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Computer Vision in Supply Chain Management | A Detailed Guide

Written by Dr. Jagreet Kaur Gill | 05 August 2024

Introduction to Computer Vision in Supply Chain

Computer vision is a field of artificial intelligence that focuses on enabling computers to see and understand the world in the same way that humans do. It is the technology that enables computers to interpret and understand visual data, such as images and videos. In the supply chain, it can be used to automate various tasks and improve efficiency. It can be used to automatically track products after they move through the industry, enabling real-time tracking and inventory management.

It can also be used to improve quality control in the supply chain. By automatically analyzing images of products, its systems can quickly identify defects or deviations from established standards, enabling organizations to take corrective action and prevent faulty products from reaching customers. Overall, the use of computer vision in the industry can help to improve accuracy, efficiency, and transparency, ultimately leading to better customer satisfaction and increased competitiveness.

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How is Computer Vision Revolutionizing the Supply Chain?

  • By automating product assembly - To help meet the growing quality expectations, manufacturing industries are currently using it in the production and inspection process.
  • By visually guiding manufacturing tools, it helps in executing assembly operations with precision.
  • By identifying defects-Computer vision applications collect real-time data by making use of machine learning algorithms to inspect products and compare them to predefined standards of quality. After this, they detect deviations and provide accurate information on the degree of deviation.
  • Supervising workflow to ensure employee security:- Using an AI-powered system to monitor for safety may help lower accidental risks. It can monitor the proper safety measures and security standards as well as locate and identify any hazardous areas in the facility to prevent accidents.

Steps to Implement Computer Vision in Supply Chain Management

  • Identify the business problem - To improve the existing process by improving quality or enabling new insights.
  • Define the success criteria - To translate the business outcome into simple success criteria that can be used to measure the effectiveness of the solution.
  • Determine the appropriate techniques - Object classification and detection are two of the most popular and versatile computer vision techniques.
  • Collect and label images - Collect and label data to train the model.
  • Train and evaluate model - Use transfer learning to train the model.
  • Deploy and Review - test the interaction with the model in a real-world environment.
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What are the Benefits of Computer Vision in Supply Chain Management?

Following are the benefits the industry are:

Efficient Production

Production areas are always looking for efficiency. Its technology supports things like sorting, matching, and quality.

Autonomous Distribution

The goal is to streamline the procurement process in the supply chain by doing so efficiently in the warehouse or directly to the consumer.

Inventory Optimization

The need to reduce loss, better control, and improve inventory has led to the deployment of technologies to read and process inventory at the point of sale or in the warehouse.

Risk Prevention

Organizations use surveillance cameras as a source of information to process footage of facility usage and risky employee behavior.

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Why do Industries Implement Computer Vision?

Industries implement it for various factors described below:

Automated Image and Video Analysis

Computer vision algorithms can be used to automatically analyze and understand the contents of images and videos, making it possible to do things like automatically identify objects in a scene, recognize faces, and detect events or anomalies.

Robotics

It is essential for enabling robots to navigate and manipulate objects in their environment. It allows robots to perceive the world and make decisions based on that information.

Healthcare

Computer vision can be used to automatically analyze medical images to identify abnormalities or diseases. This can improve the accuracy and speed of diagnoses and reduce the workload on doctors.

Surveillance and Security

Its algorithms can be used to automatically monitor security cameras and identify suspicious behavior. This can help to prevent crimes and keep people safe.

Agriculture

Computer vision can be used to monitor crops and automatically identify pests or diseases, allowing farmers to take corrective action before it's too late.

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What are the Computer Vision industrial Use-Cases?

The Industrial use cases of computer vision in supply chain management are listed below:

Track the stock of raw materials supplied to the assembly line

By periodically capturing images from a camera or video feed, this data can be processed by a CV solution to determine inventory levels of products. Data can be analyzed in a computer system to control production and avoid out-of-stock. This can be especially useful for a production warehouse frequently tasked with maintaining a constant supply of materials in the production line.

Warehouse Inventory

A distribution center or area that stores large quantities of raw materials or finished products can use a similar engineering approach. CV can be used to count the number of boxes stored and provide this data periodically, thus eliminating the usual inventory process.

Tallying Inventory in Transit

During receiving or shipping, camera and video feeds can capture images from different angles at the entry and exit gates or at the transit area between the gate and the warehouse. The CV solution can process this data and help run automated inventory counts, using this data to cross-validate with shipping or order receipt information. This can help avoid the costs associated with heavy fines due to loss of goods due to incorrect counting.

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Conclusion

Computer vision has already changed the face of the logistics industry. Advanced techniques can protect people from optimizing and handling tasks. By adopting its systems, manufacturers can better ensure quality and monitor the safety of equipment and workers.

Today, artificial intelligence combined with Machine Learning and Deep Learning has enabled the advanced development of Computer Vision. Undoubtedly, the supply chain has been one of the main areas to benefit from this development, and many other industrial sectors have had a positive impact using this technology. It will become increasingly common in multiple processes used by multiple agents.