Enterprise software modernization, AI engineering, data integration, and technology leadership in logistics.
Earlier this year, U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued Headquarters Ruling H350722, which addresses something I have been thinking about quite a bit lately: what happens when AI starts doing more of the work traditionally performed by customs brokers?
I was curious how well the latest LLMs could handle customs classification, so I made my own benchmark called BrokerBench. It was a fun project that taught me quite a bit about building AI evals.
In this post I will review how electronic data interchange (EDI) is used in fulfillment. Fulfillment is the process of filling orders by picking ordered product from inventory and shipping it to the buyer. Fulfillment is what Amazon does when you buy a product on their web site. The interactions between the buyer and s
If you work with data integration in any kind of supply chain-related role, it’s likely you will encounter electronic data interchange (EDI). Although EDI is an older technology which is gradually being replaced by alternatives like application programming interfaces (APIs), it’s still very commonly used in the supply
One of the challenges of a tech career is the necessity to stay up-to-date on technology advancements. A key part of your ability to solve business problems with technology is understanding how to use the latest advancements to create a solution. Therefore your value as an individual contributor or manager is partially
In the modern workplace, data integration skills can help you supercharge your career. Regardless of what kind of job you have, it’s likely you will be working with some kind of software. It might be a cloud billing system, an appointment scheduling system, warehouse software, or even just email. Most software applicat
It’s clear that we are living in a data-driven world. Our steady transition toward highly digitalized lives is making data a key asset in the modern economy. When we go online to make purchases, consume content, or share on social media, we are generating valuable data. Many of the largest tech companies are now operat
The rapid advancement of technology is both a threat and an opportunity for logistics workers. Robotics, autonomous vehicles and artificial intelligence could reduce the number of available jobs in certain categories. For example, one report estimated that 294,000 US trucking jobs could be eliminated over the next 25 y
Surveys show that SaaS applications provide many benefits to end-users. Typical improvements offered by a modern SaaS platform include automatic synchronization of data among multiple devices, better collaboration with peers, reduced dependency on email, improved user interfaces, better search capabilities, and a bette
The percentage of jobs in the US that are considered “technology jobs” has been continually increasing. The 2020 pandemic has put this transition on warp speed. Even though we have experienced record levels of unemployment, many tech workers are thriving in this economy. In some industries there has been a massive shif
Recently our IT Team at JUSDA decided to participate in the GS1 2020 Hackathon. This is the first time any of us have ever done a hackathon and we ended up taking first prize! GS1 is the standards organization that defines the UPC barcode labels that you see on most consumer products. They also defined the Serial Shipp
As organizations become more focused on leveraging data to create business value, software engineering roles are often shifting to a data engineering focus. When an organization’s portfolio of SaaS products exposes data through open APIs, many opportunities arise for engineering teams to use data. Often data from multi
Software Engineering can be a great career path. However some engineers eventually feel they have outgrown their technical engineering role and get the itch for a new challenge. Often the standard path is for programmers to be promoted into management roles. This can be sometimes be disastrous since many of the attribu
Severe job losses which have been triggered by the pandemic have disproportionately affected workers in the service and retail industries. These lower-skilled jobs have traditionally served as an economic fail-safe for non-college-educated workers. However, the lingering effects of COVID-19 could permanently damage the
We are frequently reminded of the cyclical nature of technology. All of us working in tech are under constant pressure to look for the next shiny thing. In fact we feel as if our livelihoods depend on it. Often our stakeholders may have an expectation that there's some new thing on the horizon that will give them a com
Given the pandemic's impact on the economy, there are many Americans rethinking their career situations. One sector that has not only survived but thrived in the current business climate is technology. So many employees are now working remotely, and this is pushing faster adoption of various tech tools. Even more impor
Eric Dietrich, author of Developer Hegemony, recently wrote about the need for software engineers to specialize in particular problem domains. In other words, if you're going to be a great software developer, you need deep domain expertise in a particular vertical. Without that intimate understanding of your stakeholde
A not-so-surprising New York Times piece recently reported on a program to convert blue collar workers to software engineers: They Were Promised Coding Jobs in Appalachia. Now They Say It Was a Fraud.. A couple years ago everyone was jumping on this bandwagon. Here's an NPR story that was quite up-beat about a program
We all know Amazon's goal is to automate warehouses as much as possible. This means we can expect a gradual elimination of human jobs in Amazon fulfillment centers. Automated case packing is a key step toward eliminating a highly labor intensive job.
I just finished reading Hit Refresh by Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, and I couldn't help drawing parallels between his stories and the challenges we face as logistics providers. If you've kept up with your technology news, you will know that a huge amount of corporate IT spending has been shifting to cloud services.
Accurate and timely visibility of your orders, shipments, and inventory can create many opportunities for lowering end-to-end supply chain costs. But the value doesn’t end with cost reduction. Supply chain visibility can have a significant impact on revenue generation as well. Here are some examples of the benefits you
West Coast ocean port congestion is crippling freight flows into the USA. Ocean carriers are beginning to announce significant congestion surcharges which can cost $1,000 per 40-foot container. If you are sourcing from Asia, it's time to come up with a strategy to mitigate the impact on your supply chain. Here are some
When I talk to customers about the technology tools they use to manage their supply chain, Excel is almost always mentioned. Excel is a great tool for presenting and analyzing data so it’s frequently involved in S&OP processes like forecasting and material requirements planning. It’s usually possible to pull ERP, WMS o
Everyone is talking about data-driven strategies right now. Enterprises are seeking to improve their strategic planning and operational execution using data and analytics. Many organizations are discovering ways to use their data assets as a market differentiator, and some are creating completely new data-driven busine
Excess inventory is the bane of the supply chain manager’s existence…until it’s suddenly needed for an emergency order. Balancing inventory levels with order fulfillment quality is one of the most difficult challenges supply chain planners face. There are plenty of sophisticated methods and algorithms out there to help
Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment (CFPR) is a business model that takes a holistic approach to supply chain management and combines the intelligence of multiple trading partners in planning and fulfilling customer demand by using common metrics, language and firm agreements to improve efficiency for