If the shipping volatility issues of the past two years have taught businesses anything, it’s just how important supply chain analytics can be. From coffee ingredients to computer chips, countless industries have experienced supply chain shortages — and their customers are facing delayed orders and rising prices as a result.
While supply chain analytics isn’t necessarily going to prevent the widespread shortages taking place as the world attempts to recover from the COVID pandemic, it can help companies take a more proactive role in mitigating and avoiding such issues.
Unfortunately, many brands have failed to take full advantage of supply chain analytics due to unwritten rules and expectations within the industry. This is something that Niko Polvinen, CEO of innovative data logging company Logmore, seeks to upend.
By breaking some of the so-called “rules” of supply chain analytics, Logmore is providing more reliable and accessible cargo transparency than ever.
Rule #1: Data Logging Requires Major Hardware Infrastructure
One of the biggest stumbling blocks that keeps many companies from adopting supply chain analytics in the first place is that many providers require expensive hardware infrastructure. Not only are these tools costly, but the extra work that would go into setting up logging tools becomes a burden.
To that end, Logmore offers relatively inexpensive data loggers that can be placed on shipments to measure a variety of conditions, including temperature and humidity levels, shock, tilt and more. The data loggers feature a dynamic QR code.
Because the QR code can be scanned by any standard issue smartphone, no proprietary signal towers are necessary to receive information from the Logmore data loggers. Measurements are automatically uploaded to the cloud after the code is scanned for efficient and affordable recording of data.
By dramatically cutting the implementation costs of supply chain analytics, such systems enable more companies to take advantage of this data than ever before.
“The greatest benefit comes from the quality and volume of data,” Polvinen says. “For example, every shipment of perishable goods is required to have temperature monitoring, but the less expensive the solutions are, the more sensors one shipment can have. This takes the sensors closer to the actual goods and improves the quality and adds to the total amount of data, which ultimately enables everyone in the supply chain to make better decisions, so waste is reduced and processes are optimized.”
Rule #2: RFID Is the Best Method for Transmitting Logger Information
The use of QR codes also plays into another rule of supply chain analytics that Logmore is disrupting — the use of RFID (radio-frequency identification) tags.
RFID is vulnerable to radio interference, particularly in places where there are many signals and metal barriers, like shipping yards. Logmore circumvents this issue by using e-ink dynamic QR codes for its loggers. Codes can be scanned with a user’s smartphone, eliminating the risk for interference.
“Data transfer reliability is what makes or breaks supply chain analytics,” Polvinen notes. “When you can have confidence in the quality of your data and your ability to obtain it, you will get the insights you need to make crucial supply chain improvements. QR codes are already used all around the world. They don’t require any extra infrastructure, thus making it extremely reliable and easy.”
A longer lifespan is another advantage of the QR loggers. RFID loggers die relatively quickly — and worse yet, their data dies with them. If a logger were to die while in transit, information regarding the stability of that shipment would be lost as well. QR loggers last longer, and even when they die, the display can still be scanned to access the most recently logged information.
With QR loggers, scanning becomes more reliable and efficient, no matter what the location. Data can be collected for analysis every step of the way.
Rule #3: Data Must Remain in a Closed System
Supply chain analytics providers often keep condition monitoring data in proprietary database systems. While this is often done in the name of security, it can actually make the data less useful for businesses, because they don’t have the ability to run their own analyses or create their own apps with recorded information. This can cause companies to miss out on crucial insights about their supply chains, even when data is being recorded.
“At Logmore, we believe that your data is truly yours,” Polvinen says.
“Our APIs allow you to analyze and repurpose your supply chain data however you like,” he continues. “You can feed the data into your business intelligence systems to use alongside information from your ERP and CRM software. Or you can set apps to display different information for your internal and external stakeholders. Your data shouldn’t be stuck behind a closed system. You should be able to use it however you need to optimize your operations.”
Open supply chain data enhances transparency throughout an organization. Condition monitoring can reveal a wide variety of opportunities for improvements. For example, discovering where damage occurs to sensitive products while in transit can provide both legal protection and help stakeholders find alternatives to improve supply chain quality.
Open data can help industries from food to electronics avoid losses and improve operational efficiency. As more stakeholders gain access to key insights, new opportunities and challenges can be met.
Changing the Future of Supply Chain Analytics
The need to transport sensitive cargo like the COVID-19 vaccine has made supply chain analytics more important than ever before.
“Every year, over $30 billion worth of pharmaceuticals are damaged due to only temperature deviations,” Polvinen says. “We need to know what is happening, why, where and to which goods with much higher accuracy that we currently have. Suppliers really need to know that sensitive shipments are kept safe in all stages of the supply chain — and smart data makes that possible. By making this information easier to use and more accessible, we can ultimately create a more reliable and predictable supply chain.”
With quality data that is readily accessible, invested parties at each stage of the supply chain can have greater confidence in the safety and timely delivery of each shipment. Better data will help companies prepare for whatever challenges await in the logistics world.
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