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Technology in Logistics

Technology in Logistics

Writer is Radhika from Logwiz Institute Chennai.

The retail and marketing is changing constantly due to trends in technology. Now it has conquered the Logistics Industry, revamping the way how we order and changing the way how the industry operates. This provides opportunities for any in many ways, thus increasing the efficiency among all parts of the industry.

The expectation of the customer:

There is an upcoming demand for the deliveries to be safe, faster and flexible with reduced shipping costs. Over the past 50 years, there were no greater changes. But after the advent of the internet, the changes became faster. This paved way to focus on the customer experience. The integral part of customer experience is shipping and handling. If the customer is satisfied with the package and delivery, he/she would obviously trust your service. This is called customer satisfaction. Growing the business by gaining trust.

E-commerce:

E-commerce is believed to be the backbone of the global shipping services. Companies like eBay, Amazon and Flipkart are increasing the demand by giving promises on delivery, packing and warehousing. In the competitive market, it is important that the customer believes in the service. So fulfilling the customer’s expectation is the major task to be followed by all the e-commerce.

All the e-commerce providers survive in the competition due to the promises that they keep up. Amazon and Flipkart offer many shipping options for the customers to choose from, like One-day delivery, two-day delivery and even the same day delivery. All this is possible by having a reliable logistics & shipping provider.

Trends in shipping:

We all know how a consignment is shipped from one place to other. The process starts from the base to the destination and then dropping it to the nearest distribution hub in the destination location. This is the process taking place for over a decade. The growth of technology has also impacted the Logistics Industry.

Live tracking of your orders and live notifications are the trends that are now prevailed in the logistics industry. A company in the UK is experimenting with various applications of tech in Logistics. They have come up with a working model. The idea is to track the shipments every second from the time of dispatch. Sensors are placed in the shipments and the street lights across the way the shipment travels also contains sensors. When the package crosses the street light, the place and time when it crossed are noted. This can be tracked by the customer and also the dealer. This helps to reduce the delivery time and also to know the traffic status of the place.

Freight forwarding:

Transport charges account for 84% of the total freight spending. The excess flow of money occurs when trucks drive empty to the next pickup spot and also due to time lost to search the next package. To overcome this excess flow technology is employed in the freight forwarding process. Online brokerages emerged to find market deals on the go. This helps to find the packages with ease.

The Digital Market:

An online marketplace to handle the freight forwarding process. This works fine for shippers who know what they want, have specific needs and have experience in this process. Normally large e-commerce markets have their own logistics team to handle the shipment process as they want. While moving cargoes from overseas, the shipping process takes place by airways or waterways. In both ways, the shipments must pass cross the customs check to reach the destination. It would be helpful if there is someone to guide on this process.

Better communication:

Compared to the past, the logistics industry has been improved in the medium of communication. The users can easily track their shipment, the location and time of the dispatch. The customer gets a notification when the product is dispatched and shipped.

On the other hand, the customers find it easy to order their desired products. E-commerce markets like Amazon and Flipkart have their own logistics team. They keep track of your orders, tell you the exact time of delivery. Why do they have their own logistics?? The answer is to save money and time. Outsourcing Logistics might be costly, the orders may not be frequent meaning that for every single order you need to call a truck. So by having an own logistics team, you can manage time and cost.

The emergence of technology in Logistics:

After the advent of the internet, the technology has grown to enable easy access to everything. The latest technology like IOT, AI and VR are reshaping every industry. In the Logistics Industry too, technology has begun to change the way we order and how our order gets processed.

E-commerce companies use RFID’s to track the package that they ship. Using this tag, the details of the sender and receiver can be easily be found. Another innovation in Logistics is IOT, technology experts are finding new ways to enable shipping goods from one place to other. An example of IoT is drones. Drones can be used to send packages from one place to other through the air. This reduces the time when a package is transported through roadways. Drones are still not popular among many, but major Logistics companies like FedEx and UPS are experimenting ideas like this to enable faster delivery.

Warehouse robot is another innovation by applying IOT. Human resources to handle the packages are replaced by robots. The robots track the packages and shift the packages within the warehouse. This reduces human labour and robots can work 24/7 which is not possible by employing humans.

The blockchain is the latest trend in technology, this is also being experimented with in the Logistics Industry. With the use of an application, a B2B connection can be implemented with the help of blockchain. This enables the responsible flow of goods from the warehouse to the destination, even when anything goes wrong in the middle. The technology emerged in order to reduce the overall cost of transportation and also to enhance the customer experience.

Radhika

Logwiz Institute Chennai.

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