Renee Niemi knows a thing or two about the influence of tech on the supply chain.
As director of Google’s Android and Chrome global business division, it’s Niemi’s job to not only be aware of how new technologies are affecting industries such as material handling, but to lead that change.
Niemi, who was among the keynote speakers at last week’s ProMAT 2015 material handling trade show in Chicago, said advances in tech such as cloud-based analytics, mobility and wearables are transforming the way the supply chain works in what amounts to a “digital revolution” that rivals the industrial revolution of the late 19th Century.
As an example of tech’s growing influence on industry, she pointed to the way General Motors has adapted the wearable Google Glass “smart” eye wear and a mobile app to show assembly line workers the proper way to install molding trim on vehicles.
“They can see through the glass to see … the right technique to use,” Niemi said. “That’s a connected worker.”
Niemi told the thousands of trade show attendees that cloud-based analytics can cut supply chain costs and improve opportunities by monitoring such things as point-of-sale purchases and e-commerce trends in real time. That allows companies to get their products where they are needed when they are in highest demand, rather than relying on “vanilla” formulas for inventory positioning and other outdated systems.