African Centre for Supply Chain (ACSC) has called for the adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven technology in the process of logistics and supply chain management in Nigeria.
AI technology enables logistics and supply chain companies to deploy data in their operations to ease supply chain management processes.
The Centre also predicted that AI technology has started ruling logistics and supply chain businesses such that the transformation is now seen in deploying autonomous drones and self-driving robotic vehicles for delivering of goods to customers.
Speaking at the second edition of the ACSC awards and dinner night held in Lagos recently, Obiora Madu, director general of ACSC, said the global supply chain industry is thriving on technology influenced by AI including Data Analytics, Machine Learning and robotics.
He said it has become important for the logistics and supply chain industry in Nigeria to start adopting the listed AI features to ease their operations.
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“The centre is currently propagating that the logistics and supply chain industry in Nigeria is beginning to adopt these technologies,” Madu said.
Pointing out that deploying Artificial Intelligence in the business of logistics and supply chain is not just the future but the present, Madu said the industry can start by automating its processes to prepare to adopt AI.
Madu said most of the companies selected as winners of the 2023 Supply Chain Excellence Awards are ready to deploy AI in their operations but many of them are not 100 percent Nigerian companies.
Delivering a paper on ‘Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Supply Chain,’ Chika Yinka-Banjo, associate professor and coordinator of AI and Robotics Lab, Department of Computer Science at the University of Lagos, said that AI can be deployed in the area of customer distribution using data collection.
She said all aspects of the supply chain are driven by data and AI is needed or used to make meaning out of data mined from social media marketing and selling, internet and other data collection sources.
Yinka-Banjo said data mined from Machinery can be sold to make money or stored using cloud computing, which was revolutionised by the internet.
“We need to take advantage of AI because it can eliminate corruption in the supply chain because there is an algorithm that monitors Human Resource and Finance operations without human intervention. In most cases, some supply chain managers collect money without delivering the expected goods, but AI eliminates such,” she said.
She said that AI is also used for Robotic process automation in the supply chain, and it addresses uncertainty in the supply chain when used for smart forecasting.
“AI helps in smart warehousing, procurement, demand forecasting, order replacement and it enables organisations to predict maintenance for companies to prepare for it,” she said.
Pointing out that AI enables organisations to practice proactive supply chains, Yinka-Banjo said technology is using data in operations to ease supply chain management.
…Holds supply chain excellence awards
The African Centre for Supply Chain also held the Supply Chain Excellence Award, Nigerian Bottling Company emerged winner of the Supply Chain Excellence Award; GPC Energy and Logistics Ltd emerged as the winner of Supply Chain Excellence in Transport and Logistics, while Cephas Abubakar Sidiku Afebuameh, group director of Supply Chain at FMN won the Supply Chain Personality/Manager of the year.
Kayode Momoh, general manager of Supply Chain at UAC Foods Ltd won the Procurement and Sourcing Excellence Award; UAC Foods Ltd won the Sustainability and Green Supply Chain Award; NITT won the Capacity Building/Development Award; MTN Nigeria plc won the Supply Chain Excellence Award in the Telecoms Sector while Starlink won the Supply Chain Excellence award of the year in Agric sector.
The award was followed by an investiture that saw to the induction of new fellows, members and associate members of the African Centre for Supply Chain.
