Supply Chain Costs Up to 20% by AI

Discussions on the cost benefits of using AI in the supply chain have varied widely. This week, Accenture announced that its research, "Making Self-Funding Supply Chains Real", showed that companies are finding near-term, rather than long-term, savings potential. These savings are showing up in the areas of procurement, manufacturing and fulfillment.

The research showed that by delivering recurring cost savings, AI could reduce operational expenditure up to 24%, cutting manual interventions by as much as 50% as autonomous systems scale up, lowering overall supply chain costs by up to 20% depending on where organizations are in their autonomous journey.  

The survey showed that the key is to have targeted interventions that can deliver rapid cost savings and performance gains over time. Those savings are then reinvested to drive higher supply chain autonomy, creating a cycle that strengthens resilience, fuels growth, turning AI adoption into a self‑funding engine of transformation.

“With cost pressure intensifying, self‑funding supply chains represent a leadership and operating‑model shift that can drive resilience and growth," said. Kris Timmermans, global supply chain & operations lead at Accenture, in a statement. "When leaders focus on reinvestment, supply chains could deliver double‑digit cost reductions while building the foundation for higher autonomy with humans in the lead.”

Previous Accenture research shows how important such initiatives are as most organizations remain stuck in low supply chain digital capability and maturity of autonomy, averaging just 36% and 21% respectively.

The value is tangible even before supply chains reach full autonomy. For example, intelligent transportation management enabled by autonomous technologies has the potential to reduce transportation spending by up to 12%, while improving on‑time‑in‑full performance by up to 30%. In manufacturing, applying AI to power autonomous operations can boost production volume by 10%. By applying AI in such cost‑intensive areas, organizations are realizing trapped value and redeploying resources to fund sustained profitability.

AI examples with near‑term savings potential: AI is enabling supply chains to sense, decide and act in real time, improving planning and execution while automating routine work so teams can focus on higher-value roles and strategic decisions. In one logistics company, AI‑driven routing optimized speeds and routes, cutting fuel use and emissions.

Supply chain platform orchestrators connect data, systems and partners end-to-end, turning fragmented networks into real‑time ecosystems. The impact: Industrial equipment manufacturers are cutting disruption recovery times by 58%, automotive companies are reducing order lead times by 26%, and aerospace and defense firms are boosting their productivity by 25%.

Control towers have reduced inventory by up to 30% across healthcare, consumer goods, retail and auto‑industrial sectors, while other companies report up to 10% higher equipment utilization and up to 8% improvements in delivery performance and customer service.

Supply chain leaders are forced to pursue two goals at once: cut costs faster and build resilience for what’s next," said. Patricia Riedl, supply chain & operations lead, Americas at Accenture, in a statement. "But sweeping transformation is hard to fund. What we’re seeing is a shift toward focused, AI‑powered actions that generate savings early on, and companies using those savings to build more autonomous, resilient supply chains in the long run.”