The AI-Enabled Supply Chain: Driving Care with End-to-End Visibility & Enhanced Decision-Making
Artificial intelligence is shaping the supply chain ecosystem into a data-rich environment. From demand planning to direct-to-consumer delivery, continuous data ability and advancements in AI and analytics are setting a new standard in end-to-end visibility.
Advanced technology, namely control towers, digital twins and intelligent agents are transforming asset management with their enablement of more connected, and resilient supply chains. They empower businesses to navigate complexities and uncertainties with greater confidence, ultimately leading to improved performance and competitiveness in the market. For our ever-connected and personalized world, this insight is unlocking opportunities in industries where speed and precision is key.
To discuss the full impact of emerging tech on supply chain and its significance for life sciences and healthcare players, we gave the mic to two heavy hitters from our Supply Chain Solutions group: Aaron Attermann, Senior Manager, Business Consulting, Manufacturing and Joe Vernon, Principal, Business Consulting, Supply Chain Analytics.
What is meant by end-to-end visibility in the supply chain?
Aaron Attermann: When we talk about end-to-end visibility, we mean understanding the flow of materials through the supply chain — from where it's produced to where it's stored, to where it's used, and ultimately to the end person who goes home with that material.
At more advanced levels, this visibility includes tracking materials provided by sourcing companies for manufacturing purposes. The ultimate goal is to see materials from their extraction from the Earth, through manufacturing and distribution, all the way to their administration or implantation for a patient.
A good approach is to identify a practical starting point within your organization. Begin where it makes sense and gradually expand capabilities to eventually achieve full end-to-end visibility. This phased method is worthwhile because it helps you avoid decisions that could lead to issues like technical debt. Ultimately, we’re talking about the ability to follow everything as it moves through the process.
Joe Vernon: You’ll often hear about this concept, but basic visibility simply means having an accurate timely end-to-end snapshot of your supply chain — understanding where materials are and how much you have at any given time. However, there’s increasing demand for supply chains to be more detailed and granular. For example, you now need to track many more data points throughout the supply chain continuum — everything from raw materials that go into products to their end-of-life and potential recycling.
The challenge is how you meet these requirements, while also integrating all the visibility you need into execution systems, such as warehouse management, order management and transportation management. The landscape relies heavily on data and connectivity which is enabled by. Supply chains are becoming more collaborative.
Vendors are talking to other vendors, to customers, to patients and ultimately to end consumers. You have mobile devices, execution systems, social media and more, all of which need to communicate effectively. A collaborative environment is essential to making this level of visibility possible.
As a follow-up question, how does that help me better manage and maintain inventory in the overall supply chain?
JV: Every time you talk to a chief supply chain officer, the big questions are: Where is my stuff? How much do I have of it? What condition is it in? Can I get my hands on it? Did the customer get it? If so, when did they get it? Did they keep it? Is it coming back to me? Visibility aims to answer all these questions so you can manage inventory more confidently and precisely.
When we think about the ability to achieve visibility, the question then becomes, "Alright, great, I’ve built [a system for visibility], but what is it actually doing for me?"
I like to think of two tangible benefits: First, it enhances customer satisfaction and experience since you can confidently say, “I promised this would arrive at this time, and it did.” Second, once you have solid visibility, you can enable new business models and AI-enabled capabilities to innovate in operations and customer service.
This allows you to offer new services to customers or identify opportunities for competitive advantage.
AA: What you touched on there is critical. If you want to grow, open new channels and increase revenue, you need confidence in your ability to deliver products to the people who will consume them. This requires comprehensive knowledge of your inventory and how it’s managed.
The second piece is tied to becoming AI-enabled and operating as an intelligent enterprise. To do this effectively, you need a thorough understanding of your operations. That way, you can feed accurate data into AI models and ensure they generate the right predictions or strategies. This enables you to identify how to run your business more efficiently or simulate the potential impact of opening a new channel or creating a new revenue stream.
What is the concept of a control tower and digital twin?
AA: These two concepts are related and built on similar foundations, but they differ in what they enable and how they function.
Starting with the control tower — it is designed to help you visualize, report and understand what is happening now. It provides execution visibility. You can use it to look forward within your planning horizons, identify gaps and determine actions needed now to avoid future disruptions. Control towers can take on many definitions and forms, depending on the process they support.
Despite the variations, some common themes define a control tower.
- They enable collaboration and end-to-end visibility.
- They operate on real-time data and analytics, providing actionable insights.
For example, they can alert you to something that might occur in the future and give you the chance to take preventive action. A control tower supports performance monitoring to show what is happening right now, and it enhances agility by enabling swift responses to changes.
On the other hand, a digital twin is a virtual representation or simulation of a real-world entity. This could be a product, process or performance. It allows you to digitally replicate something in the supply chain — whether it’s a device, a piece of equipment or an entire manufacturing flow — using sensors and data to simulate its operation.
With a digital twin, you can perform simulations to answer questions like, “If I maintain this level of performance, will I meet expectations in the next 30 minutes or the next week?” It lets you test potential changes and assess their impacts. This simulation capability makes the digital twin incredibly powerful for predicting and planning future outcomes.
JV: The control tower and digital twin together leverage the power of AI and advanced analytics, offering both breadth and depth of data insights. Organizations can create a series of control towers, each dedicated to managing specific functional domains, such as planning, procurement or logistics. Control towers then visualize data, generate alerts and, individually and in conjunction with other digital twins, simulate scenarios to predict outcomes.
