The Internet of Things is the revolution that has brought technology and man closer than ever. IoT is networking objects and things in everyday life to a network where you can monitor and control all of it. A great example to understand how this works is the modern intelligent home setups like Amazon’s Alexa or Google Home. These setups can connect to appliances in your home like fridges, washing machines, TVs, ceiling fans; basically, anything that can be toggled on and off and has settings to toggle through can be controlled through your smartphone or even your voice commands!
This example was to help you give you a basic idea of IoT works. The Internet of Things has been around for a while and has been recently made available to the consumer as a modern marvel. It has been secretly revolutionizing the world of business by bringing highly modernized ways to control and monitor the supply chain. Supply chain management is a vital aspect of any enterprise operating in the modern world.
The supply chain is the movement of everything your business needs, including raw material, finished products, and everything in between. This involves juggling a lot of pieces that have traditionally been breeding grounds for a lot of problems. But these days, with technology, all the holes have been plugged and keeping track of things is easier than ever. When it comes to Supply Chain Management, let’s look at how IoT has helped in running a tight ship.
1. Retailing Becomes Easier with IoT
A retail store is the last piece of the puzzle when it comes to the supply chain. This is where the product meets the end customer. Keep track of a retail store and inventory can become a hectic task. Luckily, to counter that, you can combine an RFID tagging system with CCTV camera monitoring to ensure everything is in. This can even give you better insights into consumer behaviors. For example, you can keep a close eye on how customers move from looking for one product to another. You can keep track of what products customers pick up, check the price, and then keep back. This can help you price things better and pay more attention to the placement of products.
2. Better Logistics and Transportation
Every link of a supply chain can be closely monitored remotely by anyone important. If you are a retailer, you can keep track of the movement of the product from the warehouse till it reaches you. This is made possible by implementing simple tracking devices and combining them with software. This gives you a great way to track products that are time-sensitive or perishable. It helps keep a better record of where precisely potential delay could be coming from. It also gives you a more accurate ETA than word of mouth.
3. Warehouse Management
A massive inventory can be a hassle to manage when it comes to big-time retailers or even manufacturers. With IoT solutions, this task is made easier, manifold. The inventory for such enterprises is stockpiled and arranged neatly with the help of IoT. Without this, warehouse workers have to spend a lot of time locating and sourcing the products to prepare for pre-delivery. With the technology available today, you can assign robotic carts to do these meager tasks where they can collect and deliver items to their storage station based on IoT stitched commands. Adding these processes will save time and money on manual labor and automate processes with more transparency.
Adapting to change is difficult, but why not adapt to it when it only brings convenience and ease of operation? IoT is one such thing that is transforming the landscape of business globally. This adaptation is what gives your business a competitive advantage, and it is necessary to not only make these changes but get ahead of them and make sure that your business is tech-savvy and ahead of the competition.
We can help you with setting up a warehouse equipped with the latest technology. We can also help you with the provision of personnel and software to handle your day-to-day operations well. Pairing up with ARK India to take care of your supply chain management needs is a sure shot way to help your business reach your customers in the most cost-efficient way.