Recently I gave a couple of webinars and one of the questions posed during the Q&A asked to give my recommendations on sensors to use in a supply chain. I hated to give my response because it was a total non-answer: It depends because there is no one-size-fits-all for IoT.
What I could not communicate on that webinar (because of time constraints) is that the type of sensor and almost everything that goes into an IoT-driven supply chain solution depends on many variables. From the type of shipment and location of the goods in transit to the various communications back-haul, there is no one-size-fits-all solution for shipment visibility. It is an amalgamation of technologies that must come together to give the organization, its customers and, in some cases, government entities the data required or requested.
Organizations are rethinking, restructuring, and rebuilding their supply chains. IoT is a key, disruptive technology to realize these digital transformation efforts to gain new efficiencies or to build new business models. According to EPS News, “The Internet of Things has already had a big impact on the supply chain. New fleet management technology, made possible by IoT sensors, is being used to track the flow of goods across the supply chain. Logistics companies are also using the tech to optimize fleet management — reducing idling, finding more efficient routes, and decreasing fuel consumption.”
Circling back to my initial statement: there is no one size fits all for IoT – and that’s OK. How your organization can visualize and exploit the ever-expanding ecosystems of IoT-driven data can be a game-changer (as IDC predicts). No matter where your organization is in their recovery, restart, or rebuilding effort is a unique and disruptive process – and there is no one size fits all for that.
Rebuild and restart with a purpose. IDC has stated that IoT is a game-changer in the supply chain. It is changing the way that companies manage inventory, address overall supply chain visibility, and enable responsiveness. It re-imagines and improves on the tried and true supply chain management solutions and builds new efficiencies and can improve customer engagement.
Download this white paper to learn how disruptive technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), enable intelligent and connected supply chains. From simple track and trace solutions that record and report shipment location data to shipment monitoring, where the environmental (temperature, vibration, or humidity) IoT-sourced data are giving realtime insights and creating real-world benefits.
- EPSNews, “How Will IoT Change the Supply Chain in 2020?”, 2020
- The Economist, “In algorithms we trust How AI is spreading throughout the supply chain,” 2018
- IDC, Digital Transformation Drives Supply Chain Restructuring Imperative, 2019
