Impact of AI on Logistics: Applications, Challenges & Strategies

This report provides an overview of artificial intelligence and its applications within the logistics industry. It highlights how AI technologies, such as machine learning and deep learning, are being utilized to improve various aspects of logistics, including warehouse management, supply chain optimization, and data analysis. The report discusses specific AI-based applications like Generic Electric, MindSphere, Avande, Apptus, and HANA, detailing their functionalities and benefits in procurement and business management. It also explores three potential software applications (SAP and Generic electric) that could be implemented by logistics organizations in the coming years, weighing their advantages and disadvantages, including cost considerations and implementation challenges. The report concludes with recommendations for better management and ethical considerations related to AI implementation, emphasizing the importance of balancing technological advancements with potential impacts on employees and customers. Desklib offers this report as part of its collection of student-contributed assignments.

Running head: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Artificial intelligence
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Abstract
The Artificial intelligence can be explained as the ability of the machines to learn new things
without any human help and use the same at the time needed. The machines are designed in
such a way that the tasks like the visual perceptions, decision making processes, speech
recognitions and others are done without any human supervision. In the modern times the use
of the artificial intelligence is finding ways in every filed and the logistics field is not any
different. This report discusses about the implementation of the applications that are based on
the Artificial intelligence. This report also states the 3 major applications that will affect the
functioning of the logistic company. This report also states the recommendations that must be
followed in order to complete the better management of the organization.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Table of Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................4
Body...............................................................................................................................4
Artificial Intelligence based applications...................................................................4
Conclusion......................................................................................................................7
Recommendation............................................................................................................8
References......................................................................................................................9

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
1.0 Introduction
The Artificial intelligence can be explained as the property of the of the computer
systems that can perform tasks normally similar to the human intelligence such as the visual
perceptions, decision making processes , speech recognitions and others without any human
supervision. This is one of the most advanced technology that have been developed in the
past few years and it uses majority of technologies that are been developed like the machine
learning, deep learning, networking and others (Russell & Norvig, 2016). The technology of
the artificial intelligence is one of the major technology that can be used in almost any filed
in order to improve the quality of the results. In the field of the logistics the artificial
intelligence plays a huge role in the process of maintaining the storage centres and
distribution of the goods. One of the major use of the AI comes in the process of harnessing
of data in the supply chain management. It helps in analysing and identifying the patterns and
providing best links to the supply chain manager.
The article is about how the artificial intelligence is changing the logistics, warehouse
management and supply chain management processes (Nilsson, 2014). Further the paper
describes how the artificial intelligence is helping in the process of storing the data in an
automated manner. This paper also discusses about the ethical issues that are related to the
use of the AI how it affects the employees and the customers of the organisation. Advantage
and disadvantages of using the AI is also an important part of the paper.
2.0 Discussion
2.1 Artificial Intelligence based applications
Artificial intelligence based applications that are beneficial in the procurement of the logistic
business are as follows: -

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
 Generic Electric: Generic Electric is one of the most important application that is
used in the processing of the completion of the functioning and this processing of the
logistic organization. Due to the fact that the sensors are being used have been
increasing in a very fast rate the entire processing of the business management has
been acing beneficial for controlling the same via digital platform and this leads to the
fact that the entire functioning of the logistic application can be analysed with this
application that is based on the platform of the artificial intelligence. Generic Electric
uses the Predix operating system (Azar & Zhu, 2015). This implementation of the
Predix operating system increase the efficiency of the system. Generic Electric is used
in the Accenture Intelligent Pipeline solution. The main implementation of this
business processing is that the monitoring of the entire functioning of the pipelined
that are present in the Accenture Intelligent Pipeline solution. Navistar, a truck
manufacturing organization also uses this Artificial Intelligence based software for
better commencing of the entire project (Copeland, 2015).
 MindSphere: In the year 2016, Siemens launched their first artificially intelligent
application, named MindSphere. MindSphere is a monitoring based application. The
main usage of the MindSphere is that the data management of the entire business
management gets very efficiently managed and this is the sole reason that the business
informatics has been using this artificial intelligent based software application. This
application helps in tracking of the tools that are scattered all around the business
organization. This also helps in understanding the statistics of the usage of the assets
that are present in the organization. This generation of the data regarding the
processing of the assets helps in understanding the efficiency of the assets that are
kept in the organization and the value of the assets can be estimated and this also
helps in understanding the entire business value of the project. MindSphere uses SAP

