5 Tech Tools To Help You Manage Your Supply Chain

As a business owner/operator/manager, you undoubtedly understand how critical it is to protect your cargo along every aspect of your supply chain. Technology and specially designed devices can really come in handy when it comes to keeping your precious cargo safe. With such a wide variety of devices on the market, it can be a challenge to decide which ones are right for your needs. Your customers shouldn't have to worry about any problems throwing a wrench in your supply chain. To help prevent such issues, here are five types of devices that can help secure and protect your cargo as it moves toward its destination along your company's supply routes.

Impact and Shock Recorders

Cargo damage is one of the most common issues that companies across all industries face. It can result in huge losses, not to mention major delays in delivery and other logistical issues. But there are ways to mitigate the problem, prevent damage, and ultimately keep the issue at bay! Impact indicators are one of the most common ways to spot and prevent cargo damage. Ostensibly small devices that fit onto your cargo, they give you a visual indicator that something has been damaged by a shock or impact. This provides valuable insight to determine whether or not the item must be replaced or if damage can be mitigated somehow. It's a remarkably simple, inelegant solution to an elegant problem that plagues supply chains everywhere. Using impact monitors in conjunction with other technology to monitor your supply chain is a surefire way to streamline operations, protect cargo, and ensure every shipment meets your high-quality standards. 

GPS Trackers

If you've ever used your smartphone to navigate or had one built into your car, you're likely familiar with devices that use the global positioning system (GPS) to navigate. A GPS tracking device can help you keep track of your shipments in real-time, so you can quickly locate them if they go missing. It's a versatile tool that can help you keep track of the things that matter most, namely your cargo and supplies. Along with employing GPS and vehicle/fleet tracking, you should also package your cargo with security seals. Security seals create a tamper-evident seal around packages or containers. This can ultimately deter thieves and vandals from accessing your goods illegally, stealing them, or otherwise compromising shipments. That's a net positive thing in today's supply chain—especially given the increase in stealing some areas of the supply chain have experienced in the past few years.

Vibration Sensors

Cargo sensors monitor factors such as temperature, humidity and light exposure to help protect your goods from damage or spoilage. When shipping high-value cargo, your company needs to take the necessary precautions to ensure its safe arrival. Your clients (and the consumer) don't want damaged goods. It can also be quite expensive to repair and replace items when they get damaged in transit. While impact monitors give logistics managers a powerful tool for monitoring cargo, vibration sensors can provide them with more detailed—and ultimately valuable—information about potentially damaging vibrations. Vibration sensors can detect even the slightest vibrations, which can help you avoid that costly damage we mentioned during transport. These sensors possess a high degree of accuracy as well, essentially being able to pinpoint the exact time when a vibration occurred. They're an integral, cost-effective solution to a common problem in the supply chain and are worth using to protect your cargo from damage. Proper packing—using foam, wrapping, quality packing materials, and careful attention to detail—can work well with vibration sensors to ensure your cargo arrives at its destination without any problems or damage.

Temperature Sensors

Whether you're moving cargo along a standard supply chain or a cold chain, there are going to be certain times when you need to move supplies that require certain temperatures. Time-temperature abuse, or when temperature-sensitive items are exposed to improper temps for a prolonged period, can cause major damage to supplies (and to your company's bottom line). If you're moving food or pharmaceuticals, it can be especially damaging to both the cargo and your reputation. Using simple little devices like temperature sensors can save a lot of time, energy, and money. Plus it prevents instances where you might have to replace damaged cargo along supply lanes. A temperature sensor is an efficient gadget that fits right on your cargo container and gives you valuable information that you can use in real-time to make the decisions that matter.

RFID Tags

RFID tags allow you to track individual items within a shipment using radio frequency signals. This helps prevent loss or theft during transit. RFID (short for radio frequency identification) tags offer a means to monitor shipments in the field with ease. You can track them along Supply lines, track them in the warehouse, and even track them upon delivery. Better yet, an RFID tag can store information that is later read by a different device to give you insight into what happened to it while it was moving around your supply chain. Because they can be read remotely, using RFID technology in the form of damage-reducing asset tags is a simple method of protecting your cargo and ensuring it arrives at its destination safely.