AI is widely seen as a game-changing operational engine for supply chains, yet the move from pilot to full enterprise adoption often stalls. This supply chain AI integration report from the Association for Supply Chain Management (ASCM) and the Digital Supply Chain Institute (DSCI) examines how organizations are handling the real-world human and operational challenges of scaling AI.
The findings show that the biggest obstacles are not executive skepticism or a lack of buy-in. Instead, organizations struggle with an unready workforce, an inability to trust AI to act autonomously, and difficulty proving return on investment. The result is AI held on a “short leash” until talent, trust and measurable business value catch up.
Key Findings at a Glance
Organizations with an AI-ready workforce learned by doing: they have put AI to work across an average of six supply chain functions and report a 71% project success rate. Among unprepared organizations, most remain stuck in pilot or planning stages, with a 28% success rate.
What’s Inside the Supply Chain AI Integration Report
The AI Adoption Reality
Where AI is used today, from demand planning to reverse logistics, and where it falls behind.
Readiness and Engagement Gaps
Why so few organizations feel prepared for an AI-augmented future, and what sets the leaders apart.
Augmenters vs. Replacers
How leaders who use AI to strengthen their workforce differ from those focused on cutting costs.
A Strategy Trapped at the Top
How engagement with AI falls off from the C-suite to directors, managers and frontline staff.
The Vulnerability Dilemma
The gap between cybersecurity concern and the controls actually in place across partner networks.
Executive Action Roadmap
Seven imperatives and five diagnostic questions to help leaders move AI from pilot to production.