Gone are the days when it was just enough to move the goods from one point to another. The current times are of high competition and many challenges, where the main focus lies on the customer satisfaction and meeting their expectations.
Multiple industries are adopting advanced and technological methods to scale up their supply chain processing. Logistics is one of the evolving segments of the supply chains, which holds lots of potential for business opportunities.
The integration and management of the whole production chain make the logistics sector. It includes the end-to-end processing from the suppliers ends to the customers' end.
How does IoT affect the Logistics Industry?
Infrastructure is an integral part of industrial development, be it any industry. From using simple vehicles to using fully-automated ones, the logistics sector has come a long way in meeting all their customer expectations.
Since technology is driving most of our businesses, current time demands technological expansion. Also, understanding the demand and supply from both ends— consumer as well as the manufacturer drives the improvement in the logistics sector. Using advanced technologies like the Internet of Things, industries are availing profits and benefits in keeping a proper supply chain management process.
Logistics is one of the prime segments in an industry's SCM, which is using IoT methods to provide satisfactory services. Beyond everything, the Internet of Things supports automation that enhances the logistics operations at much cheaper costs. Thus, we can say that IoT is laying a positive impact on the logistics industry with its easily adaptive and innovative concepts.
Smart Warehousing
Logistics sector consists of a warehouse to store the goods and it is quite challenging for the department to properly manage the condition of every product. However, with the use of IoT-enabled solutions, it is now easier to keep track of the goods' status. A connected logistics ecosystem has installed sensors on different positions like shelves, racks, etc. to easily track the inventory items, monitor the real-time status of the goods, and their exact position. Also, IoT helps the employees to keep track of the stock, prevent losses, ensure safety, and quickly provide the location of any item. This minimizes the possibilities of any human errors.
Automated Vehicles
IoT-powered vehicles are an advantage to most of the logistics businesses due to their advanced features. The commencement of self-driven trucks is one of the drastic changes that concern the safety of the truck drivers, providing a safe import and export of the goods. As the IoT devices collect data in large amounts through sensors, the analytics system installed in the vehicles transform it into optimal and predictive routes while driving. It significantly leads to fewer road accidents, reduced operation costs, and improved vehicle maintenance.
Smart Delivery Techniques
Smart delivery techniques such as drone and droid based deliveries are coming into implementation. These electronic devices are said to have the highest potential to add speed and efficiency to the logistics operations. Drone technology is specialized to process last-minute delivery issues, ensuring smart inventory management, quicker goods transportation, and instant deliveries. Research from Gartner study says that by the end of 2020, the demand for the drone-based market is expected to reach $11.2 billion with both commercial and consumer applications.
IoT Solutions for Your Logistics Business
GPS Fleet Tracking
Are you searching for an economically sound IoT solution to manage all your fleets? A GPS fleet tracking system makes your fleet operations quicker and more cost-effective. In a logistics business, primary focus lies with vehicle management and tracking their live status. It automatically improves security, and provides accurate and detailed information about the fleet activities, creating complete transparency. Also, this system can track different types of vehicles such as light-duty, medium-duty, and heavy-duty, as per their functioning. Hence, it is a very useful method to be implemented in your logistics business to timely monitor the service deliveries.
Smart Contract
Many-a-times the drivers get stuck with the documentation process at the time of loading and unloading the goods. This makes it difficult to stick by the delivery time. Hence, a smart contract solution unlocks the doors of lengthy paper works. It is a digitally operated system that saves your time by quickly scanning the documents. The import/export documents are in a digital form, encrypted with blockchain security to avoid any breaches. A Smart Contract solution makes it easier for the fleet managers to verify the product at each stage of the distribution process until the product reaches to its consumers.
Cargo Monitoring
One of the most important logistics operations is to monitor the cargo. Traditional ways involve a lot of manual labors, which also impact the overall costs. Using an IoT-powered cargo monitoring solution provides a real-time alert system that assists the managers to keep a keen eye on all the cargo activities and its condition. This solution is highly effective with cold-chain transportation, where you need to ensure the health and condition of the refrigerated products. The installed sensors on the cargo help improve supply chain efficiency, provide cargo damage alerts, and reduce the risk of cargo thefts.
Oil/Fuel Theft
Transporting liquid products like oil becomes a major safety concern for the logistics department. In order to transport oil through trucks, implementing an IoT-powered oil/fuel theft solution provides advanced security to keep track of the fuel levels. It is incorporated with different volume measuring sensors that detect even the slightest change in the oil levels. Also, its quick alert system provides real-time updates to the fleet managers, so that they can take necessary actions. IoT-powered oil/fuel theft solution proves to be effective for the logistics department as it ensures the security of the oil and reduces the risks of any thefts.
IoT is levelling up the infrastructure of the logistics industry. Using smart methods and innovative concepts, the fleet managers are now involving advanced technology to earn profits as well as consumer satisfaction. These are the 4 major IoT solutions to upgrade your logistics business and use the Internet of Things as an effective platform for service deliveries. As the impact of IoT is great on the logistics sector and is widely adaptive among most of the businesses, it is one of the great economic escapes from the traditional ways of dealing with the supply chains.
