In the last few years, there has been no shortage of Terminator imagery showing an artificial intelligence (AI) driven apocalypse. But in the realm of supply chain management, the technology is delivering enormous benefits and only excess stock and inefficiency should be having nightmares about AI, says supply chain problem solver, advisor and futurist Scott Curtiss.

AI is offering powerful new ways to optimise processes, improve forecasting accuracy and enhance agility in the face of ongoing supply chain disruption, Curtiss states. He will share his insights on the transformative power of AI at the upcoming SAPICS Conference, Africa’s premier event for supply chain professionals.

Based in the United Kingdom, Curtiss is a recognised supply chain thought leader with deep expertise across the retail, manufacturing and wholesale sectors. His compelling session at the 47th annual SAPICS Conference will help attendees to understand how AI is driving innovation, enhancing forecasting accuracy and improving supply chain processes across industries. Curtiss will offer delegates strategies for navigating increasingly complex supply chains, leveraging AI-powered tools that enhance agility and resilience in the face of disruptions and evolving market demands.

He will also explore how AI-driven supply chains contribute to reducing waste, improving efficiency and supporting sustainability goals. Future trends and challenges will be examined, and Curtiss will explore AI’s potential to reshape supply chain management and how supply chain managers can overcome the main hurdles in its adoption.

AI is also in the spotlight in a 2025 SAPICS Conference presentation by Sanera Maharaj, an award-winning operations specialist whose achievements include being recognised in the Mail & Guardian 200 Young South Africans awards, the TransUnion Rising Star Awards and the TechWomen programme.

“According to McKinsey, only 20 percent of executives have integrated AI and machine learning into supply chain planning. But that is about to change – fast,” she asserts. “In the next two years, digital transformation will redefine supply chain visibility, giving businesses a powerful competitive edge. Imagine the benefits of end-to-end tracking that goes beyond shipment monitoring and AI-driven predictions to anticipate delays and mitigate risks,” Maharaj says. By predicting stock availability and fulfilling needs before they arise, AI will also enhance customer experience, she states.

In her session at SAPICS 2025, Maharaj will explore the tools available to enable attendees to take their digital transformation to the next level. She will outline the advantages they will gain by having data available at their fingertips and offer innovative ways to eliminate inefficiencies in the value chain.

World renowned supply chain expert Carol Ptak joins this year’s SAPICS Conference speaker line-up with a workshop that will explore the latest powerful simulation engines that are revolutionising supply chain management.

Ptak is a partner with the Demand Driven Institute, a global organisation that was founded to advance and proliferate Demand Driven strategies and practices. She has written and co-authored numerous articles and books on Demand Driven principles, finance and information and planning systems. Her workshop at SAPICS 2025 will be co-presented by Gerrit Zaayman.

“Every manufacturer and supply chain are a complex system. The ability to cut through the complexity, understand all the dependencies and find the right path used to be almost impossible,” Ptak says. “Knowing what we should and should not do was a huge challenge, but the next generation of simulation engines is changing the game. These simulations are incredibly powerful – for the exploration of concepts and the comparison of options for system improvement. The simulation models that accurately replicate the physical behavior of the process can now also be connected to the enterprise data and used to design, predict and prescribe current and future performance.”