company with 2000 stores spread over 900 cities across India. Every week you ship over 20,000 boxes through 15 logistics partners from 6 warehouses.

• You get a call from the Head of Sales, blasting away about a shipment of the latest designer wear delayed by over 30 days
• Three states have just opened lockdowns, and you have to scramble to deliver material to stores or consumers. You have to ensure 3X capacity given the high season
• Your boss wants to release contracts for a logistics partner. He wants you to analyze the performance of 20 plus partners over the last three years and give him feedback. He also wants to check any impact of monsoon, festivals, marriage seasons, etc. on delivery time

Technology is the key to handling the above situations- real-time tracking, responsive transaction systems, and data analytics will help in the above cases.

Traditionally, the logistics industry has seen itself as a physical infrastructure industry with massive investments in vehicles, warehouses, ports, ships, etc. Also, most of the workforce is unskilled or semi-skilled. Thus, investment in logistic technologies was limited in handling specific functions of a company.

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