The Supply Chain of the Future: Integrated and Automated

The world is changing quickly. Urban centers are becoming more populated and denser.

Populations are aging in developed countries and the middle class is expanding in emerging economies. Consumers are showing a growing tendency to reward businesses for operating in ways they perceive as sustainable or eco-friendly.

Simultaneously, traditional business models are being disrupted by new technology-driven businesses that seek to revolutionize everything from transportation to healthcare.

These trends are already driving changes that directly impact the supply chain and more are on the way. Within the warehouse, organizations have responded by embracing new approaches to warehouse automation that enable greater speed and flexibility.

However, as consumer behaviors, demographics and technology continue to evolve, the changes occurring in the warehouse today will need to extend upstream to production processes and downstream through last mile delivery, with each process working in concert to enable greater customization, speed and efficiency.

This e-book, which integrates the supply chain expertise of Swisslog with the production expertise of KUKA, reviews the major trends and establishes a vision for integrating and automating production and logistics to deliver the productivity, agility, and speed required to remain competitive as society and technology continue to change.