Data flows bi-directionally in this system. Source data from execution systems, like enterprise resource planning (ERP), warehouse management systems (WMS), transportation management systems (TMS) or order management systems (OMS), is visualized and analyzed in the control tower. The results of the simulations and modeling are then sent back to these systems. For instance, values such as an expected delivery date are updated to reflect the latest predictive insights. This flow ensures an optimized, dynamic more predictable and responsive supply chain.
What supply chain use cases are showing signs of success?
AA: I’ll start by revisiting the concept of the control tower. We’ve been discussing control towers in supply chain management for about 10 to 15 years now, but it’s only in the last few years — thanks to advancements like cloud computing and the widespread adoption of cloud platforms — that we’re finally seeing what we’ve been promising become a reality. Clients are now implementing and effectively leveraging this capability.
I’ll share two quick examples:
The first involves a customer supporting fast-food companies by supplying all the materials needed to produce their menu items. They use a control tower to track inventory at the store level, triggering replenishments to ensure shelves are stocked and restaurants can serve their customers without interruptions. By integrating external data, they can monitor risks like weather patterns. For example, if a storm is forecasted and threatens to delay deliveries, they can divert perishable goods to other locations that can use them, preventing spoilage. Once the disruption ends, they deploy replenishment strategies to get supplies back to affected stores. This approach ensures that customers always have access to the products they want while maintaining operational efficiency. We can draw insights from this example as it relates to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies that distribute assets with a shelf-life (medications, vaccinations, etc.)
The second example is with a global life sciences firm. They’re using the control tower to enhance their Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) process. They’ve transitioned from multiple individual spreadsheets to a unified, global dashboard. This allows executives to visualize the S&OP process in real time, align on a common set of metrics and make decisions effectively. At the same time, the system offers flexibility for individual countries to report specific metrics, creating a balance between local needs and a shared global view. This common data and reporting structure empowers them to make informed decisions at both local and executive levels.
JV: Control towers gather data from countless points across the supply chain. When combined with machine learning and predictive models, companies can now predict with much greater accuracy when a product will arrive at a customer’s distribution center or a point of consumption, such as a home.
Machine learning and agentic AI enable these control towers to go beyond simply collecting order and inventory information. Predictive analytics can assess real-time operations and dynamically forecast replenishments, ensuring companies avoid overstocking or understocking. We call these “micro allocations” or “micro replenishments.”
Moving to the next level, we’re seeing the use of agentic agents, which are able to act on the findings provided by machine learning models. These agents can reason about current conditions — like in the micro replenishment model — and make decisions autonomously. For example, determining the optimal amount to reallocate or reorder, ensuring you don’t overbuy or end up with excess inventory.
Some companies face challenges with multiple cloud platforms and fragmented data. To truly succeed, you need a single source of truth — a unified, cloud-enabled platform that acts as the foundation for collaboration and connectivity. This ensures that everyone, both internally and externally, accesses the same, reliable data source, enabling better communication and more effective decision-making across the supply chain.
For both life sciences and healthcare companies, personalization is a theme that’s here to stay. How are supply chain practices adapting to this model? How are the above innovations driving it? Let’s discuss the art of what’s possible with regard to personalized medicine and white glove service in MedTech.
AA: When we talk about personalized medicine or the "population of one," we’re referring to the creation of medical devices or treatments tailored specifically to an individual. This might involve biometrics or other factors unique to that person. The ability to track and verify that the right patient receives the precise treatment or device created for them is critically important.
We’ve discussed this before, but now there’s the possibility of moving these treatments to non-traditional care settings — outside of the doctor’s office or hospital. This includes having medical devices that can be set up and used at home by the patient or caregiver.
White glove service comes into play when delivering these devices or treatments. It’s about providing a personalized, high-touch experience. This includes delivering the item, setting it up, showing the patient how to use it, and ensuring it’s being used correctly — whether at home or wherever the patient is. It’s a level of support and understanding that prioritizes the patient’s experience.
Providing this service requires extremely high accuracy and proficiency. The professionals offering this service must have access to proper training materials, the ability to pull up instructional videos and real-time troubleshooting tools. End-to-end visibility is essential — knowing where inventory is and ensuring that the right person gets exactly what they need for their treatment. This visibility enables that high-touch, white glove service to succeed.
JV: We can also think about leveraging wearable tech like fitness trackers or biomedical sensors, which collect and transmit signals about a patient’s health, such as heart rate or other vital metrics. Consider at-home genetic testing kits or tools like computer vision goggles and smart glasses.
For example, when delivering a treatment to someone, you need to ensure it’s being administered to the correct individual. This might involve using a retinal scan for 100% positive identification. That data can be fed into your control tower to verify the patient. The exact procedure for applying the treatment could then be observed through smart glasses, ensuring every step is performed accurately. Meanwhile, a digital twin in the cloud could monitor the process in real-time, confirming the correct protocols are being followed.
These advancements allow for a remote presence with robust validation capability, ensuring the right patient gets the right treatment, administered in the proper manner. These are the supply chain possibilities that exist today to support personalized medicine and elevate healthcare delivery.
More of a visual learner? Watch this conversation unfold.
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