‘Look beyond the hype’. This was a key theme of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) section at WMX Europe (June 18 – 20). It’s the latest trend, following a long line of others such as .com, social media, block chain and big data.

While AI will undoubtedly impact the postal parcel and logistics sector the main message from the panellists was to avoid the fluff, be aware of the challenges and go for truly practical applications. Here’s a summary:

Challenges

• Data accuracy.
• Integrating AI with existing systems.
• Managing costs of AI projects.

Applications

• Estimating delivery date (EDD).
• Personalising product recommendations to shoppers.
• Route optimisation.
• Pricing automation.
• Optimising PUDO locations.
• Streamlining the customs inspection process.
• Targeted inspection of high risk shipments.

Final thoughts

• Experiment yourself with simple AI tools.
• Artificial Intelligence is powerful – but human expertise is still needed.

Thanks to panellists Sonja Slottke of Pakajo Eric Pong of AfterShip, Michael Anderson of Kardinal, Chad Schofield of BoxC and to Sven Kukemelk of Omniva for moderating the session.

Photo by Michael Dziedzic on Unsplash