Supply Chain Management: The Role of Optimization and AI in Exploring New Horizons

Supply Chain Management (SCM) is one of the most important drivers of organizational performance with its contribution to customer satisfaction, operational effectiveness, and competitiveness. This thesis aims to explore the evolving SCM environment with specific focus on the value-added role of new technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data Analytics, Blockchain, and Robotics. The first chapter provides a foundational understanding of SCM. Dealing with its growth, its importance, and the impact of poor management. The second chapter elaborates on how optimization techniques are enhancing supply chain performance. These optimization techniques vary from fuzzy logic in supplier assessment and IoT-based applications to the importance of big data analytics for the decision-making process and the key role of blockchain in securing the supply chain. The third chapter starts exploring the enormous impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI), specifying that the relationship between AI and SCM is long-standing but drawing attention to the fact that the disruptive evolution of AI in recent years is a total revolution. This chapter continues with the analysis of how AI is reshaping global shipment and logistics, including a case study on AI’s role in Maersk’s shipping and supply chain, and concludes by elaborating on how AI is strengthening the food supply chain, including a case study on the IBM Food Trust and Walmart’s AI-driven supply chain. Finally, the fourth chapter delves into what will be the future of SCM, exposing that the revolution of SCM 4.0 is not yet concluded, treating the importance of the rise of green and ethical supply chains and the future of logistics through robotics.