Digital Supply Chain of Furniture Industry

An independent poll recently revealed that Dubai is one of the most welcoming places in the world of migrants. In the coming years, UAE is expected to have an increase in the immigrant population, which is likely to influence the furniture industry and will raise its demands. According to analysts, around fifty thousand homes and around forty thousand hotel rooms were built in UAE in 2017-20182.

Moreover, as the Expo 2020 Dubai is approaching, the demand for furniture is likely to reach the sky to meet the requirements of the hotels and service apartments. Owing to the increasing demands, the furniture industry in Dubai is growing at a great pace UAE Furniture Market is expected to reach around AED 11 billion in terms of revenues by 2022: Ken Research

To excel in the environment of increased competitiveness, the furniture importers and the fit-out companies need to choose the best options for the supply chain management.

Supply Chain Challenges for Furniture and Interior Fit Out Companies

Fulfilling the demands of furniture distribution in Dubai is becoming more and more challenging. The need for a carefully planned supply chain, safe warehousing, and transportation of furniture is a lot more complex process than it appears.

Moreover, the UAE is working on different approaches to fulfill the UN agenda of moving the whole world towards sustainability by 2030. The country has implemented sustainability regulations including ISO certification that some importers and fit-out companies might find difficult to comply with. “Obtaining ISO certification in 2015 has allowed us to bring a lot of accuracy and precision to the work that we do from many different angles; from a supply chain management angle, health and safety management angle, environmental compliance and quality assurance programs,” explains Communications Manager Tarek Dajani

And the challenges don’t end here. Furniture is difficult to handle. It’s big, has complex shapes, and has edges that are delicate. That is why the need for professional logistics help is necessary to fulfill the unique set of requirements that it demands. Some are as follows:

• The safety of the product is essential throughout the whole process.
• Furniture can be easily damaged, especially when it’s being transported with other products. Special care is needed when it is being packed and loaded into the containers as the forklifts and other equipment can damage the furniture.
• The storage should be able to support large and different shapes.
• Cost-effective loading, transportation and off-loading.
• The off-loading requires careful strategies too.

The traditional supply chain doesn’t satisfy the requirements when it comes to keeping a track and transparency of the whole process for a business that is spread across multiple areas. It can raise multiple challenges including:

• Lack of visibility
• Information sprawl
• Inability to maintain the safety and quality of your products
• Customer dissatisfaction
• Inadequate communication between parties
• Failure to track the product
• Lack of control inventory in warehouses and stores

In the fast-developing world, supply chains are evolving too. Supply chain management has entered into the new era of the digital economy. At any point, tech stagnation can hamper the efficiency of the whole process. So, the necessity to digitize supply chain management has increased. The importers and fit-out companies need to rely on the logistics firms that offer supply chain with advanced technologies.

You can also read : How Your Supply Chain Can Improve Customer Experience

Digital Supply Chain

On a superficial level digital supply chain management is a traditional supply chain integrated with digital technologies whose foundation is built on web-enabled capabilities. It involves the expansion and application of digital technologies such as IoT, AI, Blockchain, etc. in traditional supply chains. It not only improves the services but cuts plenty of costs too by the timely response to transportation or manufacturing risks. To address the new challenges and customer demands, new digital features are being integrated into this process every now and then. The eventual aim of the digital supply chain is to:

• Enable the visibility
• Avoid data wastage
• Facilitate greater profits

The companies in the furniture décor and import sectors face distinct challenges in the supply chain. Because of the size issues, without pre-planned strategies of warehousing and packing, the risks of the damages can increase. To minimize these risks of damages, the logistics companies and organizations are working within a digital supply chain having multiple benefits:

• Unified computing environments.
• The data changes are shared through cloud servers and databases.
• Tracking of the flow of Supply Chain through Multiple stages
• They support enhanced consumer service and better product offerings.
• Information remains safe
• Surveillance of the working of third party agents
• Self-execution of Supply Chain Contracts
• Management of any form of agreement
• Offer more security

The digital supply chain networks not just offer intelligent optimization and end to end transparency but are also reducing the environmental footprint by saving resources, time, money, etc. thus leading towards sustainability.

Integration of Latest Technologies:

Some of Dubai’s leading furniture companies are using the technology of mobile POS offering improved services to customers with the leverages like quicker checkouts, multiple payment modes, price and inventory records, etc.

“We can process the order for the individual right there in the store, right by the product, rather than dragging the customer away to a till in the corner of the store and take payment. That’s quite a technological revolution in the home industry.”

Transport management is also being thought of to be integrated with IoT technology which will not make the business analysis better but will also give an analysis of traffic.

Moreover, the other technologies including GPS tracking, smart labels, wireless sensors, barcodes are being implemented into the supply chain by multiple logistics organizations to make their services better.

Generation 4 Supply Chain

Nowadays the practice of the Supply chain gen 4.0 is gaining the attention of various companies that seek to revolutionize the transportation and manufacturing landscape. Supply chain generation 4.0 is growing expectations in leveling the connection between production and transportation.
It integrates the following technology:

• Advanced robotics for speedy and secure assembly, loading and off-loading of the furniture.
• Bigger networks handling
• Installation of IoT sensors to gather feedback about the products.
• Predictive analytics of data
• Automation
• Analysis of performance

The traditional linear structure of the supply chain is transforming into a dynamic sequence having unified systems. Moreover, the professionals have started to think of the ways to move ahead of the usual priorities. This has lead to the advancement of Information Technology and Operation Technology. It has also opened new visions in Industry 4.0. It is changing the very framework of the policies and efficiency of logistics companies ensuring a timely and secure supply of the furniture products from the supplier to the end-customer.