How to Transition Your Supply Chain From Manual Processes to AI-powered Solutions

November 15, 2023

The impact that supply chain leaders have on their respective businesses is predicated on the supply chain management systems and especially supply chain planning systems that they have in place. While many have already adopted some tools to support market demands — or at least have plans to — these tools are often cumbersome, disconnected or subsidized with spreadsheets. In fact, according to a 2020 survey conducted by Modern Materials Handling, a staggering 45% of supply chain professionals reported they are using mostly or entirely manual processes. The bad news is, those who continue to rely on manual planning will likely fall behind. But, the good news? Transitioning from spreadsheets to digital planning supported by AI-powered planning solutions is very much within reach.

In this blog, we’ll explore these areas:

The risks of spreadsheet-based planning
The benefits of AI-powered planning solutions
How you can transition to a digital supply chain

The risks of spreadsheet-based supply chain planning

To put it bluntly, using spreadsheets to manage your supply chain is a slow-moving, time-consuming, and error-prone process — especially when compared to digital methods. Take a look at the risks listed below, related to spreadsheet-based planning. You could be familiar with some of them, and others you may not even realize are impacting your business.

You can open your supply chain up to errors that require remediation efforts
You spend more time on the tactical aspects of planning than the strategic impact
You are not able to collaborate cross-functionally to generate consensus plans
You are not leveraging valuable data that is available to you
Your (slow) reaction time might be damaging customer experience
You don’t have reliable performance metrics to rack your progress

To learn more about the risks of spreadsheets, check out our blog, The Hidden Threats of Spreadsheet-Based Supply Chain Planning.

The benefits of AI-powered planning solutions

When you compare digital supply chain planning against more traditional methods, the benefits are clear. Below are just some of the reasons supply chain executives have made the strategic decision to shift to digital solutions. More details about these can be found in our recent AI benefits checklist.

Increase revenue
Improve the accuracy of your forecasting
Leverage important market signals
Optimize your inventory
Make better decisions more quickly
Enhance collaboration across your business
Create a better customer experience

All of these advantages add up to better outcomes and greater confidence, not just for your supply chain but for your business as a whole. You can dig deeper into these benefits in our recent blog, The Benefits of Shifting from Manual to Digital Supply Chain Planning.

How can you shift from spreadsheets to digital solutions?

Shifting from manual supply chain planning to the use of digital solutions gives you the power to improve and accelerate your decision-making, unlock profitable growth opportunities, reduce risk, and efficiently scale your business. So, how can you make the shift? We’ve outlined a few steps you can take to begin your transition.

1. Identify your business goals

Think about these as they relate not just to your supply chain, but to every part of your organization. How will meeting your short-term and long-term supply chain goals help to fulfill the goals of your business cross-functionally?

2. Identify your business challenges and opportunities

Perhaps you’re dealing with some or all of the risks of manual supply chain planning that we highlighted earlier, and you’d like to address those head on. Or maybe you anticipate a broader scope of opportunities that could be better served by the enablement of digital solutions. Think about what you can address now, and into the future.

3. Find a AI-powered planning solutions provider that fits your business needs and knows your industry

As you assess your goals, challenges, and opportunities, you’ll need a digital solution partner that can help you develop a strategic roadmap that will address the full vision of your organization and provide industry insights. Look for a partner that offers trusted expertise, flexibility to evolve with your business, and scalability of solutions and support that can empower your growth.

Questions to ask potential supply chain software providers

As you do your research into solution providers that could be the best fit for your business, outside of inquiring about initial and ongoing investment, you might consider asking these questions during your conversations with them.

How can your solutions address our business challenges and goals?
What is the anticipated timeline for onboarding with your solutions?
What roadblocks or challenges have you experienced in the past for other businesses during implementation? Should we expect the same?
What can be expected in terms of both initial and ongoing support?
Do you have case studies to share that are applicable to our business?
What ROI should we expect and how quickly can we feel the benefits?
How do we get our team to embrace and adopt the solution?

