Digital Transformation Potential in Digital Supply Chain
Ever higher demands are being placed on supply chains of all kinds driven by the emerging dominance of e-commerce and consumer (and regulator) requirements for new kinds of provenance information. Meanwhile, significant cost savings can be achieved in supply chains by better managing warehousing and inventory levels and delivery networks.
These same cost savings often correspond to significant sustainability benefits, helping to decarbonise digital supply chains. Meanwhile, condition monitoring of goods in the supply chain can reduce wastage, also unlocking significant cost and sustainability benefits. The digital transformation of supply chains should be a priority focus area for all organisations, large and small.
Seven key domains of change in Digital Supply Chain
Overall, we have identified seven key domains of change in the Digital Suply Chain sector that are enabled by digital transformation, as illustrated below.
These domains of change are discussed in more detail in our report Digital Transformation in Transportation & Storage:
The domains of change discussed in the report comprise:
Location Management and Route Optimisation refers to real-time monitoring of location of transportation vehicles (including trucks, ships and railway carriages) and supply chain assets (including containers, cages, and more) to make operations more efficient.
Condition Monitoring refers to monitoring of the condition of goods (especially, perishable and refrigerated goods) while they are in transit and after their arrival, to guard against theft, spoilage, and breakage.
Supply Chain Transparency refers to capturing and sharing of data across supply chains and logistical networks (potentially using permanent immutable records of goods) so that all participants (including end consumers) can have transparency into how goods have moved through a supply chain and also the origination of input components and raw materials.
Warehouse Management refers to technologies deployed in warehouses (including distribution centres and fulfilment centres) that make the processes automated, efficient and intelligent. This includes the use of automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and robots for automated picking, packing, sorting, and more.
Inventory Management refers to the use of technology (such as sensors, drones, and machine learning) for efficient tracking, monitoring, and storage of inventory in warehouses to ensure optimal inventory levels.
Last Mile Delivery considers the use of technologies to improve last-mile deliveries (the final step when the parcel is moved from distribution hubs to customers’ doorsteps). This includes smart parcel lockers, delivery drones, sidewalk robots, autonomous delivery vans and more.
Supply Chain Planning and Operations considers the use of digital technologies to support supply chain planning operations ranging from demand planning, supply planning and coordination, and alignment of supply chain decisions internally and externally. This solution area particularly focuses on the use of digital twins to support supply chain planning.
Collectively, the activities listed above will bring significant changes to the Digital Supply Chain sector.
IoT and Digital Supply Chain
IoT is one of the key technology groups impacting the Digital Supply Chian sector and further detail and analysis of key IoT applications for the Digital Supply Chain sector can be found in Transforma Insight’s Forecast Insight Reports. Some of these applications are directly relevant to the sector, whilst others are only indirectly related.
Directly related IoT applications and Forecast Insight Reports include:
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Autonomous Road Freight Vehicles
– The vehicles included in this Application Group are used for transporting goods on the road in a commercial setting. To be counted as part of this Application Group vehicles must be capable of operating at Level 3 of the SAE levels of autonomy. This level of automation requires the vehicle to monitor the environment and requires “the driving mode-specific performance by an automated driving system of all aspects of the dynamic driving task. In this Application Group the number of autonomous vehicles is represented by RGUs only, the vehicles’ connections will be found in the Vehicle Head Unit Application Group.
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Disposable Devices
– The tracking of items with single use devices. Typically manufacturers tracking items through third parties’ supply chains or vendors tracking parcels through postal or courier services.
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Real Time Location Systems
– Trackers attached to pieces of equipment for the purpose of locating them, typically with very great accuracy. Used within specific delimited areas (e.g. hospitals, building sites or factories), with dedicated infrastructure to support them.
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Delivery Robots
– This Application Group covers small (i.e. not capable of intercity travel or carrying passengers) fully autonomous vehicles that travel on road or pavement to deliver food, beverages, retail shopping, documents and other goods.
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Dash Cams
– Aftermarket in-vehicle cameras used to record the interior or exterior of the vehicle, often to provide evidence in the event of a road accident.
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Container Tracking
– Tracking of refrigerated (reefer) chilled and dry freight containers for the purpose of locating and monitoring the status of cargo. Covers only standardised containers; the tracking of other assets through the supply chain is covered separately as Track & Trace.
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Track & Trace
– The use of trackers to monitor the location (and potentially condition) of a particular item, which could include tools, manhole covers, goods in transit or almost anything else. Can be used for supply chain efficiency, theft detection and asset location monitoring. It includes all other location tracking not elsewhere covered. Excludes shipping containers.
