Your Current Supply Chain Is Toast, But Its Replacement Will Be Awesome

Paul Brody | ReadWrite | June 24, 2013

3D printing, robotics and open-source hardware will usher in a superior alternative: Software defined supply chains.

3D printing, intelligent robotics, and open source hardware stand to revolutionize modern-day manufacturing. These disruptive forces will usher in a new manufacturing paradigm that is managed by software and data files — something we call the “software-defined supply chain.”

For more than a year, my colleagues and I have been carefully studying the likely impact and implications of these technologies. We wanted to see if these new technologies could alleviate many of the constraints and the fixed costs of a traditional supply chain, and if so, to what extent?