IoT in Supply Chain Management the Beginning of Industry 4.0

There is a saying that “Victory Comes From Finding Opportunities In Problems” use of IoT in supply chain management is a similar story. Previously when the pandemic was on its rave and all the supply chains were suffering seriously, all the faults in the supply chain were exposed through the shortage in supply and scarcity of essential items in the stores. Sure the mistakes were obviously happening even before, but when the workers were so limited those faults increased.

Here IoT in supply chain management came into action, Internet Of Things(IoT) is a huge network of connected devices that collect analyze and report data showing the key indicating factors that can be used to detect what problem is going on from here a well-thought-out decision can be taken to minimize the faults and maximize the profits from the next time.

We all knew automation would come and every other sci-fi movie also suggested the same, Now we no longer have to wait anymore the AI that tracks everything knows and everything and shows warning signs whenever there is a mishap shows a warning sign is finally here. Though the components of IoT are almost the same they all vary a little depending on the domain they are working on.

How IoT in Supply Chain Management Can Help Increase Profit

Finding the way in this crisis of overlooked problems in IoT has made its way and become almost mainstream. Manufacturing, Supply Chain, and overall production line are where mistakes can cause the most damage, though IoT can be used in many fields yet the use of IoT supply chain management is most in use of all sectors. Now let’s find out what are the benefits of implementing IoT in the supply chain.

Stop The Disruptions In The Production Line

IoT in supply chain management can minimize and even stop the disruptions in the supply chain to a certain point. The pandemic made everyone stay at home and factory workers were among them, sure essential workers were not locked up in their rooms but the manufacturing plants were forced to work with half of their workforce. The half workforce also cut down the production rate while the consumption increased. We all know what happened after that by seeing the empty shelves at the stores.

IoT in supply chain here can automate repetitive tasks quickly without making mistakes when the other cant be present. The system can also be programmed to act in a certain way in certain situations to make things even more efficient even in normal times.

Let’s say there is a technical problem somewhere in a conveyer belt, The IoT can recognize that and send a notification to the authority, while at the same time doing something like diverting or the items on the conveyor belt and slowing down the production on purpose to stop the problem from getting bigger and minimize the chance of absolute stoppage.

Smart Storage Management

Let’s say you don’t know previously about how much storage you have in your warehouse of what kind of items you need to buy to add into your inventory the IoT supply chain management comes here into action notifying you and more importantly reminding you to buy the items you need. This is important to have a great relationship with your clients. This system coupled with the protection feature in the second feature of this post can help you be ready to supply what your competitors can in a time of crisis. Making you unbeatable superior to your customers.

Predict What You May Need To Do Even Before It Happened

IoT is a huge network of connected devices but it’s not only that it’s connected with a huge cloud server that gathers the data from the and puts analytics into it to get the perfect use of it. We all know the huge problem is often caused by a large number of small mistakes like we saw previously, like the combination of increased demand of Stay At Home people, decrease production for cutting down the workforce, and many others. The IoT supply chain management AI can measure the changes in supply and demand, taking in the difference caused by different scenarios and predicting what will be probably the future demand curve.

The data from here can be used to make informed decisions instead of just guessing. This will give a clear outline of what can be done to avoid adversities in the future. Let’s say you sell routers via e-Commerce or from a physical store. When remote working started it also began the rise of demand for routers.

IoT in supply chain here can measure the increasing demand and take into account increased remote work in can predict the amount of demand that will increase and also tell you how many units you should have in your stock. In short, you will have an almost real-time road map for your business decisions.

Hate Your Items Being Stolen Or Lost? Try IoT in supply chain

No one wants their products to be stolen or lost in the process. IoT in supply chain management can help you track the movement of the products in the whole facility and also the traffic flow of the whole supply chain in real-time. This makes it easier to tell about the location of the products where ever they are. It is especially beneficial as here no one needs to manually input the data where can have mistakes it’s all automatic.

