Investments in supply chain tech set to see big jump

During the pandemic, companies greatly increased their investments in technology and automation in response to the acute supply chain challenges they were facing. Now the industry is set to see a similar increase as operations seek to deal with increasing labor challenges, according to MHI’s Annual Industry Report, which was released today.

The 2023 MHI Annual Industry Report, “The Responsible Supply Chain: Transparency, Sustainability, and the Case for Business,” found that 74% of supply chain leaders are increasing their supply chain technology investments—10 points higher than the previous year’s survey (which had also shown an increase).  Now in its tenth year, the report is based on a survey of more than 2,000 supply chain professionals.

The survey also showed that 90% respondents were planning to spend over $1 million, an increase of more than 24% over last year’s report findings. Another 36% plan to spend over $10 million, up 19%.

Survey respondents identified five top challenges facing supply chains today: hiring and retaining top workers (57%), talent shortage (56%), supply chain disruptions/ shortages (54%), out-of-stock situations (52%), and customer demands for customization (52%). 

Speaking at ProMat 2023, MHI CEO John Paxton identified five takeaways from the report: 

1. Workforce challenges will not go away.
2. Technological innovations will continue to accelerate, especially as companies focus on connecting disparate solutions together.
3. Strong supplier and customer collaboration is key to surviving a complex supply chain environment.
4. Actionable data will become increasingly important as companies focus more and more on not just collecting data but using it to make intelligent business decisions.
5. Sustainability will become increasingly important, and those companies that are already leading the way in this area will be able to use their expertise as a competitive advantage.