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Road Fleet Management
– Road Fleet Management covers in-vehicle transportation logistics including job allocation, vehicle tracking, vehicle and driver monitoring, maintenance planning, safety compliance, fuel management, and incident management. It can be delivered as a service via a dedicated aftermarket device or through the factory-fit connectivity (accessed via the vehicle head unit). The forecast takes both heavy and light duty vehicles into consideration. It includes devices deployed in cars, vans, trucks and buses, along with heavy vehicles such as tractors, combine harvesters, pile drivers, tunnelling machines, cranes, and other off-road equipment. Fleet Management solutions are increasingly making use of in-vehicle cameras to monitor both outside the vehicle and within the cabin. These devices, and their consumer counterparts, can be found in the Dash Cams Application Group.
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Inventory Management & Monitoring
– This Application Group pertains to the remote monitoring of volumes and inventory, including consumables, warehouse stock, retail stock, and refuse levels. It encompasses stock level and condition monitoring, such as specialist inventory systems, baggage handling systems, soap dispensers, toilet doors, pest control, and various other use cases. It also covers all types of electronic shelf labels. Additionally, this group includes warehouse management systems, which involve picking machinery and warehouse robots (unless counted in other autonomous vehicles or robotics categories as is the case for cobots and automated forklifts).
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Unmanned Non-Road Vehicles
– The Unmanned Non-Road Vehicles Application Group represents autonomous wheeled and tracked vehicles used for transporting materials, performing specific tasks or other similar activity in verticals such as agriculture, construction, mining, manufacturing, baggage handling, warehousing, space exploration or emergency response. The types of vehicles covered in this Application Group include forklifts, bomb-disposal vehicles, portside automated vehicles, straddle carriers and other specialised vehicles. Although these vehicles will not be intended for on-road use, they may be capable of travelling on public highways.
Indirectly related IoT applications and Forecast Insight Reports include:
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Roadside Assistance
– Application that notifies recovery services in the event of a vehicle breakdown. Diagnostics and location tracking may be included to improve efficiency. This application includes dedicated devices in addition to applications hosted on the vehicle head unit.
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In-Vehicle Navigation
– Built-in and discrete satellite navigation devices used to provide directions and routing to drivers. Built-in devices that rely on the vehicle head unit for a connection do not register as a discrete connection in our forecast.
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Loss Prevention
– Includes anti-theft solutions based on boundary control in retail contexts, and also goods location monitoring for specific goods in a retail context.
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Personal Assistance Robots
– This Application Group covers fully autonomous machines which undertake a diverse set of use cases including security monitoring, maintenance, human interaction, companionship and the performance of other tasks. This includes robotic pets, cleaning robots (e.g. Roomba), lawn mowers, exoskeletons, cooking robots, room and table delivery, and concierge services.
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Remote Diagnostics & Maintenance
– Remote monitoring of equipment to spot faults and predict requirements for maintenance. Particularly focused on factory machinery, healthcare devices and vertical transportation (elevators and escalators).
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Trigger Devices
– Devices that exist to be triggered to indicate an action needs to be taken, typically something has been filled and needs to be emptied, or something is empty and needs be filled. Examples include buttons for room service, table service, the replenishment of communal supplies, mail delivery and collection boxes, and customer voting buttons.
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Sea & River Transport
– Connected commercial ships/boats, including fishing boats (and all associated IoT solutions), passenger ferries and similar. Excludes infrastructure such as ports.
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Autonomous Road Passenger Vehicles
– Automated Road Passenger Vehicles contains autonomous vehicles primarily used to transport passengers on the road, this Application Group includes buses, coaches, minivans, as well as private vehicles. To be counted as part of this Application Group vehicles must be capable of operating at Level 3 of the SAE levels of autonomy. This level of automation requires the vehicle to monitor the environment and requires “the driving mode-specific performance by an automated driving system of all aspects of the dynamic driving task.” In this Application Group the number of autonomous vehicles is represented by RGUs only, the vehicles’ connections will be found in the Vehicle Head Unit Application Group.
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Unmanned Aquatic & Aerial Vehicles (Drones)
– This Application Group consists of two main categories. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles comprises fixed wing and propellor powered unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for military, government consumer or commercial use. Unmanned Aquatic Vehicles comprise small underwater and surface vehicles, typically for military use or exploration. Neither vehicle is designed to carry humans; automation of vehicles that carry humans (e.g. full sized planes or ships in automation mode) is covered under autonomous vehicles.
Other content and related analysis
Besides the detailed sector-focussed content described above, Transforma Insights offers an extensive range of thematic- and vendor-focussed research that will prove invaluable to any end-user seeking to leverage new and emerging digitally transformative technologies.
Of particular note are our Vendor Insight and CSP Peer Benchmarking reports, which provide detailed profiles of leading vendors who might be able to support a range of end-user digital transformation projects.
Our Key Topic Insight reports focus on the qualitative aspects of Digital Transformation, including investigation of interesting or noteworthy topics.
Detailed analysis of regulations that might apply to digitally transformative projects around the world can be found in our Regulatory Database. Meanwhile, our Case Study Database contains more than 1,000 case studies of technology implementations. Each case study contains detailed information on the specifics of the deployment. Used in aggregate it can provide unrivalled guidance on project prioritisation, best practice and vendor selection.
