The incorporation of IoT in the field of supply chain management will help companies streamline several business procedures like the tracking of assets, marketing, and maintenance. For most businesses, the management of supply chains is one of the most vital functions for industries like manufacturing, retail, eCommerce, and logistics.
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However, due to the increasing consumer demands, the unpredictable trends in the market, and unexpected delays, supply chain management can be challenging and complicated. At the same time, you will find that several processes in the supply chain management are still, even to this date, executed manually. As a result, such tasks become tedious and very time-consuming.
To arrest the above problems, modern business leaders have to look for solutions to make supply chain management more connected, scalable and reliable.
Modern technologies and their impact
With the arrival of industry 4.0, there has been a surge in modern technologies like artificial intelligence and IoT in different industries like telecom, healthcare, and pharmaceuticals. In the same, businesses can implement IoT in their supply chain management processes to improve managing the inventory, logistics, transportation, and boosting revenue. They can also aid businesses in tackling the problems when it comes to discrepancies that arise between consumer demand and supply.
With the aid of IoT, business owners can redesign their existing workflows to supply chain management for delivering efficient and robust solutions for the above existing problems. Thanks to its advantages, IoT is expected to bring an estimated economic value of $4 trillion to $11 trillion by 2025.
Customer insights
With the installation of IoT sensors in different products, businesses can understand how their customers use them better. With the above technology, they can analyze the customer usage patterns of multiple demographics for using the data acquired for developing new products. For example, smart bulbs can help manufacturers better understand the behavior patterns of the consumer by giving them insights like time intervals when the bulb is switched on, its energy consumption, and its preferred colors. With the help of these valuable insights, businesses are in a better position to know what their customers want so that they can create customized products for them.
Improved monitoring
Experts from credible data administration and Management Company, RemoteDBA.com state IoT technology helps businesses monitor products in the supply chain better. This can be illustrated the best with an example from the food industry. Products like vegetables, fruits, and meat have to be stored under certain temperatures and levels of moisture to prevent them from rotting and getting perished.
With IoT sensors, companies can effectively track the different conditions in humidity and temperature with success. They can also fix a threshold value for these products. In case this threshold value exceeds, the IoT can notify the parties concerned in the warehouse. For instance, when the temperature is close to the threshold value, the concerned managers in the warehouse will get the alerts in order to take the next step of action. The same sensor can also alert the business when there are damages to the product. For example, if glass bottles are filled with soft drinks and get damaged, the sensors detect they are leaking, and the manufacturers can be notified. So, in this manner, the IoT can be utilized in the supply chain management process, and this enables a company to deliver products that are high in quality.
Life-cycle management of the product
One of the more functions of the supply chain is the management of the product lifecycle. Every product batch needs to pass through several stakeholders like vendors, manufacturers, B2B partners, wholesalers, super-stockists, and retailers. Businesses should ensure that their products stay in the correct condition across these stakeholders.
With the help of IoT sensors, problems like under and overstocking can be addressed. The technology can aid the business in identifying vendors that are suitable geographically for the business. At the same time, IoT can also be optimized to improve reverse logistics by identifying the issues in quality present in different batches of the product.
Management of inventory
Businesses might own several warehouses for stocking or storing their goods. Tracking them in warehouses is indeed a complicated affair, especially if third -parties own these warehouses. Monitoring the stock in real-time can be hard and, in some cases, impossible as well. In certain cases, some goods might even go unreported in any loading dock, or they might even get stolen. Therefore, businesses for the above task need a feasible solution for managing their inventory.
Businesses can install IoT sensors in their warehouses to get updates in real-time about their stock levels. This data sent to the sensors can aid businesses in analyzing the customer demand for various products. With the aid of this technology, businesses can also detect industry trends for managing their inventory with success. The IoT sensors can also notify business leaders when their products move out of the warehouse when there is no scheduled delivery. In this case, the IoT will act as a deterrent for unwanted thefts of goods.
Tracking assets
In general, companies deploy bar codes and numbers for tracking their products in their supply chain. They execute asset tracking to ensure efficiency in their supply chain. In asset tracking, IoT proves to be beneficial compared to the traditional methods that were practiced in the past.
IoT sensors can track the precise location of these assets in real-time. They offer extensive information about these assets like status updates, the time generally spent in transit, and the time they spend on the shelves.
Armed with the above data, business leaders can effectively identify inefficiencies in the supply chain to identify their causes. They can optimize the data obtained to improve practices related to quality control with time.
Therefore, when it comes to deploying IoT in the supply chain management process, a business can enjoy the above benefits. They can gain a competitive edge in the market and streamline the supply chain in an organized and more feasible manner with success.