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November / December 2020

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Just in Time

November 10, 2020

Pandemic Makes Companies Pick Up Digitization Pace

In the September/October issue of Inside Supply Management®, this space explored how the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic could permanently alter workplaces, especially regarding remote-work and online-business models. McKinsey & Company, the New York-based management consulting firm, got a broader perspective through its survey of 800  executives in eight countries.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway from What 800 Executives Envision for the Postpandemic Workforce: The acceleration of digitization and automation at many companies. Two-thirds (67 percent) of surveyed executives say their companies have sped the adoption of automation and artificial intelligence (AI). Eighty-five percent of companies have accelerated the digitization of employee interaction and collaboration.

However, the rush hasn’t impacted supply chains, as a majority (54 percent) of respondents indicated their companies have made no change in digitization of those operations; 36 percent of organizations have “somewhat” or “significantly” picked up the pace.

Other emerging workplace trends include “increased demand for contractors and gig workers, and more remote work. Those changes, in turn, will create greater demand  for workers to fill jobs in areas like health and hygiene, cybersecurity and data analytics,” McKinsey & Company researchers wrote. 

CommOddities

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Aluminum

Never mind, eh? The metal synonymous with beverage cans was in President Donald Trump’s tariff crosshairs in August, when he announced a 10-percent duty on Canadian imports. But before a can of Molson could be crushed, the administration backed off, stating that U.S.-Canada aluminum trade is “likely to normalize” by the end of the year.

Where does it come from? According to data from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), America produced 1.1 million metric tons of aluminum in 2019, and that is more than a few six packs behind the 3.6 billion by the runaway global leader, China. India (3.7 million) and Russia (3.6 million) were a distant second and third, respectively.

What’s it used for? A strong, yet lightweight and malleable metal, aluminum is a mainstay in construction. Prices hit multimonth highs in September, as many building projects resumed after the coronavirus (COVID-19) slowdown. Aluminum can also be found in power lines/cables, motors, and household appliances and goods.

And that’s a fact: In 2019, about 3.4 million tons of aluminum was recycled in the U.S — about 45 percent of the country’s overall consumption of the metal, according to the USGS. Fifty-six percent of recycled material came from new manufacturing scrap, with the rest from discarded aluminum products.

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35%

Share of surveyed respondents whose companies use robotic process automation (RPA), with 59 percent indicating that their organizations expect to execute the technology within the next five years, according to Implementing Robotic Process Automation (RPA): Trends in RPA Adoption, Uses and Implementation Challenges, a report by the Schaumburg, Illinois- based Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA).

Among respondents whose companies use RPA, the report found, only 38 percent indicated their processes and operations were assured by an IT auditor. 

“Though resistance to RPA is not entirely unwarranted, the productivity and financial benefits it can provide make it a worthwhile pursuit,” ISACA principal futurist Dustin Brewer said in a press release.

A Moment in Time

Looking to the Future: There are many other issues supply management practitioners could be tackling in the future, including rearranging logistics networks as nearshoring takes hold and properly managing global risk throughout the supply chain. But no matter the challenge, it’s clear that as companies continue to compete on a global scale, their logistics networks will be a key differentiator in meeting customer needs and helping complex supply chains function efficiently and effectively. 

— Inside Logistics (an Inside Supply Management® supplement), July 2015