IoT in Transportation and Logistics: Benefits and Use Cases
management requires simultaneous or parallel monitoring of multiple activities like transportation, supply chain, and warehousing and there are many factors that can influence and cause delays. Technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT) provide transportation and logistics businesses with tools for planning, monitoring, and increasing the security of operations. IoT helps increase efficiency, improve safety, and cut down on operational costs.
Statistics on IoT in transportation and logistics
The global market of IoT in transportation was valued at approximately USD 83.25 billion in 2020, and is projected to reach USD 495.57 billion by 2030, a CAGR growth of 19.9% from 2021 to 2030.
As per the Mordor Intelligence report, the Asia Pacific region will show the highest CAGR growth over the period 2018–2028, for IoT in transportation.
Benefits of IoT in Transportation and Logistics
With a wide range of assets to be maintained, security issues and more, transportation and logistics operations have risks associated with them. IoT helps gain control over many issues. The benefits of using IoT in transportation and logistics are -
● Managing vehicles, warehouses, and other assets — RFID tags and other sensors allow tracking of the fleet and inventory in real-time. IoT helps in streamlining goods storage and managing inventory. Continuous and real-time tracking helps prevent losses, minimizes loading errors, ensures safe storage and reduces costs. It helps incentivize the best practices and proactively react and reduce errors on the road, thus effectively reducing the losses and risks.
● Supply chain visibility and shipping costs — It is extremely difficult to continuously monitor and manage deliveries. Use of GPS and BLE (Bluetooth low energy) beacons makes it possible for drivers and dispatchers to collaborate and also ensure that deliveries are tracked.
● Maintenance and repair costs — IoT device data feeds can help alert companies regarding the service and maintenance of the fleet. It reduces long-term maintenance costs and helps preserve the life span of vehicles and equipment.
● Resources optimization — The use of IoT devices helps in transparency and accountability within the company. Based on the data and reports generated, fleet managers can easily track driver activities, productivity, and even fuel consumption parameters. This helps in allocating work without the risk of delays or violation of any of the company policies.
● Maintenance and repair costs — Regular data feeds can help alert companies regarding the service and maintenance of the fleet. It reduces long-term maintenance costs and helps preserve the lifespan of vehicles and equipment.
IoT Use Cases in Logistics and Transportation
● Inventory management — Keeping track of Inventory is a huge and formidable task. IoT devices and RFID tags easily help enable inventory management in real-time and in streamlining the inventory flow. By keeping IoT devices and RFID tags at suitable locations within the warehouse, these devices can share data in real time with the main server and ensure that the inventory is continuously updated and recording errors are eliminated.
Product details like item type, batch id, and manufacturer’s name can be scanned and data sent to the central system for further processing without manual intervention.
● Supply chain optimization — IoT technologies enable the real-time seamless exchange of data using tracking devices, computer systems, and software. Actionable information allows companies to manage and track goods within the premises in transient. The data generated by IoT devices can help generate predictive analysis reports that can be used to eliminate delays, losses, and even theft.
● Safety — Real-time GPS tracking using fleet management software helps companies monitor driver behavior and see whether they are reckless or not. IoT devices can be used to schedule rest breaks for drivers and automate alerts that can warn when speeding, accelerating or other violations.
● Predictive maintenance — IoT devices can send consistent data feeds that can alert companies regarding service and maintenance of the fleet. It reduces long-term maintenance costs and helps preserve the lifespan of vehicles and equipment. The data can help generate patterns related to repairs. IoT devices can send alert notifications to fleet managers if they sense the possibility of a breakdown. The IoT software and applications can create maintenance schedules for each asset based on its usage and life span.
● Route optimization and improved fuel efficiency — GPS and Fleet management systems help reduce the variables and delays. GPS helps in route planning with minimum traffic hindrance and ensures goods delivery on time. Optimized routes also help in lowering fuel costs and better vehicle utilization. These measures can significantly help improve the management of delivery schedules and ensure the delivery of cargo.
In conclusion, real-time tracking assists in scheduling vehicles to optimize usage and reduce idle time of vehicles. IoT solutions and the resulting data analytics help companies benchmark utilization of their fleet-related equipment against their peers, while quantifying the savings due to optimization. Analytics help companies manage costs, increase productivity etc.
With the increase in smart devices and apps that can be paired to fleet management software, accessibility of reports, analytics, and alerts are available on the go, assisting teams to take immediate decisions and quick actions for getting the work done. To meet the modern-day requirements of IoT in transportation and logistics, an experienced software company can help enable IoT platforms, sensors and other supportive development work to successfully implement such technologies.
