What is the scope for the IoT in the smart supply chain globally?

Just like the internet of things, the industrial IoT covers many use cases,
industries and applications. Initially focusing on the optimization of
operational efficiency and maintenance with an important role for the
convergence of IT and OT, the industrial internet of things has various
opportunities in automation, optimisation, intelligent manufacturing and
smart industries. A critical element will be the evolution of traditional
supply chains towards a connected, smart, and a highly efficient supply
chain ecosystem. The supply chain today is a series of largely discrete,
step taken through marketing, product development, manufacturing and
distribution.

Internet of things is act like in form of smart supply chain globally which
transform are:-

• The logistics and transportation industry seek a lean supply chain

solution to improve upon RFID technology.
• Smart logistics solutions, powered by IoT network, allow the
industry to visualise location and manage critical good in real time.
• The new IoT supply chain streamlines field operations that improve
the client service levels.
• Smart logistics solution replaces RFID tags as the premiere supply
chain management tools.

As with new technology, there are various issues and problem that will
need to be addressed as the IoT becomes more integrated into business
and society. The probably the biggest immediate issues in security. But
internet of things managed all the problems in sequenced manner.

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Today, IOT has brought a change in business processes which are cost
optimizing and quality enhancing. Hence, it has become an unavoidable
part of product roadmap for many organizations in different verticals like
retail, healthcare, utilities, transportation, supply chain etc. IOT focus has
been segmented into two broad categories called Consumer IOT (CIOT)
and Industrial IOT (IIOT), the former being more focused on faster
enablement of services and latter towards process optimization. At
present, consumer IOT is exploring more innovative applications than
industrial IOT however the spending levels are inverse as consumer IOT
look to solve a specific use case whereas industrial IOT looks at the
larger picture.

Let us explore the different applications in a supply-chain focused

environment looking at opportunities and threats posed by IOT. Consider
a familiar option of say online shopping, we can see how IOT can be
employed to enhance the productivity. Starting from the source,
manufacturing is one of the fast-emerging area in IIOT with the
automation of internal production units using robotics, check-out
scanners and image recognition thereby speeding the process of ledger
and order management with the use of device management analytics.
The manufacturing plants lot of power, which can be optimized based
power usage pattern of the machineries. Smart metering/Smart grid has
been an interesting application for many energy providers which helps
them reduce cost of production for instance, Itron’s modular smart meter
enables remote monitoring and controlling of power lines. Transportation
and logistics is one of the crucial stage in this application and one of the
early adopters of IOT applications with the use of telematics. Telematics
enables recording real-time data over mobility with multiple sensors. The
most emerging use case in this space is usage-based insurance (UBI)

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which tailor fits the insurance plan of any vehicle based on the driving
behaviour. This can help logistics provider to determine right fit of drivers
and thereby maintain seamless quality to the suppliers. Connected cars
and autonomous cars will be evolving with more advanced machine
learning and deep learning cognitive skills. Although, the world’s first
autonomous truck delivery of beers was made by Uber-bought company,
Otto, logistics industries are still waiting for more advancements to avoid
risk. At the last mile delivery, courier services employ cashless
transaction and instant transaction update using mobile POS and
electronic signature capture which enables immediate update in all
ledgers of the supply chain.

The imminent threats that exist among all these different industries is
lack standardization and trust. To bind multiple devices over different
platforms, all the innovations today go for an open source model which
allows them to be future ready. The regulatory and commissioning
bodies are evaluating different options which can suit the requirements
of low power consuming network of devices. So far, NB-IOT (Narrow
band) seems to be pioneering standardization in this field with many
tech-giants adopting its standard, which will allow all the future
innovations to be compatible and regulated over common standards.
The second concern needs a seamless integration between different
participants of the supply chain. Data security stands as one of the key
areas of focus in IOT implementation, as we cannot go blind-folded
when giving our secure credentials over the internet and believing that
no rogue device is communicating to us. Cyber security certifications
and updated norms ascertain the security of the solutions; however to
fool-proof from near-future threats, secure technologies like Blockchain
have started to shape this aspect to a whole new level. The concept of

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blockchain imbibes a tangled chain of transactions which enables any
future transaction to be dependent of past transactions. Therefore, it
ensures that the interactions between the things are genuine and
trustworthy.

