IoT offers a fresh approach to cold chain asset management
IoT is safeguarding food & drug quality—helping reduce spoilage, extend shelf life and simplify regulatory compliance and improve customer satisfaction
Canadian consumers want fresh and they’re willing to pay for it. When the pandemic restricted dining options, consumer demand for fresh food at home increased dramatically: in March 2020, Canadian sales of dairy, eggs, pork and more grew up to 76% year-over-year. Unfortunately, the pandemic also complicated supply chains—clogging borders and delaying shipments--ultimately leading to increased spoilage.
Of course, supply chain logistics also affects our healthcare and pharmaceutical industries. When it comes to vaccines, billions of lives depend on the reliability of something most people never even think about: cold chain integrity and asset management.
Essential to every temperature-sensitive product from medical supplies to your favourite ice cream, cold chain technologies monitor and help protect perishables throughout the supply chain. And like every other aspect of asset management, the Internet of Things (IoT) helps put you in control of your inventory: reducing risk, automating manual processes and improving cost savings, while remaining compliant with regulatory standards.
Monitor and protect perishable assets at every stage
With the potential for temperature and handling issues at every stage, the journey from production through distribution to point-of-purchase can be challenging—especially if you want to know what is across multiple modes of transport. In the past, your goods went into a refrigerated cargo container or retail display and you assumed a certain percentage of waste was inevitable. And if something went wrong, you might not know where, when or why.
IoT-powered cold chain solutions give you end-to-end visibility. GPS-based asset tracking with NIST1calibrated sensors that let you monitor temperature, humidity, air pressure, tilt and more—in near real time. Using alerts and data-driven decisions, you can now pre-empt or resolve issues before they result in delay, spoilage or loss. You can even reduce your liability by pre-emptively recalling compromised products before they arrive on store shelves.
Reduce risk while improving cost savings and ROI
In addition to being temperature-sensitive, refrigerated shipments are typically worth more than other goods on the dock. Beyond the obvious value of ensuring your products reach their final destination fresh and undamaged, cold chain solutions drive efficiency in other ways. This includes using verifiable data and automated electronic proof of delivery (ePOD) to ensure timely delivery, track packaging, shipping processes, storage conditions, routes taken, and chain of custody—all helping reduce loss and deliver peace of mind.
Ensure security of your shipments
Reducing risk goes hand in hand with securing your inventory in order to reduce theft. Monitoring your goods can now include alerts for suspicious activities such as route deviations, door openings and unplanned stoppages—helping you stay on top of theft or unexpected loss.
Deliver fresher products—and a better consumer experience
Above all else, IoT solutions give you a critical advantage over the competition. Safeguarding product quality means a longer shelf life, better consumer experience and fewer recalls. Enhanced restocking processes and order fulfilment at facilities improves business continuity and helps ensure goods don’t overstay their ‘best by’ date. And, the ability to analyze shipping logistics as well as route patterns helps your drivers make the most of their time on the road—meaning optimized delivery with more accurate arrival times.
Designed by experts with decades of experience, Rogers for Business IoT cold chain management solutions give you one-stop shop simplicity with hardware, software and connectivity bundled together. Backed by Canada's most trusted network,2 our solutions increasingly benefit from low-power, low-bandwidth technologies to enable cost-effective IoT deployments of any size. Plus, as-a-service options ease the burden of your initial capital expenditure.
Click here to learn more and make the most of everything IoT asset management can do for your business.