James Gopsill – Adopting Artificial Intelligent (AI) agent-based supply chains in the real world
James Gopsill // University of Bristol // Digital Catapult // Resilience
AI-agent supply chain networks is a pioneering digital solution tackling Big Demand – a sudden increase in the variety, volume, velocity, veracity, and value of items across Beginning-of-Life (BoL) production, In-Life Spare-Parts-On-Demand (SPOD) and End-ofLife (EoL) re-circulation. Big Demand has been driven by societal change in response to a ‘perfect storm’ of global events including market fragility, mass-customisation, supply chain uncertainty, corporate social responsibility and legislation, national security, Net Zero, sustainability and the circular economy. Meeting even a small portion of Big Demand using current supply chain approaches can take months or years with individuals negotiating across small numbers of suppliers. In contrast, AI-agents negotiate with everyone in milliseconds enabling them supply chains to unite and tackle Big Demand. This project uncovered the barriers to adopting AI-agents to broker manufacturing system and supply chain work.
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