According to figures provided by FedEx, in the UK alone parcels delivered by carriers are expected to reach a total of 1.29 billion for this festive season, making the UK the busiest market for deliveries in Europe. At the same time, this year parcel carrier Yodel warned shoppers to expect delays a week out from Christmas due to higher demand, demonstrating the strain the festive period has on deliveries.
How can IoT help to lessen the strain on delivery services, keep shoppers happy and ensure that parcels are guaranteed to be delivered in busier seasons like Christmas? In a multitude of ways. Helping businesses to understand their own supply chain will go a considerable way towards identifying bottlenecks and subsequently addressing them.
1. Enhanced visibility across the supply chain
Technologies like GPS-enabled trackers and RFID tags and readers play a key role in improving visibility across the supply chain, which isn’t just beneficial for understanding the flow of goods through the supply chain, but also in meeting companies’ own ESG goals by improving transparency.
In doing so, this kind of visibility can support decision-making in rerouting any delayed shipments and making sure the inventory reaches the stores and/or individuals in time.
In September 2023, Amazon announced their answer to supply chain services with the launch of their end-to-end solutions to handle logistics, reduce costs and improve overall delivery speed. A year on, Amazon reported adoption tripling in the beginning half of this year. At the time of the announcement, Dharmesh Mehta, Amazon Vice President of WW Selling Partner Services said: “With Supply Chain by Amazon, Amazon will pick up sellers’ inventory directly from their factory, and manage the supply chain logistics through delivery to customers’ doorsteps. Sellers will be able to offload even more of the complexity of their supply chain logistics to Amazon.”
2. Real-time monitoring of environmental conditions
IoT-enabled temperature and humidity sensors can monitor perishable items like food and pharmaceuticals, which is especially useful when it comes to cutting down on food waste and spoilage. Cloud-based platforms like AWS IoT Core allow continuous data monitoring and alerting.
With demand for temperature-sensitive goods like treats and electronics rising around Christmas, consumers can rest easy with the integration of temperature and humidity sensors.
Maersk announced using Microsoft Azure as its Cloud platform in June 2023, a decision it supported by explaining that it allowed it to build scalable platforms to cater towards continued growth. Their collaboration brought out Remote Container Management (RCM) to allow Maersk to monitor temperature and humidity data from hundreds of thousands of refrigerated shipping containers.
3. Predictive maintenance for fleets
Telematics systems monitor engine diagnostics and fuel consumption of delivery fleets, to track their condition in real-time, known as predictive vehicle maintenance, while IoT sensors can track wear and tear on key components like tyres and brakes.
Predictive maintenance ensures vehicles remain operational, to avoid disruptions in deliveries and reducing associated repair costs.
Recently, Fraikin Group extended a collaboration with Samsara whereby Samsara’s technology – including AI dash cams, asset gateways, door monitors, environmental monitors and vehicle gateways – would be deployed across Fraikin’s 60,000 vehicles in its European operations. Yves Pétin, Group CEO, Fraikin Group called ita “key step in our expansion”.
4. Optimising inventory management
Smart shelves equipped with weight sensors and RFID tags can automatically update inventory levels, meaning no warehouse is completely unaware of what they do or don’t have in stock. IoT platforms like Zebra’s SmartCount offer inventory analytics and automated restocking alerts, to take this one step further.
Real-time inventory optimisation means retailers and parcel carriers can respond to fluctuating demand during the Christmas period.
Walmart’s arguably unprecedented RFID mandate – which required suppliers to tag certain products with RFIDs from 2022, and full compliance needed by February 2024 – came about because of the advantages the retailer saw from RFID: including improving customer satisfaction and saving time and money.
5. Improving warehouse operations
Autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) perform roles such as item picking and packing, lessening the manual labour that takes place, to redirect factory employees to other tasks, with other advantages being the reduction in manual errors and increase in throughput. Sensors integrated into places like conveyor belts and storage racks improve efficiency by identifying any bottlenecks that arise.
IoT-enabled automation at the warehouse level means they can handle the increased workload efficiently, with fewer mistakes in order fulfilment.
In November 2023, Ocado announced a deal in which Ocado Intelligent Automation (OIA) would provide automated fulfilment technology at a distribution site in Canada, providing AI-powered software applications required to operate the technology for a long period of time.
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