60 Seconds In Supply Chain and The Internet of Things (IOT)

Welcome to this week’s edition of 60 seconds in supply chain. We are going to focus on how the Internet of Things (or IoT) positively affects the Supply Chain.

IoT allows supply chain personnel to connect their equipment, devices, products, and vehicles to gain real-time status updates. This is a big step leading into Supply Chain Transparency, where not only can customers track an order, but a variety of stakeholders have an opportunity to get actionable intelligence to improve operational efficiencies and create more revenue.

IoT goes beyond barcode scanning for tracking goods and uses RFID and GPS sensors to manage products until they land in a customer’s hands.

This leads to vendor Relations. When you have reliable data on managing goods, you can vastly improve production schedules and the use of vendor resources, leading to better quality products, at a lower price.

Sensors within the warehouse provide far more accurate inventory counts and can be used for both finished goods and for supplies in stock for future manufacturing. This helps with keeping the right amount of stock and allows for forecasting trend analysis.

The internet of things has a big impact on fleets. No matter how finished goods are getting to a customer, the constant connection gets products to customers, faster, and with complete shipping accuracy.

Once there is IoT in the supply chain, you can do more than just track and collect data. Smart sensors can manage planned and predictive maintenance on equipment to prevent costly down-time. Bottom line? Research shows that 70% of retail and manufacturing businesses have already begun to transform their supply chain processes. Don’t get left behind!