Strong Supply Chains Through Resilient Operations

CHAPTER 11Combine Human and Artificial Intelligence to Build Resilience Through Constant Learning

To be resilient in a crisis, you need to make good judgments. Those judgments are informed by learning from experience. Technological tools such as artificial intelligence (AI) can combine with human intelligence (HI) to learn more effectively, more richly informed by data. Here are five ways to implement those ideas.

Ensure an Efficient Data Flow and Build an AI/Analytics Flywheel

Did you hear about the sign advertising National Procrastination Week? It didn't go up until Friday. But not because the sign painter procrastinated—there was a delay in getting her the specs and other data she needed. This has been the story of the last few decades: people get better and better at collecting more and more data … and then discover the challenges in getting the right data to the right person at the right time. With the advent of AI, this conundrum will only grow. Data is useful only with efficient flow.

To help build efficient flow, we like to think about the flywheel. In mechanics, a flywheel is a very heavy wheel that generates and transfers energy to other parts of a machine. In Good to Great, Jim Collins wrote that corporate transformations can feel like starting a flywheel. It takes endless, persistent effort to complete just one turn. But eventually, as the flywheel builds speed, it develops nearly unstoppable momentum. Jeff Bezos loved the flywheel concept and used it to power ...