📈 #38 Data Science + Operations Research: the perfect weapon for Supply Chain

The pivotal role of Operations Research in modern Supply Chains

You know, I’m about to finish my works at home and it has just some tiny details to be finished.

So my wife and I are buying some practical things and other to decorate it. She’s managing some things and I’m managing others, so we can better split the work and be more efficient. And we’re buying in different platforms too.

I don’t want to bias you so I won’t say those platforms, but the thing is last Monday I bought (let’s say at Platform A) one soap dish and two flowerpots and they arrived just one day after that, on Tuesday, and she bought (at Platform B) some cushions for the couch and one basket for dirty clothes two weeks ago and never arrived. In fact, she had to cancel the order and get the money back.

But why is this happening?

Why did I order something and magically appeared on my doorstep the next day, but my wife didn’t get her order?

Is it because the shelves at Platform A are always stocked with everything users need and Platform B’s shelves are always empty? Because some differences in the producers? Or anything else?

The answer lies in the complex world of supply chains, the intricate network that brings goods from producers to consumers.

But lately, these supply chains are facing some serious challenges.

Rising fuel costs, labor shortages, a tangled mess of outdated systems…

This is the reality for many supply chains today. They're fragmented, slow to digitize, and struggling to keep up with ever-increasing customer demands.

Delays, inefficiencies, and unhappy customers become the villains in this story.

Since we have big players in the table, are they giving us anything to solve this issue?

Today in Feasible we’ll see:

• 🗺️ What’s the Google’s Supply Chain strategy map.

• 🌐 A job offer from Microsoft that tells us they are working in supply chains… In the digital world.

• 🚛 A Spanish startup raising some money thanks to solving optimization problems in a daily basis.

Are you ready for this? Let’s go for it!

🗺️ Supply Chain from the lens of Google

Recognizing these supply chain challenges, major tech players are bringing their AI/ML muscle to the fight.

And Google isn't just in the business of search engines anymore.

They're using their expertise in AI and machine learning to develop innovative solutions for supply chain management.

One of their key strategies involves utilizing digital twins. This allows Google to model different scenarios, predict potential problems, and identify opportunities for improvement.

Google is leveraging its strengths in AI/ML, cloud computing, and access to rich mapping data to build a suite of supply chain solutions: