At its core, supply chains move materials, products, and services from source to consumer. But there is an art to this transportation science, rooted in accessible, accurate, and timely information that supports better business decisions.

How much is coming? How many cartons? What’s needed to unload it? And, if there is a hurricane approaching a destination, how might that affect product distribution and delivery?

This is where artificial intelligence, or AI, can step in and make a real difference in supply chain logistics performance, efficiency, and resilience. By using data and models to predict possible outcomes, it gives businesses windows into new options and possibilities. Plus, the bonus of saving time and money.

Then, by applying discernment, experience, and fact-based decision making, supply chain mangers are on their way.

Right place, right time, right cost

“Supply chain has always had a thirst and a hunger for more accurate and timely data. We never have enough information, so it’s a very good receptor for AI and its applications,” said Charles Easley Jr., a professor in the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Supply Chain and Logistics Institute. Easley manages several initiatives in partnership with Georgia Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing (Georgia AIM) that build resilience and capacity across the state’s rural supply chain network.

Georgia AIM is a federally funded grant program managed by Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute.

“For example, you could have a hurricane coming into the Gulf of Mexico and a shipment that’s arriving in Savannah. You can get information in a timely manner to redirect product delivery that might be affected by the storm,” added Easley. “And so, a lot of the metrics, the reporting, decision-making and modeling use AI. Whatever your imagination could come up with, you could generate.”

This is a large reason why the Supply Chain and Logistics Institute teamed up with Georgia AIM to assist with AI adoption in manufacturing. Manufacturers need materials, and Georgia’s port is a major source. By examining rural corridors and the main industries that use them throughout the state, said Easley, AI can create sustainable solutions and greater resiliency.

The Rural Supply Chain Resilience Initiative through Georgia AIM includes projects in the metro Savannah area, Northwest Georgia around Dalton, the Northeast Georgia corridor extending through Gwinnett County, and rural Southwest Georgia. Within these regions, Easley and Georgia Tech’s supply chain experts are incorporating the needs of industries such as agriculture, poultry, floorings/wallcoverings, and transportation.

The goal is to use prescriptive pilot programs and projects to work with communities to give them the tools to use AI to their advantage. In general, the communities are growing but remain marginalized in terms of access or training to advanced solutions.

Georgia AIM’s Rural Supply Chain Resilience Initiative has two areas of focus. The first is developing workforce projects to ensure Georgia has upskilled employees in communities around the state. The second is pilot projects to create in-house company change agents. These employees incorporate AI and machine learning tools to accelerate and enhance a business’s ability to grow and lead.

This means different things in different communities, Easley said. For example, in Southwest Georgia, the supply chain team is working on an industry innovation pilot AI project with a midsized pecan farm to forecast and more efficiently deliver products across the country. In Savannah, a workforce development project through the Department of Juvenile Justice is training teens in new logistics technologies, opening new career pathways after students complete the program.

Internet access, weather patterns and transportation systems also play a role in how communities can adopt and use AI in their supply chain and logistics resilience planning and economic development strategy. Recent funding to increase internet access throughout Georgia is a critical first step to level the playing field for several areas in Georgia, allowing businesses there to be ready to take advantage of AI and other technologies.

Lowering the learning curve

The Supply Chain and Logistics Institute also offers classes and certificates to a variety of students across the state, ranging from professionals looking to increase their company’s competitiveness to veterans transitioning to civilian life and residents in economically underserved areas. These programs allow people to attain a credential and plug in to a new career trajectory in an area in need of skilled professionals.

And the learning curve to leveraging AI in supply chain and logistics doesn’t have to be high, said Chris Gaffney, managing director of the Supply Chain and Logistics Institute. For starters, a tool such as ChatGPT can be useful to assist a small or midsized company determine shipping options and data sources. In many instances it shortens the learning curve for new hires, allows for quicker cross-training, enhances senior-level strategy, and improves the quality of decision-making.

With that as a launchpad, companies can begin to scale the AI mountain as they grow their confidence.

A key component for Georgia AIM’s Rural Supply Chain Resilience project is to determine a company’s or organization’s current state, what is needed, and then quickly and efficiently provide it.

“ChatGPT is a gateway; from there, we can use a more sophisticated piece where you connect a plug-in to an application, which even a lot of non-IT people can do,” said Gaffney. “Everyone who is going to go down this AI path has to walk up this pyramid before they’re going to be effective, and what we want to do is create models where even smaller businesses can figure out by themselves or with partners how they can do this.”

Another Georgia AIM partner, the Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership (GaMEP), is an additional resource for small businesses. GaMEP can provide low-cost consultants to assist with troubleshooting and AI problem-solving.

Like Georgia AIM, the GaMEP is part of Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute.

By working alongside businesses in these critical regions of Georgia, said Easley, Georgia AIM can assist manufacturers in creating solutions that improve efficiency and resiliency.

“When you use AI, you can share with businesses how it can help them, if they make a certain decision, through an increased market share, more profitability, productivity, whatever; that’s the power of incorporating AI,” he said. “So, businesses often have a sense of self-sufficiency and empowerment to make certain decisions that otherwise they may feel more vulnerable to.”

Given Georgia’s experience in commerce, trade, and transportation, Easley said the state is well positioned to continue to lead in innovation, technology, and creativity in supply chain and logistics. “This leading position, responsibility, and opportunity of global supply chain and logistics is amplified and fortified with the Savannah port, Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, UPS, Norfolk-Southern, the CDC, and Delta all located here.”