5G is poised to play a critical role in the supply chain as high-quality connectivity will be critical to sharing supply chain shipment insights in real-time. This will increase efficiencies, customer experience, and cost-savings, explains David Parker, chief evangelist, Cloudleaf.
As the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted a dire lack of efficiency within the supply chain, it has become more imperative than ever for organizations to implement technology driven by real-time data as part of their supply chain strategies. However, the adoption of these technologies remains slower than needed for current demand, with many supply chains still relying on a black-box approach, where passive data loggers collect information on a shipment that requires a manual process to access the data. This method offers insights only after a supply chain issue occurs, such as a temperature excursion due to a failed cold chain.
To address this, supply chain organizations are leaning into Industry 4.0 initiatives, like the widespread adoption of 5G and sophisticated IoT sensors to enable real-time insights at the unit level about the location and condition of each product. In fact, 81%Opens a new window of supply chain manufacturers are expecting to adopt 5G in the next five years.Â
Paving the Way to Supply Chain Visibility With Industry 4.0
Prior to COVID-19, personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare was not efficiently tracked within the supply chain. Manufacturers of PPE and their customers were not aware of the custody, location, or condition of the product throughout its journey. This lack of visibility was highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic as demand for PPE in and out of hospitals quickly exceeded supply and challenged manufacturers to make enough products to keep pace. This, in turn, accelerated the adoption of digital technologies by manufacturers. However, these advances often did not include real-time tracking capabilities, which became crucial as circumstances were in constant flux during the pandemic.
Historically, supply chain technology often operated on somewhat “stale data.†In other words, the reported location and conditions of the product were no longer accurate by the time insights were received by the manufacturer or customer. The arrival of Industry 4.0 with the use of low-cost sensors presents the opportunity to digitally track products in true real-time as opposed to near-real-time. As a result, both manufacturers and customers can track location and condition. This is particularly valuable for medical products such as COVID-19 vaccine vials, which are heavily regulated and often come with stringent temperature requirements which must be maintained consistently from manufacturing to the time they are administered to patients.
Real-time supply chain visibility can be brought one step further by predicting environmental excursions that a shipment might be prone to exposure during transport. This results in an increase in operational efficiency, which can mitigate costs and drive smoother running supply chains overall. For example, real-time supply chain visibility enables manufacturers and customers to no longer have to wait until a shipment has arrived at its destination to find out that a product, or portion of the products, has been spoiled during transportation. Instead, companies could know that a product is at risk of spoilage while in transit and either fix the issue or reroute the product to a closer destination to protect the quality and efficacy.
Also Read: How 5G Can Open Doors To Vast Technological Improvements for Manufacturing Firms
The Role of 5G and IoT in Next-Level Supply Chain Visibility
There has been a rapid acceleration in the adoption of real-time data and real-time visibility in the global supply chain because of the importance of the product being shipped, particularly in the case of COVID-19 vaccines. 5G is not yet widely rolled out or adopted, so manufacturers are not experiencing the full benefit of 5G just yet. But as it becomes more prevalent, 5G is poised to play a pivotal role in taking supply chain visibility to the next level, serving as a critical tool to help organizations see and share their supply chain insights in real-time.
In the case of the Internet of Things (IoT), the supply chain industry is experiencing a huge rise in IoT sensor and device capabilities to address key supply chain challenges. For instance, over-the-air updates can be done remotely, and manufacturers can now decide in real-time the type of data they want to have captured, such as their real-time location and temperature.Â
The rise in IoT adoption has also led organizations to be able to track new types of leading indicators, and therefore valuable insights. These include shock to a container due to the container being dropped or ambient light to sense whether or not a product has been damaged or left out in sunlight for too long. Should this occur, a manufacturer can cancel the shipment and immediately notify the customers of a delayed order, advancing transparency and communication to ultimately increase the customer service experience. Additionally, the manufacturer would be able to save on costs by avoiding payment for the full shipment and returns after it reaches the customer’s destination. Consequently, this allows manufacturers and customers to avoid product spoilage, loss of product and improve customer experience and retention.
Also Read: 6 Best Practices to Enhance Visibility Over the Supply Chain
5G in Action
5G capabilities will enable improved bandwidth for computer vision-enabled cameras to support quality control practices during manufacturing and transportation. With 5G connectivity to support, cameras can perform 3-dimensional visual assessments of products and, based on algorithms related to processing, can determine any imperfections. This information can be used to improve proactivity and efficiency in supply chain processes. Additionally, the next generation of smart appliances like refrigerators, washing machines, and dryers will all have sensors built-in from the point of manufacturing to help locate the individual product within the warehouse and distribution centers. These sensors will be connected to a 5G network while in a warehouse to increase the accuracy when detecting a product’s location to enable accurate inventory counts.
The advantage of leveraging Industry 4.0 enables manufacturing organizations to seamlessly monitor the health and condition of their manufacturing equipment to ensure they are being utilized according to plan. Any deviation to the plan can be identified immediately and, in most cases, before issues lead to failure of the machines. IoT sensors monitoring the equipment will alert to any deficiencies and can invoke a remediation process to check for spare parts within the inventory of the manufacturer. Where plausible, the supplier can submit a work order for a new part to be ordered and fitted as well as schedule the downtime of the machinery without impacting the productivity schedules of the production line. The speed of a 5G will provide communication between supplier, manufacturer, and customer that enables the dissemination of information in real-time across a secure, trusted network.
Furthermore, 5G will augment the day-to-day work experience of warehouse operators. For example, if a warehouse is enabled with a 5G network to support virtual recognition or augmented reality (AR) capabilities, operators can be directed via AR-powered instructions to what goods or products are needed to be picked to fulfill a certain order. In addition to speeding up supply chain processes, this allows for more data to be processed during production uptime, and therefore, more real-time insights can be produced.
Also Read: A Safety Net for 5G and Edge: How OOB Network Management Helps Create More Resilient Networks
The Future of a 5G-Enabled Global Supply Chain
As we continue to move towards a post-pandemic world, visibility will remain critical to the supply chain industry’s Industry 4.0 digital transformation. With 5G capabilities, the global supply chain will not only be able to provide this enhanced visibility for better cost savings, customer experience and retention but also operate at maximum efficiency speeds.
Did you find this article helpful? Tell us what you think on LinkedInOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , or FacebookOpens a new window . We’d be thrilled to hear from you.