Connect to Succeed: The Future of IoT in Supply Chain Management
Bryan Tantzen, Senior Director, Kinetic Industry Products, Cisco
Bryan Tantzen, Senior Director, Kinetic Industry Products, Cisco
See Also: Top SCM Companies
With connections across devices and silos increasing, businesses are able to achieve a new level of data insights. But with this massive amount of information also comes an increased need to understand it. It is not efficient to simply connect everything, and communicating data from across many types of IoT systems needs to be done in a way that is understood. By organizing the information in a way that makes sense for your business, however, it will no longer be necessary to rely on secondary sources for information. Instead businesses can directly follow a product throughout its lifecycle – from when it is built, to when it is shipped, reaches the warehouse, and is delivered.
We also have seen how IoT can enhance the customer experience. New connections will improve product quality by better monitoring temperature, humidity or shock during transit end to end from when the product is manufactured all the way to the consumer, all of which can be important for items like food and pharmaceuticals. By being able to connect to an exact package, businesses can confirm whether a package was actually delivered and track where it is with greater reliability.
With the help of these improved connections and visibility, the supply chain industry will also be able to tie production to customer demand. Orders and production will be better dictated by market need, as opposed to having to build stock or forecast. It can be described as “built to order” but in a new way - creating a new type of customer experience.
Logistics will also eventually evolve to an “on demand” model with the help of IoT. For example, with better connections, a company can know in real-time how many packages or pallets are on a truck and be more efficient with their delivery schedule. They will also have new visibility to spare logistics capacity, in time for them to potentially leverage this capacity in new ways. This type of capacity optimization can also reduce fuel use and wear and tear on vehicles, creating new efficiencies and savings.
IoT is here to stay in supply chain management, and it all starts with increasing your connections. These IoT connections will provide the visibility that so many supply chain management professionals want – and need – to realize their businesses of the future. We are just at the beginning of this journey.
Check This Out: Top 10 APAC IoT Solution Companies
