How IoT Can Create More Resilient Supply Chains 

IoT is a revolutionary technology for every large-scale industry. The coronavirus catastrophe could be a tipping point in the adaptation to Internet of Things Solutions that help to set up an interconnected network of the supply chains. All fields of the supply chain can be improved with the IoT. Management, estimation and oversight applications support fleet managers to increase operational efficiency and add transparency to decision-making. With the help of these features, Suppliers ensure that supply chains remain more flexible in the face of emergencies beyond the COVID-19 crisis. In this article, you’ll find out how IoT in supply chain management develops industries for future emergencies?

Interpret the Challenge of Supply Chain Disruptions

An imminent food shortage caused by the COVID-19 virus is one of the examples of a supply chain that requires better preparation for emergency situations. As per a report from Dun & Bradstreet, 938 of the Fortune 1000 companies have a tier 1 or tier 2 suppliers that have been impacted by the crisis. The problem begins with the farming and inputs industry containing additives to packaged food are being unable to reach factories. To improve the supply chain, let us consider why there is a food shortage?

The coronavirus lockdown has tends to the lack of workers at manufacturing plants and farms. This obstruction of manufacturing has disturbed the entire supply side of the business. In order to reload stock, they have to keep their plants open, need to source products from the farm and require labor to do so. Every company manages logistics based on the data coming from a distribution ecosystem, which they have made over the years. This is not real-time. Even if they can make it real-time, they require the physical side (trucks, workers, etc). Only automated plants will open up in this situation. But, these automated plants don’t have trucks working in a complete capacity to shift the goods and distribute products. As an outcome, warehouses are running out of stock. On the product side, the stock is not being collected either from the farm or from the plant for the next level of production.

Another example is the toilet paper shortage caused by the COVID-19 virus. The basic components of toilet paper are water and wood pulp. The real concern is that there are two different supply chains for toilet paper and moving from one to another has been challenging. To interpret how IoT can modify supply chains, let’s inspect the toilet paper supply chain issue. Pre-COVID-19, a considerable percentage of people utilized facilities in public places, such as offices, gas stations and restaurants, which are provided via a commercial supply chain. The real commercial product somewhat differs from retail toilet paper and is packaged also in a different manner.

For instance, commercial organizations purchase in bulk from various distributors more than an average consumer in a grocery store. The challenge for the toilet paper supply chain is the retail supply chain was saturated with demand and couldn’t tap into the commercial supply chain rapid enough. For example, even if a retail store desired to sell commercial rolls and could somehow organize to get them, commercial rolls lack the bar codes that retail stores need. Retail stores that took this perspective ended up manually printing bar codes that were slow manual process.

How IoT Intensifies Supply Chains

The toilet paper supply chain and food supply chain are just examples, but it represents the crucial areas where IoT will make supply chains more adaptive and flexible.

Predictive Analytics

IoT is not just about sensors; it also contains analytics. With a correctly equipped IoT network, manufacturers should be capable to rapidly determine that a supply chain is saturated and find alternate supply chains and component sources. Connected systems assist to apply the principles of predictive analytics into all stages of supply chain managers, recognizing equipment errors before the system shuts down totally.

The power of predictive analytics is extensively used in healthcare right now — it is the next large thing in supply chain management as well. By being capable to predict system defeats, supply chain and warehouse managers will remarkably reduce the machine downtime.

Standardized Automation

IoT devices are located in manufacturing, production as well as distribution. IoT devices can automate and regulate processes to make them faster. In the toilet paper supply chain, if it were feasible to automate and regulate the application of bar codes. The IoT improves asset tracking in retail by connecting an RFID tag or a barcode to each item, supply chain managers can gain immediate access to key insights on each delivery. The complete potential of this technology appears when it comes to handling large warehouses.

The IoT supply chain applications allow a connected device that autonomously puts the goods and moves them around the warehouse. The human-technology intersection in manufacturing and supply chain assists warehouse managers to improve the productivity of their workers by assigning them in more complex and demanding tasks.

Improved Transparency in Logistics

IoT devices can track the real-time location of components and distribution vehicles. The Internet of Things provides supply chain managers with a systematic stream of real-time data related to the location of the product and the transportation environment. You will be warned if the product is shipped in the incorrect direction and will be capable to analyze the delivery of ready goods and raw materials.

By constructing a cloud-based IoT system, a supply chain manager assures that all parties included in the process will have access to appropriate data. The IoT increases the efficiency of communication between all associations involved in the logistics cycle. A manager will be capable to check if drivers follow the internal policies, if the product is restored the right way and if there aren’t any delays in between the warehouse and the consumer’s doorstep. That will help to give the end-user with regular delivery status updates, increasing the overall satisfaction with the manager.

Cybersecurity

Supply chains today are prominently insecure. Though, organizations have initiated to secure IoT by assuring that every component in every supply chain is approved and every change validated, which obstructs unauthorized hacking. For instance, vendors like Intel, IBM and Cisco utilize blockchain and Hyperledger techniques to assure supply chain transparency and security. By executing the concepts of machine learning and cryptographic hardware monitoring, company managers can reduce outside security threats and access all restored data safely.

The integration of IoT in Supply chain management will improve the company’s efficiency and reduce operating costs. If you want to simplify your supply chain management, initiate more visibility and transparency in every step of the way, hIOTron is the right place to be in charge of IoT implementation for your business.