IoT has a deep penetration

Whether maintaining quality of consignments, tracking your employee

from a centralized place, managing workforce or monitoring your energy
bills and wastage, IoT can manage it all for you. Agreeing to this fact, Ali
Hosseini, Founder and CEO, SenRa Tech, in 26thConvergence India
2018 conference in New Delhi, India said, “So, where is the cargo?
Where are the drivers going? Has the cargo been opened, monitoring
cargo quality, temperature, etc. For all this IoT is must. Asset tracking is
really big. We collaborate with providers who have tracking sensors and
the data collected is sent to the Cloud and is then analyzed to the
optimum level.”

While the technology caters to the B2B solutions, it also delves into B2C
solutions too. The technologies used in smart cities are now being used
by companies to create innovative solutions.

However, in order to make the technology reach a wider population, the

academia need to train industry-ready professionals who can make
solutions that can cater to the needs of the customers and businesses.

Academia training workforce

According to the World Bank, Indian logistics industry has jumped from
35% to 54% in recent times. Right from tracking consignments to
monitoring theft in real-time, IoT can be a big help to ensure smooth
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working. However, to take this technology to a larger audience, the
academia needs to play a major role. Jatin Talreja, CMD, Riyanix says,
IoT is going to be everywhere. The privacy will be breached in future.
However, there is no choice. It is not only going to help businesses but
also increase efficiency of employees The academia has to restructure
its courses to train workforce that are industry-ready and understand the
technology well.”

Satellite-based IoT

Another area where there is a huge scope is building satellite power with
IoT. Space-based IoT can reach to rural areas. It is cost-effective and
reliable. Agriculture is another sector which will benefit hugely. It can
help in increasing farm production and stop wastage, etc.

Elaborating on this Scott Larsen, CEO, Helios Wire, says, “Our goal is
to democratize IoT and make it available to everyone. Our business
model is to build 30 satellites that will give a boost to this technology.
They are relatively inexpensive.”

Customizing it for India

If we take an example of e-commerce logistics, you can see how

businesses are customizing their products to tap the fast opportunity in
India. Delhi very is one such company that has customized to leverage
the technology and use it effectively to reach large population.

What it does is that through a simple smart phone it collects data,

through data science technology it collates and breaks the location
based on pins. In the process the company gets to know the traffic
pattern of the location. How much time, money and resources will be
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needed to cover a location area, so that it can deliver the packages at
the exact location and the time mentioned to the customer.

Impact of IoT

• Healthcare- IoT can be highly beneficial for the healthcare sector

especially for cases that require frequent monitoring. With the use
of connected devices, health-related information can be sent to
doctors, kin, and caretakers to ensure the real-time evaluation of a
patient’s health. IoT can also be employed to facilitate assisted
living and nursing facilities for the elderly. Some technologies are
available which effectively monitor the health and the activity of a
person inside their home and immediately alerts the family and the
concerned if any emergency arises.
• Transportation- IoT can make the process of transportation of
goods and people cost effective as well as highly efficient. The
Smart Jet engines seem to be the best example through which the
airline already knows about the condition of the engine and
required maintenance prior to the landing of the flight. This not only
saves time to identify any possible defect but also decreased the
risk of engine issues. Connected cars are another breakthrough
which is intended to alert the drivers about the traffic conditions
and notifying them about the available parking places, allowing
them to save time and explore more efficient routes.
• Smart Cities- IoT will be an important element to building smart
cities in the future with a number of efficient features including-

1. Smart lighting- This is aimed at optimizing the use of street and

building lights based on current conditions.

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 2. Traffic monitoring- Its primary purpose being analyzing traffic
patterns and proposing a reroute to drivers to save time.
3. Waste management- Aimed at optimizing waste pick up by
measuring container levels.
4. Security detection- Its objective is to detect the emission of any
radiation or gas or any hazardous element in real time.

• Agriculture and Animal husbandry- IoT can use sensors to

monitor the health and the weight of the livestock and
accumulating data to optimize the feeding and caring process for
farmers. By efficient measuring of each attribute of the livestock,
farmers can judicious divide necessary resources to each animal
to maximize the output.
IoT is thus one of the hot topics of the present day. Numerous
researchers are being carried out every day to expand its reach and
horizons. As mentioned, IoT is likely to affect our lives in a number of
ways by incorporating every sector that deals with human life. However,
the future of IoT is unpredictable but IoT is real and changing the world
as we know it.

If you need help with the Mobility part of your IOT product, You can get
in touch with us here:-

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