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
as their platform and this leads to the fact that the data management of the uses
process is controlled by the processing of the SAP. Siemens is one of the leading
organization that has been using the platform of the MindSphere for completing their
business terminologies.
 Avande: According to the technological experts of the Avande, the entire globe is
leading towards a smarter world. Main functioning of the Avande application is that
the application is based on the terminology of the machine learning and the entire
functioning is performed with the help of the data that is gathered in terms of the
machine learning. This also includes the fact that the data documentation can be
proposed with the terminology of the business organization (Copeland, 2015). The
main functioning of the Avande application mainly deals with the insurance related
issues. Avande application also takes into consideration the retailing of the product
and addressing of the products that are present in the operation. Avande is created by
the joint venture of the Microsoft and Accenture (Azar & Zhu, 2015). This joint
venture has been acting very beneficial for the other organizations that have been
implementing the platform of Avande for completing their business terminologies.
Insurance company namely Pacific Speciality has been using the platform of Avande
for better prosecution of the entire business management system.
 Apptus: According to the developing team of the Apptus, the intent of purchasing a
product is completely dependent on estimation of the revenue that is generated by the
data management of the processing of eSales. Using the terminology of Apptus the
main functioning of the application will be to boost the dales of the products through
the platform of the eSales technology (Kerr & Szelke, 2016). This is the main concern
of the organization that mainly focuses on the featuring the automated processing of
the merchandise and taking care of increasing the sales of the products. Bookselling

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Company like Bokus.com that is situated in Sweden uses this application for better
functioning of their sales. The main importance of this projection is that the data is
that the no proper coding is required for commencing the task, only provisioning of
the raw data will be capable enough to deal with the business management
 HANA: HANA is one of the leading applications that ensure the fact that the entire
data base information can be stored in the data base. This helps in understanding the
data that are stored in the database as the data that are stored acts to be beneficial for
the prosecution of the entire business management. In case the organization has many
employees working under them the data of each and every employee can be stored in
the database using the application of HANA which implements the platform of SAP.
Walmart is an organization that has been using the HANA as the application for the
commencing for the project (Azar & Zhu, 2015).
2.2 Proffered applications
Three software based applications that can be used by the organization to expand in
coming five years are as follows: -
SAP: SAP is a form of AI that is used by organizations for turning database in Useful
Intel. HANA can be described as a cloud platform of SAP which can be used by
organizations in order to manage various databases of data that have been collected by the
organization. It ingests and replicates the structured data like customer data or transaction of
sales from various relational databases, applications and various other sources. This platform
can be utilized in order to run on-premise via the server of a company or with the help of
cloud. HANA makes use of the data that has been collected from various access points all
over the business like desktop computers, mobiles, sensors, financial transactions as well as
equipment’s used at the production plants. If the sales staff of an organization uses smart

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
phones or tablets of the company in order to record the orders placed by customers and
purchases made by them. Data received from these transactions can be utilized for analysing
and understanding the irregularities in the activities as well as spot the trends.
Advantages
Various anticipated benefits of utilizing the machine learning platforms for the
business intelligence include reduction some cost incurred in infrastructure, and efficiency of
operations. Logistics organizations have a huge amount of data and storage of this data
includes high cost incurred in it. SAP would help the organization in saving a lump sum
amount of revenue in coming five years. SAP would help the organization to improve
relations among the stakeholders by meeting their requirements. SAP can also be used in
order to carry out all the activities smoothly. It can also help the HR department to function
properly especially in the activities like hiring, firing, demoting, promoting and many more
(Azar & Zhu, 2015). It helps the HR to keep a track of the functions performed by different
employees, the track of performances is easy to maintain and view.
Disadvantages and challenges
One of the major disadvantages of purchasing as well as implementing SAP is that it
requires high cost to be incurred. In this organization provided in the case study it is newly
formed and could not invest so much in order to implement SAP. One more disadvantage of
implementing SAP is the complexity that exists in the software. The implementation is
carried out step by step, and the entire process might take years to complete. Complexity of
data model is one of the challenges faced by SAP implementation (Azar & Zhu, 2015). SAP
makes analysing raw data difficult. This creates an ethical issue of whether or not SAP should
be implemented (Wenger, 2014).

