A computer science post-graduate from the Indian Institute of Science with experience in Digital transformation using Mobility, Analytics, Industrial IoT and Artificial intelligence, Sandeep Goel has over 21 years of experience in setting up, managing, acquiring, and integrating businesses. He has extensive leadership experience of working across diverse industry verticals like investment banking, FMCG, CPG and process manufacturing.
Four months into the COVID19 pandemic, the new contours defining the technology enablement of logistics are beginning to emerge. Diverse stakeholders in the logistics ecosystem are faced with the challenge of staying connected to the real economy from the protected environments of their homes. While traditional metrics of cost, quality, and turnaround time continue to be in focus, supply chain security has emerged as one of the key concerns. Enterprises continue to reimagine logistics and zero down the gaps in their supply chain by pooling resources and people in their logistics networks. Technology will play a new role in reshaping the future of logistics by enabling the integration of the core sectors in the real economy with digital platforms.
What are The Major Technological Drivers of Transformation in Logistics?
Given the factors affecting logistics, the following technology drivers will steer the transformation of the vertical through the pandemic and beyond:
- Blockchain to Support Paperless SOPs for Global and Domestic Trade
With the reset to existing economic partnerships and the rise of protectionism in trade accompanying the COVID19 pandemic, businesses will look for faster, and more efficient ways to collaborate with customers, government agencies, trade regulators, and banks for the implementation of standard operating procedures. The rise of new-age technologies like blockchain will enable businesses to create new avenues of technical and economic efficiency in collaborative processes for trade documentation and management of data of record governing trade by reducing cycle times, and asymmetries of information.
- Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to Enable Lot Size One
While offline processes have limited the scope for traditional manufacturing processes to deliver made-to-order products, OEMs and large manufacturing enterprises will be able to achieve a lot size one by pivoting their supplier collaboration and logistics for the assembling of different parts and line items on artificial intelligence and machine learning. Cutting edge AI and ML platforms will enable logistics services providers to partner with enterprises in the value chain to provide greater cost optimization in the transport and delivery of cargo for made-to-order products through better trucking and route optimization solutions.
- Robotic Process Automation to Enable Insta Quotes for Shipping Cargo
Given the disruptions and delays caused by the downtime of suppliers and logistics route alterations due to lockdowns, businesses across industry verticals have witnessed a rise in the costs of their supply chain operations, with a formidable proportion of such inflated costs being assigned to logistics. However, the rise of robotic process automation can provide solutions to such challenges by facilitating visibility into instant quotes on shipping costs based on chosen logistics routes, cargo volumes, and cargo types.
- Physical Internet and Augmented Reality to Make Cargo Safer During Transit
As businesses look to have greater control over their supply chains in the near future, access to real-time information on the status of cargo during transit journeys are going to redefine visibility and predictability in logistics. Physical internet and augmented reality will enable truckers, freight forwarders, and customers to access visuals of the cargo in real-time even as it moves from one point to another in the downstream of the supply chain thereby making logistics more transparent and predictable than ever before.
- Mobile Apps Development to Enable E-Kanban in Warehouses and PUDO Centers
With the COVID19 pandemic showing the importance of track and trace of cargo at different points of stocking and inventorying in the distribution network, smart warehousing solutions that enable greater visibility into the sorting and segregation of cargo shall be in vogue. Custom mobile application development for people at warehouses and pick-up & drop-off centres will enable businesses to codify and record data on cargo handling like uploading, movement, storage, and downloading across physical environments and multiple modes of transport. Not only will it make warehousing processes low-touch, but it will also make the adoption of best practices like e-Kanban more efficient and feasible.
- Smart Packaging and RFID to Enable Better Track and Trace of Last-Mile Delivery
One of the major concerns emanating from the pandemic is the fall in consumer trust and consequently, a greater demand for visibility into the last-mile delivery of goods. This is especially the case in verticals like retail, e-commerce, consumer goods, and pharmaceuticals. Smart packaging and the use of radio frequency identification devices (RFID) shall enable businesses to share information on the last-mile delivery of goods in these industries and can be a major enabler of providing de-risked and safe customer experiences.
- Crowd Sharing Platforms and Deep Learning to Agile Pricing Models
While traditional commerce has in the past allowed consumers to underplay the delivery costs for the shipment of consumer cargo like courier, express, and parcel, a reversal of this trend is setting in. Consumers are more likely to be willing to pay higher prices for safe farm to fork deliveries in categories such as food & beverages, processed food items, and dairy products. New-age crowd sharing platforms that work on deep learning shall facilitate community-based local logistics networks to share fleets of mini-cargo carriers to drive cost efficiency and on-time delivery through new models of agile and surge pricing.
The End of the Shipper-Agnostic Era and The Rise of Localized Supply Chains
Even as businesses continue to move forward on the learning curve amidst the pandemic, the conventional wisdom of consumers being shipper-agnostic is changing fast. Furthermore, with changing equations of geopolitics and economic partnerships, businesses want to de-risk their supply chains by choosing local freight forwarders and multimodal logistics service providers with strong digital competencies. The focus on supply chain security and the need to stay connected to their logistics systems and processes will drive greater penetration of technology into logistics.
More About Sandeep Goel
With his valuable experience of working in diverse markets in the U.S. and U.K, Sandeep, who is now based in Hyderabad, India brings valuable worldview to Moglix. An avid reader and a globe trotter, Sandeep is passionate about sharing his learning with the broader community of people through teaching. Sandeep currently heads Technology and Human Capital at Moglix. He has been teaching at a Post Graduate Diploma Program in Human Resource Management since the year 2008. Sandeep follows his proprietary teaching technique named “AnaLogica”, which leverages a combination of analogy and logic for effective learning.