It’s a well-known fact of modern life that technology is changing the way that things get done – and the freight and logistics industry definitely isn’t an exception. Consumer demand is at an all-time high, and companies all over the world are fighting their way through the rankings to try and meet needs, some more successfully than others! For the bigwigs and small companies successfully keeping up with their customers, however, the question that remains is this: How are they doing it? Whether you’re looking to import from China, send parcels around the world, or you’re just interested in how your orders get from the warehouse to your door so quickly, we’ve pulled together a list of the biggest tech advancements making it happen!
Drones And Droid-Assisted Delivery
Anyone with even the daintiest of toes dipped into the world of technology will likely have heard of drones. From the tiny versions with cameras that you can pick up from your local tech shops to the larger-scale models being tested out by the likes of Amazon and Walmart for deliveries, the world is being taken by storm by these flying contraptions. However, drones aren’t the only method of delivery that the logistics industry is thought to be adopting. Droids (no, not the Star Wars kind!) are tiny robots made for delivering parcels by traveling along pavements to do so. This is often cheaper than drone technology, but all in all, it’s clear to see that there is a growing focus on using these automated delivery systems on a more commercial scale.
Self-Driving Vehicles
The concept of driverless vehicles isn’t a brand new one, but it’s certainly only just beginning to gain traction as far as commercial deliveries are concerned. Okay, so the industry is still a way off from being able to make mass deliveries without having a driver behind the wheel, but the technology is most definitely in production and testing. There are risks involved in driverless vehicles that need to be smoothed out before this potential future can become a definite reality, but with the likes of high-precision cameras, intricate analytics software and so much more, it’s only a matter of time before these trucks are ready and raring to go!
Warehouse Robotics
Warehouse robotics is something that is very much in use today. While they don’t exactly play a part in the delivery of your items once they’ve left the warehouse, they make the sorting, picking and packing processes far more streamlined, cutting down processing time considerably. Amazon, for example, has a whopping 45000 robots across their warehouses that pick out orders, and restock shelves and more, and even save the company around $22million per center in the meantime. There are even TUG robots in hospitals in America that serve meals, and bring medications and lab supplies to nurse stations as soon as they’re needed.
Transport Management Systems (TMS)
Transport Management Systems are designed to help freight shipment companies get their supply chain in efficient working order, and while this technology was once way too expensive for companies to actually afford to have, it’s far more accessible now. With advancements making the whole system much easier to obtain and then use, TMS is looking like one of the biggest tech advancements in the industry today. Without these systems, supply chains could be disorganized, and they’d almost definitely take much longer to go from start to finish. Freight companies can track materials, supplies, organize the movement of products and keep track of all of the data associated with each stage – which ultimately means faster deliveries for consumers!
So there you have it. Technology is a constantly changing field, but the logistics industry is certainly taking each and every opportunity with both hands. While it could be years before we see drones soaring around the sky with our parcels, or trucks on the motorways without a driver in the front seat, the technology behind these advancements is well underway. It’s only a matter of time. Check here for more details for the supply chain.