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
 Generic electric: The increased use of sensors in vehicles, machinery and many more
machinery equipment’s help in digitizing them. It also helps in monitoring their
activities and analyse if their performance is up to the mark.
Advantages
Using generic electric can boost performances of various equipment’s. It can also help
in predicting when maintenance is required for cars, devices, trucks as well as drilling
machines. Along with this it also schedules the repairs of the equipment’s. Various
commercial trucks can fit sensors to it which would help in analysing lights, brakes as well as
engines. This would as a result help in adding value to the services of maintenance. This also
helps in minimizing downtimes as well as schedule the time according to maintenance
required by the equipment. The schedule is set according to the trip covered by the vehicle.
Generic electric also helps in reducing the operational cost.
Disadvantages and challenges
Generic electric has numerous disadvantages and it also faces various challenges. Some
disadvantages of generic electric are that it requires more cost incurred in the process of
installing sensors (Nilsson, 2014). This results in a dilemma that weather it should make use
of generic electric or not because the implementation requires heavy out flow of cash and not
implementing it would slow down the overall process (Nilsson, 2014). The implementation of
generic electric would help the organization in the case study in various ways especially in
the long run but the main challenge that would be faced by the organization is that, they need
to invest a lump sum of amount while purchasing and implementing it. Along with this they
also require trained professional who would know to use the equipment’s effectively.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
 Siemens: the main importance of monitoring the ways by which industrial
equipment’s would perform has been completed by other providers of software like
Siemens. This helps them in making a use of their technology of machine learning.
MindSphere had been designed in order to provide the monitoring of various machine
fleets for the needs of service tools with the help of machine too; analytics (Gero,
2014). They help in scheduling preventive maintenance as well as management of the
ways various equipment’s are used in order to provide the lifespan of their operations.
MindSphere works with the machines as well as plants without regarding the
manufacturer. This would help the plant operators in increasing their uptime of
equipment’s used by them and make the process of maintenance more effective. This
is done by accessing when particular equipment would breakdown. Along with this,
the machine builder would see a reduction on the expenses carried out by them like
warranty repairs and many more (Ng, 2016).
Advantages
The advantages of utilizing Siemens are that it would help the organization in the case
study to improve the overall performance of the machineries used by the organization. They
also help in detecting the issues in the equipments and make them repair for further use.
Disadvantages and challenges
Various disadvantages of Siemen include the high cost incurred included in its
implementation. This as a result creates a dilemma regarding the fact that weather the
organization should implement it. Siemen would definitely help the organization in its
upcoming five years but it would require them to invest more amount that first in order to
purchase an implement them.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that the Artificial Intelligence has
been acting as one of the major technologically advanced technology that can be used for
increasing the efficiency of the process. It is also seen that the implementation of the
application that are based on the artificial intelligence has been acting as a reason for better
implementation of the functioning technique and the business management is completed with
higher efficiency. The implementation of the application can be acting as a monitoring and
controlling prospect that helps in understanding the value of the business. This report has also
provided the applications that can be implemented in better management of the logistic
company with over 200 employees. The use of the artificial intelligence the machines can
learn from the various and previous data and prepare a better risk management plans for the
processes like the warehouse, supply and other methods related to the logistics. The
technology of the artificial intelligence is one of the major technology that can be used in
almost any filed in order to improve the quality of the results. In the field of the logistics the
artificial intelligence plays a huge role in the process of maintaining the storage centres and
distribution of the goods
Recommendation
1. It is recommended to the organisation to use a centralised database systems for the
process of storing data, this will help the organisation artificial intelligence system to
learn more about the organisations transactions in a quicker manner.
2. The use of the artificial intelligence must not affect the working employee’s jobs. The
use of the artificial intelligence is to ensure better working conditions and reducing