The Three Wise Men and Big Data
The Three Wise Men are the most important logistics operator in the world. Every year, they carry out the largest operation ever undertaken, with exceptionally high success rates. How do they manage to meet the requests of all their “customers” and execute a massive operation in most countries worldwide within a fixed, non-negotiable delivery timeframe? We are convinced it is thanks to Data Science.
Demand forecasting
They do not fool us: to ensure nothing goes wrong every January 5, they undoubtedly rely on a strong demand-forecasting tool, through which they interrelate data on market trends, economic developments, delivery history, inventory, warehousing capacity, suppliers’ load time… and transform it into information to estimate customer behaviour.
Applying algorithms and Artificial Intelligence to a macro logistics process like the one Their Majesties carry out enables them to meet the expectations placed on them by organising operations based on forecasts of future reality. Uncertainty is thus reduced, allowing them to work with a high degree of certainty, which facilitates decision-making and simplifies planning across the entire supply chain.
Logistics warehouse
In addition, they surely have a perfectly designed logistics facility with a Warehouse Management System (WMS) connected to the tool used for demand forecasting. With these systems, they can optimise item locations at their headquarters, rationalise stock to avoid stockouts and overstocking, strengthen outbound flows of items to secondary warehouses, and reduce loading times.
All of this is especially significant in a mass distribution operation like the one the Three Wise Men carry out. Goods dispatches from the central hub for distribution to delegated points must be as efficient as possible to minimise fleet costs and reduce delivery times, since everything must be very well organised to ensure nothing goes wrong on January 5. Vehicle loading must be carried out by optimising performance, and the best way to achieve this is through load space-optimisation tools based, once again, on Artificial Intelligence.
Local logistics centres
As we have already mentioned, Their Majesties have local partners and secondary logistics warehouses in different cities across the countries where they carry out the eagerly awaited deliveries. Of course, these centres are fully automated, like the central hub, from which Melchior, Caspar and Balthazar, in the final months of the year, decentralise the products with the highest forecast demand in each specific geographic area, because wishes vary greatly from one culture to another. Stock is then completed based on the requests sent by children in their letters.
However, with everything mentioned so far—which is no small feat—it is still not enough for such a complex logistics operation. Thanks to data science, the means used to supply local warehouses follow defined and optimised routes based on traffic, weather conditions, or the load being carried. Given the complexity of the operation and the reputation the Kings put at stake, once the fleet reaches its destination and delivers the load, it must report—via a PDA device or route management system—that it has completed its mission, so that everything is recorded and perfectly controlled, awaiting delivery to the recipients on the most magical night of the year.
Last mile
On January 5, Their Majesties travel to every city and town in the world on their camels, something they achieve thanks to time zones. After greeting children in the parades, they load the orders at local warehouses, using the same systems and effectiveness criteria described so far, and they take direct responsibility for the last mile, which in this case is fully sustainable, allowing them to carry out their work calmly in the centres of major cities.
The thousands of years of experience the Three Wise Men have in carrying out mass deliveries with fixed delivery times, combined with the application of Logistics 4.0 tools, have created a perfect mechanism that makes it possible to deliver gifts to all the children in the world in record time and with higher success rates. It is ensured that everyone can receive the gifts they requested thanks to the high levels of planning enabled by demand-forecasting systems, and that they arrive on time thanks to the optimisation of the complex distribution process.