Transforming Logistic Operations with IoT Device Management

What Does IoT Mean for the Logistics industry

By now, everyone is aware of the benefits of the internet of things (IoT). For the modern logistics industry, the application of IoT results in leveraging raw data to reduce costs and aid decision-making in real-time. According to a report by Prescient & Strategic Intelligence, “globally the internet of things (IoT) in the logistics market is predicted to grow from $34,504.8 million in 2019 to $100,984.5 million by 2030.” This means that businesses are increasingly adopting IoT solutions for various purposes in order to make better decisions and minimize risks. So, it is imperative for logistics companies to implement a platform that will facilitate IoT device management. 

What is IoT, and Why IoT Device Management Matter?

IoT includes any device that connects to computers and appliances and uses sensors and application programming interfaces (APIs) for communicating with those devices. These devices perform specific tasks and are not capable of running any apps. Although traditionally it was quite difficult to manage and control IoT devices, that is not the case anymore. For instance, 42Gears offers an IoT device management platform known as Things Management Technology. This technology helps organizations manage IoT endpoints. Additionally, 42Gears can help companies customize Things Connectors on request, enabling admins to enroll and manage these devices through a central console. 

42Gears’ IoT device management platform plays a key role in the logistics industry. It helps logistics companies to track goods and monitor the temperature of cold storage. Consequently, logistics companies can get insights into various data such as environment temperature, humidity and light status, vehicle speed, device battery percentage, vehicles’ real-time location, and device analytics.

Benefits of IoT Device Management for Logistics Industry

Reliable vehicle tracking

Supply chain and logistics companies thrive on effective communication. Fleet owners need to effectively communicate with supply chain partners whenever shipments are on the move. By tagging the fleet’s whereabouts with GPS trackers, companies can effectively monitor the shipments and serve consumers better. However, without a proper platform in which to enroll these tiny GPS devices, companies cannot get insights into real-time data. Unfortunately, this can impact their decision-making. Thankfully, the 42Gears IoT device management platform offers a solution that can help businesses with this challenge. 

42Gears helps logistics companies develop customized Things Connectors, allowing admins to leverage real-time insights from the vehicle tracker. The platform provides details about a vehicle’s moving speed, route, and status. With the increased visibility into this data, transportation managers can easily check if the vehicles are speeding or taking unsafe routes. Further, the data can also help supply chain managers to better plan the movement of goods across geographies.

Temperature and humidity monitoring in warehouses

Logistics companies often struggle to create optimized storage conditions for goods during transportation and delivery. Using temperature and humidity sensors to monitor and adjust the optimum conditions of the storage facility may allow companies to solve this challenge, but this is logistically complex. Thankfully, implementing an IoT device management platform helps companies to better manage IoT assets. For instance, companies dealing with fresh food can efficiently plan cargo management inside cold storage with the help of real-time data from the 42Gears IoT management platform. Above all, companies can reduce operational costs.

Reducing shipping costs

By enabling accurate real-time visibility into IoT devices, companies can quickly respond to any problems that arise. Ultimately, this will help them to prevent damage to the goods and, in turn, reduce shipping costs.

Asset management and predictive maintenance

The 42Gears IoT device management platform is an excellent solution to manage all the IoT devices used in a warehouse or on a logistics vehicle. As soon as managers enroll these devices into the platform, they can track and locate the whereabouts of all the assets from a single platform. Additionally, managers can quickly identify any sign of malfunctioning equipment and repair or replace the equipment before it breaks down. This will prevent any device downtime.  Also, by setting thresholds for different parameters such as humidity, light, temperature through the sensors, admins can create an event notification whenever there is a non-compliance. 

Analytics and reporting

Finally, simply generating huge volumes of data is not enough; analyzing this data is important. So, the analytics features of some of the best IoT management software can help with this. Managers can generate multiple reports that are rich in real-time data and analyze them to improve operations. For example, the historical data of batteries in the analytics section can help managers analyze battery usage over a period of time and thereby, prevent sudden downtime.

Key takeaway

Major industry players in the logistics industry have transformed their operations with the application of IoT solutions. This is equally possible for any industry. By tapping into the analytics of these smart and non-smart devices, logistics companies can successfully drive innovation and make workplaces more efficient.