Smart Logistics: leveraging new technologies for a new way of operate
In the last decade we’ve seen an explosion of digital transformation activities by businesses. In fact, both front office and back office are now almost fully running on software. We can order our meals online, schedule flights on our mobile phones and even some physical services have the first screening done in a touch interface. Back office services were using software for a while now: from payments to taxes, HR and enterprise resource planning.
But what about logistics and supply chain in general? The problem is that most of our life is still physical… Our clothes, cars, food, medicine, everything is still produced, distributed, and stored in the physical world!
Most of these operations are hard to digitalize because software needs some kind of hardware to run. If you’re transporting clothes, where do you have some type of computer to run some digital intelligence that can give insights into how those clothes are being transported?
The Perils of Logistics
And, in fact, there is no shortage of problems and perils that can help raw materials, end products, or tools, while their out there to be moved from a warehouse to a store or to a customer’s house.
Is someone stealing the products? Are they lost? Being routed to the wrong address?
And what about the cold chain? Products that must be transported in chilled or frozen environments? We must guarantee that the temperature is right during the whole operation!
But, to have that visibility (location and environmental conditions) we need some software and small hardware attached to the cargo.
Sensors and trackers
Sensefinity offers small devices that act simultaneously as sensors and trackers and that can give you real-time location of transported cargo and the surrounding conditions (temperature, humidity, vibration, etc).
Once this data is collected our web application is able to process that data and expose the 3 A’s: Alerts, Analytics, and API.
Alerts:
customers can define thresholds and be alerted whenever any metrics are out of bounds. Are you shipping yogurts that can’t be exposed to temperatures above 4ºC? Don’t worry, if the temperature rises we’ll notify you!
Analytics:
do you want to identify which months are more prone to certain problems? Use our reports to compare time periods and locations for all your measured data.
API:
cross routes with external data sources like weather and traffic. Also, import sensor data into your ERP system so your management is able to make the best decisions.
The Smart Logistics Revolution:
The first motivation for smart logistics is Enhanced Visibility: real-time tracking of goods, vehicles, and equipment provides transparency throughout the supply chain.
However, having data about your transport and store operations can help Improve Efficiency: reduce operation times, and maximize asset utilization which can lead to Cost Savings.
Not only do you save on operations costs (less fuel, less warehouse space) but you also save on products that otherwise would be lost and not able to be sold.
In the end, if you deliver more items in less time you’ll have general Customer Satisfaction.
Smart logistics are just the beginning
Beyond real-time alerts and analytical reports, gathered data will feed AI/ML systems that will be able to predict and recommend logistic best practices.
Also, because the supply chain is a “collective sport” (producers, retailers, government authorities, and consumers) having all this data available on a secure and trustful platform like a blockchain will help prevent fraud and bring trust to all the players.