The term IOT that is “The Internet of Things” sounds to be little more than buzzwords, but is it so? Most of you haven’t paid any attention to such a term considering it as another IT jargon. Nevertheless, IOT has evolved as a breakthrough technology that is expected to steer and bring innovation across every industry in the upcoming near future.
Both technology and IOT are striding together and marking their footprints in the technological paradigm. Perhaps, in this article, we need to figure out “How technology and IOT are disrupting the Trucking and Logistics Sector.
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According to the study conducted by AT Kearney, the IOT solutions market will be worth $11 Million by the year 2025 and its impact on transportation and Logistic is set to climb the mark of $18 Billion. With the increase in the demand of technology, the Logistics sector is harnessing the IOT to achieve collaborative information sharing, real-time ambient data collection, enhanced capacity utilization so as to have higher overall efficiency.
How is IoT benefitting the Transportation and Logistics Sector?
Not only has the Logistics field, but even the corporate world also witnessed the practical implementation of IoT. It’s obvious that the IoT is disrupting everything in its vision and the transportation industry is no such exception.
Let’s get deep into the uses of IoT in the Logistics sector as it relies on real-time business analytics and seamless data flow.
1. Fuel Analytics and Optimization by IOT
With the help of the revolutionary IoT, the transportation and Logistics Sector can minimize fuel theft and fuel mileage. IoT has enabled startups to leverage data from GPS and fuel sensors so that they can develop an algorithm that can optimize the refueling points and select the best routes to reap maximum benefits.
2. Smart Logistics and Fleet Management With IoT
Another smart usage of IoT in logistics is that the business owner can easily track, monitor, analyze, and maintain the entire fleet in real-time by just equipping the vehicles with IOT sensors.
3. Monitor the health of Vehicles
The power of IOT and Advanced Analytics joined together empowers the logistics firms to autonomously monitor the health of the vehicles and undertake predictive maintenance.
With the incoming of the IOT in Logistics companies, the fleet managers can get a better insight into the driver’s behaviour, It will also enable them with the on-time alert for services like engine maintenance, coolant temperature and many other factors.
4. Examine the food quality during transit/ Transporting Perishable Goods
Transporting perishable goods or carrying biological and biopharmaceutical medicines requires a lot of care and these medicines must be kept at a specific temperature during the journey.
By the implementation of the IOT applications, the cloud-based sensors and the RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) chips embedded in the freights can continuously monitor the condition and notify to the truckers and management in order to avoid threatening outcomes
5. Connected Mobility
With the IOT gaining increased pace, fleet yards and stations will be able to manage their fleet based activities in a more advanced way. The managers will be able to manage the incoming and outgoing vehicles by proactively monitoring the sensors off and keeping a track of the fuel consumption.
6. Connected Fleets decrease the cost of managing the Logistics
Connected fleets when connected to the cloud will decrease the risk of accidents and injuries by 25% which in turn will up the vehicle’s efficiency by 15%. Further the emission of CO2 in the environment will decrease by 75% thus making the natural environment friendly.
7. Improve the Business Processes and Outcomes
IoT can help companies optimize their day-to-day operations resulting in cutting travel costs. For example, if two drivers leave from the same location but use different routes to travel to the same destination, sensor data could help identify which driver arrived faster, paid fewer tolls, or conserved more fuel.
How is technology disrupting the freight and logistics industry?
Without the intervention of technology in the Logistics and transportation industry, the industry is completely fragmented and facing the lack of smooth-running in its operations.
But with the advent of the revolutionary technologies like AI, ML, robotics, and Blockchain, the logistics industry has embraced it and adopted it for streamlining their operations and having end-to-end coordination between the processes.
Lets us have a look at the practical applications of these technologies:
1. Booking process prior to transportation with IoT
With the help of AI and ML, the booking of delivery trucks can be made easier as it recognizes the patterns in data and makes the process more accurate, predictive, and efficient. From the data gathered by the bookings of the client, the owner can have a look at the areas having greater booking demand which in turn will cut the operational costs.
2. Robotics in Supply Chain
By overtaking the work of poor human beings and cutting the operational cost, the Robotics has created a disruption in the Supply chain warehouses. It has become much easier for the company to receive, sort, store, retrieve, and deliver cargo in comparison to humans.
3. Digitized Documentation using Blockchain
Blockchain is a revolutionary technology, has changed the way documentation is carried out across Supply Chain. Through the Blockchain-driven smart contracts, a firm can signal that it has received the cargo after the pre-specified conditions are met, hence reducing the time spent on cross verifying the documents.
Conclusion
For bringing the general ecosystem of trucks on a technological platform, the Internet of Things has played a prodigious role. Also, many top logistics companies in India have welcomed IoT to their logistics and transportation firm which will cut their costs, increase efficiency, and create new revenue possibilities.
To date, one can undoubtfully say that IoT is the future of fleet management and the future will see many and more fleet managers manage and control their assets with the help of the IoT solutions which will ensure greater business efficiencies, enhanced customer satisfaction, and improved safety. But in the race of the logistics firms with the IoT, the owner must not forget to opt for the best fleet options from an appropriate vendor.
