The internet of things has the potential to change the world, just like the internet did, or even more so.
Supply Chain, like every other area in business, has the possibility to be impacted by IoT. With sensors attached to the products, devices, material to be transported, it is now possible to garner wondrous results from the products itself. Using this as the foundation to reinvent your supply chain, here’s how it will affect further-
Communicate
Want your devices, delivery men, warehouse team and fleet managers to communicate with each other? IoT Sensors can help with that. Hook your product/deliveries with temperature, pressure, weight sensors. They can receive the respective data from the products and transfer it to the Cloud. Let your IT team enable you to store and manage this data, and you will have inter-connected teams. This exercise can be especially advantageous as data entry does not take up surplus time. This saves resource efforts and cost.
Track
Tracking is another significant aspect of a supply chain. Having the ability to know the location of your products in-transit is important too. With GPS and RFID enabled sensors to fit in vehicles, tracking your fleet is now a piece of cake. Monitoring the condition of your deliveries and goods can go a long way. Knowing the fleet’s exact condition, detecting faults, applying instant fixes, identifying opportunities, can contribute to an efficient supply chain. IoT Consultants can further empower teams using the ability to communicate and monitoring product condition.
Control
With constant communication and monitoring of your fleet, the next step is to control them. In case of any mishaps, pressure or temperature drops in the products, or in the case of any anomalies in the product condition, having control can salvage the situation. Knowing about the warehouse updates, inventory quantities, delivery notifications, and in-transit product condition can be of advantage. Establishing a bi-directional communication between the products and the Cloud using an intermediary gateway can resolve multiple challenges at once.
How do these activities benefit the supply chain?
Operational efficiency
Having full control over the product quality, quantity, delivery and feedback data can go a long way. With accurate data on the fleet location and condition, accidents can be avoided. The maintenance for vehicles and other components can be regularized and scheduled. Timely deliveries with minimum product returns equal to a cost-effective supply chain, fleet and inventory management.
Customer relationships
On-time product deliveries in expected quantity and condition prove to be the most respected aspect of customer relationships in the supply chain. With trusted product quality and delivery, customers can be retained. Cross-selling of products and services can be conducted, and the experience can be enhanced. It acts as a convenience for customers as they don’t have to look for different vendors for multiple products.
Demand & sales forecasting
The data collected onto the Cloud enables smart decision-making. With the accurate product and customer data, sales forecasting for the next quarter and a similar period of time can be done. It helps maintain the respective stock in the inventory. In the case of ordering/manufacturing complementary and supplementary products, data management and visualization can prove to be of immense help. With enhanced customer relationships, newer opportunities of revenue generation can be created.
In summary, these impacts of IoT for an effective supply chain can optimize the entire operations. Enabling digital transformation for a transformed business is now a reality.
