Future of Scm with Iot

FUTURE OF SCM WITH IOT

Internet of Things (IoT) is being projected as one of the most disruptive technologies in the world today. But what exactly is IoT? Simply put, IoT is a network of devices connected to the internet – be it smartphones, tablets or anything with a sensor in it, like cars, wearable devices, etc – which collect and exchange data with each other. Data for businesses today is more valuable than gold. Hence, the business possibilities of such a network are endless. One of these possibilities is in the field of Operations, more specifically, in Supply Chain Management (SCM).

One of the most popularly used methods for deliveries today is third party logistics (3PL). 3PL services can be a single service such as transportation or storage, or can span across the entire supply chain. These services are customised according to the customer’s needs based on their different demands and service requirements. But this is set to change with the advent of IoT.

IoT is already being used in many areas of operations within the supply chain, the most common examples being in trucking fleets to improve logistics efficiency, and asset maintenance needs. Other major applications include in-transit visibility, proactive replenishment, predictive maintenance, and loss protection. It can also become a vital tool for supply chain managers to minimise variations and respond to it.

Businesses already are leveraging the existing network devices to track the shipments. Options to track shipments for consumers on e-commerce websites today has become the norm. Real time updates above the package, right from the time an order is placed, helps increase the reliability and trust in the customers’ minds. From the perspective of businesses, this is vital for regulatory compliance and better customer service.

The ability for machines to automatically identify the need to order and restock a product would make the process much more efficient and fast. This proactive replenishment would make human intervention redundant, ultimately reducing the time taken to restock the product, and leading to better sales forecasting. One of the classic examples could be that of a vending machine - as soon as the machine realises it has low stocks of a particular product, it would trigger an alert to reorder it, instead of waiting for someone to come check on the stocks, leading to better efficiency.

Predictive maintenance could be one of the most useful enhancement IoT offers to the supply chain. With industries being heavily reliant on machines to churn out products, predictive maintenance capability could detect a potential issue in these machines before it turns into a failure, helping factories run much longer. The technology could transmit the data directly to the manufacture, who could study the readings constantly and focus on potential failures and predict future problems. IoT, in this case, helps the businesses communicate on every link of the supply chain, making it an excellent B2B tool.