4. Facilitate alignment across your organization

Once you’ve selected your ideal digital solutions partner, it will then be critical to facilitate collaboration on the decision and next steps across every impacted function of your business. Get every department leader and executive onboard to ensure full alignment in preparation for the initial implementation and ongoing transitions of your digitalization roadmap.

Meet an AI-powered planning solution ready to accelerate your digital transition.

Among the industry leaders guiding supply chain professionals through their digital journey is Firstshift.ai. Firstshift offers both transformative AI-powered planning solutions and supply chain planning expertise. It’s a powerful combination of services that empower businesses to:

Ditch the manual, time-consuming, and risk-prone spreadsheets
Leverage external data to address relevant market signals (and ignore the noise)
Accelerate the transformation of data into actionable insights
Leverage predictive analytics to align future performance
Use prescriptive analytics to automate, wherever possible

To discover if Firstshift is the right partner for your shift to AI-powered planning solutions, schedule your free demo.

‍

Similar Blog Posts

Insights

•

May 1, 2025

Why Supply Chains Must Be Built for Agility

Adaptability isn’t optional. It’s the new baseline.

Volatility is not a temporary condition in today’s global supply chains - it’s structural. Geopolitical shifts, trade policies, climate events, and evolving consumer behaviors continue to test even the most robust supply chain models. Yet amid all this uncertainty, one truth holds: agility is the only true defense. And for modern enterprises, agility is impossible without AI-powered planning.

When the Ground Shifts, Static Plans Fail
Consider tariffs - just one of many variables supply chain leaders can’t control. While their timing and scope may be unpredictable, their impacts cascade quickly: sourcing strategies change, manufacturing pivots, lead times swell, and cost structures fracture. Supply chain planning must keep pace, not through spreadsheets and manual workarounds, but with technology that can model, simulate, and adjust in real time.

These kinds of disruptions reverberate across the entire supply chain. They impact:

Procurement and sourcing: shifting suppliers means new lead times, costs, and risk profiles.
Manufacturing: alternate production sites must be evaluated and rebalanced.
Inventory: stock levels must align with evolving demand, capacity, and constraints.
Distribution: networks need reconfiguration—across countries, modes, and facilities.

The Role of AI-Powered Supply Chain Planning
Traditional planning tools are backward-looking and brittle. AI changes the game by enabling adaptive, scenario-driven planning. With machine learning and external data signals layered in, AI-powered platforms surface actionable insights and automate responses to variability.

Here’s how it works:

Real-time scenario planning: Model the impact of tariff shifts, supplier changes, or demand fluctuations instantly - before they happen.
Attribute-based forecasting: Predict demand not just by product, but by features, location, seasonality, and macroeconomic signals.
Multi-tier visibility and synchronization: Align planning across sourcing, production, and distribution - not in silos but as an interconnected system.
Automation of repetitive tasks: Free up teams to focus on strategic exceptions while AI manages routine re-forecasts, replenishment triggers, and alerts.
Integrated execution alignment: Coordinate inventory, transportation, and fulfillment execution to match updated plans, dynamically.

From Reactive to Resilient
Organizations that cling to rigid planning cycles and fragmented data will struggle to keep pace. In contrast, companies embracing AI-powered planning can:

Shift from reactive fire-fighting to proactive decision-making
Manage risk by simulating scenarios and optimizing trade-offs in real time
Seize opportunity - faster and with confidence - when the competitive landscape changes

Built to Thrive in Disruption
Agility is no longer a differentiator - it’s the requirement for survival. The modern supply chain must be engineered for resilience, responsiveness, and optimization. AI-powered supply chain planning platforms are the foundation of that transformation.

Because in a world of constant change, the strongest supply chains aren’t the most efficient. They’re the most adaptable.

See It in Action
Ready to see how AI-powered planning can transform your supply chain strategy? Schedule a demo today and discover how to unlock real-time visibility, smarter forecasting, and faster decision-making—at every level of your supply chain.

