Also published on Medium.
Problem That Supply Chain Management Tackles
With the proliferation of manufacturers around the globe, frictionless premium delivery experiences with complete visibility, real-time tracking, and a streamlined optimized reporting system is a requirement for every delivery logistics operation. To meet the heightened expectations from customers, the logistics industry has undergone a pivotal strategic change in its supply chain management, which is to incorporate fleet owners and shared vehicles/services into its operations. While this strategic change of democratizing operations undeniably availed them of the advantages of flexibility & accessibility, it also presented them with a whole new hostile scenario — lack of trust, security, and privacy.
Warehouses act as the heart component of a logistics web. And that’s exactly why managing the inadequate space for frequent outbound processes i.e. delivery, dropping and shipments have been a common discussion topic in many meetings of supply chain professionals.
So it’s pretty clear that one of the most imperative factors for the growth of a business is to manage the outbound process efficiently & leverage the opportunities that an owned or shared fleet can provide. To accomplish that, the product owner needs to know & analyze how their product actually moves around in the streets. Typically, the product movement is closely related to the operational supply chain, from manufacturers to distribution centers, then to suppliers, and on to the retailer, before eventually reaching the end customers — making it a complex system that requires monitoring & supervision. The entire process gets even more complex if you involve third-party logistics (3PL) providers in outsourcing all or some parts of your logistics operations. This complex Chain of Custody of your products involves the active participation of different parties, questioning the transparency, scalability & quality management process.
To battle all these hiccups, you need a remote monitoring real-time tracking geofencing-enabled logistics tool, with SMS geofencing automatically triggered if there’s a delay or interruption detected, equipped with advanced analytics, reverse logistics management, proof of delivery in form of signatures or approvals from the consignees and easy 2-way communication medium. On top of that, it only gets better if the tool also comes with inventory management covering up a 360° inventory availability reporting, attendance log & entrance-exit timesheets to tackle unprecedented events of failed attempts of delivery or dropped shipments.
Problems that Smart Delivery System can solve for the business
Geofencing addresses a significant number of problems and proposes easy solutions for optimizing system performance and operations efficiency. The Impact of Geofencing in Logistics Operations involves better performance accuracy, data credibility, supply chain visibility, and operational efficiency improvements. Enabling geospatial services and incorporating geofence to an operational system utilizes the power of technology to automate, optimize & scale the service offered by Logistics Service Providers, Retailers, Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) or Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) ecosystem.
- Streamlines complex delivery processes
- Reduces operational and monitoring costs
- Optimizes and automates supply chain management
- Provides uninterrupted real-time supply chain visibility & transparency
- Enables instant communication with any active part of Chain of Custody
- Fulfills on-demand services with ease of access
- Ensures reliability and credibility of each delivery
- Improves Customer Service with automated delay reporting
- Eliminates sporadic communication among different delivery channels
- Attenuates the frequency of dropped/failed deliveries
- Manages product returns & recurring orders with effectively
- Communicates the reason/s for the delivery delay to all involved parties
- Reports the reason/s for delivery difficulties to the concerned authority
- Performs risk assessment and prevention from event frequency analytics
- Acts as an easy-to-use reporting tool for delivery concerns in the native language
Features Smart Delivery System offers for the business
Software System
The software solution includes a mobile application and a web platform, enabling the concerned authority to access advanced analytics, utilize real-time data processing and conduct remote monitoring & supervision. The software solution can be tailored to the internal business requirements and supply chain needs of business companies or groups. The mobile application also has an admin view, from which any authorized personnel from the company can directly know the updates of the warehouse and distribution houses, as we developed for Berger Paints Bangladesh Ltd.
App & Web Modules
- Real-time Asset Tracking: Tracks your owned or shared fleet of vehicles
- Delivery Management: Manages the delivery state and reports
- Integrated Delivery Fallback: Enables delivery persons to cancel orders and send the reasons for cancellation
- Returned Delivery Reporting Management: Manages returned product orders/invoices according to your business requirements
- Two-Way Reverse Logistics Management: Automates rerouting orders and delivery destinations based on the operational logic
- Economics of last-mile deliveries: Monitors on-device charge level & states, Internet & GPS connectivity level for ensuring system continuity
- Proof of Delivery: Manages consignee/receives’ signatures, real-time photographs, notes, forms, scanned barcodes — or a combination of any of the aforementioned types of proof of execution
- Geo-Spatial Services: Geofences Customer Points for timekeeping and logging arrival (check-in), unloading and departure (check-out)
- Task Delegation: Delegates assigned tasks to delivery personnel per carrying bill orders or invoices
- Automated SMS Notification Service: Triggers automated SMS with explanations to customers, invoked in the unlikely events of traffic delay, accidents or others
Admin Web & App View
- Enables authority to locate the delivery in transit
- Provides authority to call delivery carrying person instantly
- Displays lists of completed, uncompleted and other assigned deliveries
- Detailed view of delivery details with their respective proof of delivery, timesheets and other details
- Shows delivery volumes/amounts currently in transit
- Shows advanced analytics based on different parameters
Analytics Modules
- Detects redundant, usable and additional delivery capacity with existing delivery resources (i.e. fleet, shared vehicles)
- Detects patterns of unloading cycle delays and transit delays — route, customer, and vehicle-wise
- Mines real-time spatial and temporal dimensional data from every delivery order, transit, and trip
- Detects the distance covered route, trip, and vehicle-wise for the business to estimate their accounts
- Determines the most frequent instances of delay reasons and causes for missing deliveries dropped shipments/failed attempts of delivery
- Tracks dimensions of SKU and monitor the inventory of SKU as per warehouse configuration
End Note
To conclude, inefficient operations lead you to suffer from the loss of man-hours, inaccurate timekeeping, and unsuccessful product shipping — consequently, losing productivity & intangibles. Let the power of geofence enable technology to automate your logistics, supply chain management, field force monitoring, timekeeping, and shipping. Track your valuable assets, shipments, delivery persons & vehicle fleet. Notify your valued customers of the arrival of your fleet to let them get prepared, free up vehicle space, and provide quality customer service to receive positive feedback.
