In spite of all the challenges Africa faces, innovative and technological solutions could soon be at its finger tips.
This is according to Senior Lecturer in Operations Management and Analytics at the University of Huddersfield in England, Dr Emilia Vann Yaroson, who shared her expertise in supply chain management through a guest lecture hosted by the Discipline of Marketing and Supply Chain Management at UKZN.
The lecture aimed at exposing students to well-rounded global knowledge in the field of supply chain revealing the eco nomic and political vulnerabilities where there are limited regulations that support the sector, and therefore largely contribute to inefficiency in the chain.
Yaroson broadly unpacked the requirements Africa needs in order to leverage technology which included a vast range of digital solutions, including cloud computing, big data analytics and block chain technologies. These cover supply chain 5.0 which focuses more on personalised production.
‘Initially the focus of the supply chain was always the movement of goods and services, not paying attention to the capacity, skills and competence of decision making within the chain – now it’s not only about using technology but about the decision-making capacity which involves the human skills capacity in using the technology,’ she said.
The interactive lecturer was concluded with a Q&A session during which a student Mr Minenhle Dlamini, asked: ‘Africa is made up of many developing countries, is it appropriate to start talking about the 5th industrial revolution while we are still adapting to the 4th industrial revolution?’
Yaroson replied: ‘Industry 5.0 works around a human censored design which highlights the importance of human beings in the ecosystem and improves sustainability and further eliminates fear in humans continuing to further highlight the importance of training our skillset to support the technologies we are adopting.’
Facilitator at the gathering, Supply Chain Management lecturer Dr Eric Ncube, thanked Yaroson for sharing her research and hoped for future collaborations.
Words: Ayanda Radebe
Photograph: Supplied