‍

News

•

March 18, 2025

Firstshift Launches Pluto, an AI-powered copilot for Supply Chain Planning Excellence

Los Altos, California – March 18, 2025 – Firstshift, a leading provider of AI-powered supply chain planning software, today announced the launch of Pluto, a Generative AI-powered planning copilot that assists planners with their decisions and tasks.

With options to leverage natural language query capabilities and an intuitive query builder, Pluto empowers supply chain professionals to gain critical insights faster, streamline decision-making, and optimize operations with unprecedented ease.

“Pluto is a game-changer for supply chain professionals,” said Hari Menon, CEO and Co-founder of Firstshift. “By making supply chain insights more accessible, actionable and accurate, Pluto allows planners to plan with confidence. With AI-powered insights at their fingertips, decision-makers can navigate supply chain complexities with greater speed and precision. Pluto is the first in the line of a series of AI-powered planning copilots and agents in our product roadmap.”

The flexibility of Pluto to operate in a natural language mode or the query builder mode makes it easy for planners to ask questions about their supply chain and get answers instantaneously. For complex and detailed analysis, Pluto’s query builder mode allows users to create complex queries effortlessly without requiring deep technical knowledge.

Supply chain leaders in enterprises are constantly challenged having to deal with shifting consumer demand, supply disruptions, and increasing operational complexity. Planners in their organization have to be agile to adjust plans, evaluate scenarios and make decisions based on insights derived from large volumes of data. Pluto changes the game by offering an AI assistant that compliments or extends a company’s supply chain planning team’s capabilities without adding staff or expertise. This is especially important as access to experienced talent and professionals with supply chain planning experience becomes increasingly competitive and difficult.

Pluto is available as part of Firstshift’s AI-powered demand and supply planning platform and solutions. Schedule a demo to see it in action and learn more about our platform’s solutions.

###

Firstshift is an innovative provider of AI-Powered supply chain planning solutions for large and medium-size enterprises. Firstshift's customer base includes leading brands in CPG, Food & Beverage, Industrial products and Apparel & Fashion industries. For more information visit www.firstshift.ai.

Insights

•

January 28, 2025

Unlocking Growth Opportunities with AI-Powered Demand Forecasting in the Food & Beverage Industry

From unpredictable consumer behaviors to supply chain disruptions, the challenges of demand planning are a delicate balancing act. Companies must adapt quickly to meet demand without sacrificing efficiency or profitability. AI-powered demand forecasting offers a game-changing solution, empowering F&B companies to make smarter decisions, reduce costs, and unlock growth opportunities.

Why Traditional Forecasting Falls Short

Conventional forecasting methods rely on few statistical algorithms applied on historical sales and shipment data and don’t account for :

Intermittent demand spikes
Volatile demand patterns
Unforeseen external factors, like weather and trends

These inaccuracies lead to either excess inventory of lost revenue.

How AI-Powered Demand Forecasting Makes a Difference

Leveraging machine learning and external signals, AI-driven demand planning dynamically predicts demand across product categories, markets, and supply chains. Key advantages include:

✅ Increased Accuracy: Attribute-based planning adjusts forecasts based on real-time changes like promotions, market trends, and consumer behavior.

✅ Scenario Planning: Simulate outcomes with ease, compare “what-if” scenarios, and adjust plans to avoid disruptions.

✅ Reduced Waste: Accurate forecasting means optimized production—no more overstocking or spoiled inventory.

✅ Growth Insights: AI uncovers demand signals you might miss, like external trends or regional opportunities, to fuel revenue growth.

Real Results for F&B Companies

Companies adopting AI-powered solutions see results like:

Up to 30% improvement in forecast accuracy
Reduced inventory costs by 10-20%
Faster response to supply chain shifts

By unlocking demand insights and improving agility, F&B businesses can turn challenges into opportunities.

Ready to Unlock Growth?

Don’t let inaccurate forecasts limit your growth. Explore how AI-powered demand forecasting can help you stay ahead of demand, reduce costs, and grow your business. Schedule a demo today.

‍