Can supply chain decision-making be automated?

Many companies manage by exception, but that is only one part of decision intelligence, explains Henry Hwong, vice president of product marketing for Aera Technology. Hwong told FreightWaves that decision intelligence is still an evolving field that includes simple decisions such as shifting a load to another carrier because the lane price has exceeded a preset threshold, to more complex decisions such as moving production when a factory shuts down. "We are transforming from an era of people making decisions guided by machines to an era of machines making decisions guided by people," explained Fred Laluyaux, president and CEO of Aera Technology, during a presentation of the company's product on Monday at the Gartner Supply Chain Symposium/XPO 2022 conference at Walt Disney World's Dolphin Resort. Hwong detailed the company's new product, which is designed to automate decision-making across organizations, although he noted that humans are and will always be part of the process. Gartner has predicted that by 2025, 95% of decisions that use data will be at least partially automated.