The transport and logistics sector is undergoing a large-scale digital transformation. The new technologies that make way with the arrival of industry 4.0, provide the sector with tools to increase productivity and efficiency of processes. Although all technologies have an application in the sector, some may be more profitable in the short term.
IoT
Without a doubt, the IoT- Internet of Things, is the technology that has generated the most impact. The ability to provide "intelligence" and communications to any industrial asset (containers, trucks and even pallets), opens the door to new information. This allows companies to have more control, traceability and even new business models in the logistics chain. The company aine.comFor example, it markets a device which, when coupled to a container, allows its traceability.
According to the consultant Happiest MindsThe take-off of the IoT is due to the lower cost of the technology and the increase of its performance in the last 10 years. For example, the cost of sensor hardware has fallen by up to 60%, while the cost of processing information has decreased 60-fold. Without a doubt, a propitious scenario for the development of IoT.
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) and its derivatives (machine learning, neuronal networks and deep learning) are analysis technologies. They have drastically multiplied the ability of companies to obtain relevant information from their data. While IA is generally mentioned with consumer-oriented services and industries, applications and their use in other departments are flourishing. For example, invoice recognition technologies are becoming increasingly sophisticated. In fact it is possible to identify data of different formats in a tenth of a second. Technologies like these, run the invoice recognition engine of _b firstfor example.
Another of the cases of uses currently studying IBM for artificial intelligence, is that of a solution for automatic customs declaration. It will be based on natural language processing and the self-learning capabilities of deep learning. In the future, an IA could ingest documents in countless formats, extract the relevant information and file an automatic declaration. If an exception is found, a human customs expert may review it. Your input, as well as each automated statement, would provide new data to further improve your performance.
Blockchain
The most popular word is a new way of exchanging data with the rest of the industrial ecosystem. As the expert explains Mathias WallgrenUnlike current communication methods such as EDI and XML, unidirectional and with source-destination messages, with blockchain it is possible to have shared information flows with transparency, auditability and visibility. This would eliminate the need for functional recognitions, widely used in EDI today, to confirm that a particular transaction has or has not been received.
In addition, the use of blockchain safeguards the sequence of transactions in a particular business process. And any new transaction is validated in real time, through intelligent contract rules. This would reduce or perhaps eliminate the exceptions altogether.
In a PwC report the consultant points out that, although blockchain technology is indisputable for a sector such as logistics, its speed of adoption is uncertain. The platform developed by Maersk is well known. We will see how other similar platforms emerge or coexist many at a time.
There are more industry 4.0 technologies that have a direct use in logistics: automated transport, 3D printing, cloud and edge computing. A clear competitive scenario in which tomorrow's companies must take advantage now.
Consultant in Logistics and Supply Chain Technologies
