This post is produced in association with Mobile Programming.
You don’t often hear a lot of buzzy conference talk about mobile tech breakthroughs and logistics.
Sexy as the iWatch to a consumer? No. Transformative to just about every major industry we know of? Yes.
Mobile technology is shaking up logistics and how companies manage the flow of resources throughout the value chain. From the automotive and air travel industries to food production and construction, mobile innovation is streamlining processes, cutting costs and making the entire flow more intelligent. And with partnerships like the one between Mobile Programming and Box, cloud-based mobile solutions are revamping everything from document management of time-sensitive files to project bids.
Mobile logistics that move cars and builds massive buildings
Take Cars Arrive Network, for example. It’s developed an entirely automated vehicle transport service, the largest in North America. Historically, moving cars around the country has taken huge amounts of inefficient paperwork and time, even requiring truckers to find fax machines on the road to transmit forms with illegible chicken scratches to be deciphered at the other end.
Now, using a mobile app, a process that used to take several hours and multiple stages has been cut to minutes. The app’s features include geo-tagging, real-time inspection, and damage tracking, and when time is cut on processes, so are costs.
Or consider an entirely different industry. Rosendin Electric is a major national firm building office sites for some of the largest tech companies in the world. Their new mobile solution optimizes pre-conception planning for large projects. Built for iPad and mobile, it eliminates hours of phone calls, emails and paper forms, replacing them with an efficient mobile app that will do everything from ordering materials onsite and planning exactly how many people and work-hours are needed for a certain PO to barcoding, approving materials, budgeting, and approvals.
Even the service aspect of business will go more efficiently when mobile devices are ramped up. SAP is working to develop tablet apps that track all service calls – and equips both management and technicians to respond far more efficiently in the field. For example, a transformer goes down somewhere, the software captures the event, determines what service team is nearby and available, if the team has the parts required (or where to get them if they don’t) and will read the service ticket to the team while they’re driving. The app even has embedded interactive 3D software that will literally walk a team through exactly what needs to be done – a vast improvement over thumbing through a 900-page manual that looks like the yellow pages.
Logistics, IoT, and fresh food
In the area of food supply chains, IoT devices can sense vital information to ensure food is delivered efficiently and safely. Smart testing equipment can confirm food quality as it leaves the factory or warehouse. Sensor-enabled refrigeration systems can ensure perishable goods don’t go bad in transit. And smart probes used to monitor temperature, humidity, and hygiene in food storage and preparation can provide instant readings and send alerts that enable food companies to respond to issues immediately– before damage or spoilage occurs.
Good news for the planet and people, too
In fact, a recent study supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in collaboration with industry and academics concluded that if 25% of the U.S. supply chain would adopt the Physical Internet (Internet of Things), it would result in $100 billion more profit annually, 30% less greenhouse gas emission, 75% less trucker turnover, and lower consumer prices. Things like smart, standardized cargo containers, pallets, and packages are just the start.
All this is to say, while on the consumer side we may be busy focused on the next shiny new thing, mobile, IoT and logistics will be making huge advances on how to get those new shiny things to us.
For additional information or questions about Mobile Programming, please email ben@mobileprogramming.com or info@mobileprogramming.com.
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