When the data is clearly available from the beginning to the end not only the manufactures and suppliers but also the shipment company and distributors can stay ready at the correct time minimizing the risk of items being lost or stolen even more. The job IoT in supply chain management does not end here the chip attached in the crates can tell you even when the products are going in different directions and show a warning when it does.

Know About The Conditions About The Materials In Storage

Not all supply chains use items that can be kept in warehouses for a long. Some of them are consumables like fish, meat, and milk. They need proper conditions like temperature, humidity, and exposure to lights. One of the components of IoT supply chain management system is the sensors. The sensors can sense if the temperature control device is malfunctioning or if the temperature is not proper and ring a buzzer to remind to fix whatever problem may be going on in the storage of the supply line.

Smart Fleet management

Last but not least IoT can be used in the final yet most crucial and hardest part of the supply chain, which is the delivery fleet of the products. Just like warehouse management IoT can also be used to track and locate the delivery trucks. Supply chains need to deal with a large number of vehicles every day. GPS coupled with IoT supply chain management systems can track the vehicles also. This system can give the real-time location of the products making the system more efficient.

For example for the last stage, IoT in supply chain can tell where the products are in the vehicle what their conditions are, and also what is the condition of the trucks to avoid system malfunctions on the way.

Suggest The Better Road To Take

IoT while staying connected to the network checks which route have the least traffic and makes the easiest transport. This makes the delivery easy and risk-free. It can also take things like weather and accidents into account. It can also measure what caused the delay and suggest doing things differently.

Want To Stay Away From Resource Leak? Get IoT

If you have been to the business for a while most probably you already know how hard it is to properly measure how much resources something is gonna take. There is always a gap between what you thought it would and what it actually took. IoT in supply chain management systems using machine learning and AI can detect resources leak and where they can be saved that have been hidden from human eyes. It can also find inefficiencies and faults in machines beforehand that get helpful while trying to make the downtime lesser and lesser.

The IoT in supply chain management is also helpful for cost-cutting from energy wastage. It tells it water, gas or electricity is being used more than usual and save from wasting money it also saves natural resources making us as come out more responsible as a species and a society for making it easier to keep the natural resources left for the future generation.

What Are The Challenges of Implementing IoT in Supply Chain Management

If it’s all good and why not everyone has implemented this IoT in supply chain management of their own? The answer is there are a set of challenges of their own.

IoT devices depend heavily on the connectivity and network availability of the network. Whether it’s Bluetooth, Wifi, SIM, or anything it needs connectivity and they need to transfer data. Sometimes the unavailability of the network connection restricts the implementation of IoT in supply chain management systems.

The challenge of using IoT in supply chain is the unavailability of a seamless power supply. Though it’s not huge of a challenge still sometimes it comes as a problem during the implementation of the system.

IoT in supply chain management systems is quite hard to install it requires trained people to perform that. Being a new technology it’s quite hard to find experts in that though we have collected some of the most talented people for you if you want to have your own IoT supply chain management system don’t forget to check our services page.

Technology gets better when they are tried and tested extensively again and again which means engineers learn from mistakes but that mistakes need to be found to make it stronger afterward IoT is a new technology weakness in that system is not known so there are not many security systems. If the hackers find weaknesses out it becomes a security threat it’s another challenge during implementing IoT in supply chain management.

Conclusion

The IoT has an enormous range of applications and opportunities in the supply chain management system and many other industries. It makes everything more efficient and transparent improving the communication from top to the bottom. The IoT in supply chain management system can also help take better decisions from better data availability.

IoT might look like a demanding investment from a business but most of the time it’s not. You just need to have at least a rough idea of what you need we will be helpful to you later if you need more. As far as the skill required goes as we said before we have already collected the most amazing talents for helping you out with your development and making sure you have all that you need for a successful IoT supply chain management system. If this technology happened to get your like and you want to make it yours don’t forget to check our services page for more details for a free consultation call. Hope you like it, Thank you for reading

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