That IoT is already revolutionising the transportation and logistics industry should take no one by surprise. With its ability to connect equipment and exchange real-time data in the cloud, the possibilities are endless. And don’t take our word for it:

The IoT spend by logistics industry market size is expected to reach 114 billion US dollars by 2032.

The main reason why is that IoT simplifies and makes logistics processes more transparent. Logistics is challenging, complex and dynamic. So much so, unpredictability is now considered the norm due to frequent supply chain disruptions.

Common use cases of IoT in transportation and logistics include route tracking, supply chain monitoring, fleet management, predictive maintenance and much more.

So, there was never a better time to adopt IoT than now. Let’s see the benefits and how they work with real examples taken from our experience working on IoT projects.

What are the top benefits of IoT in logistics?

Here are just a few of the benefits you can expect after implementing IoT solutions in a transportation and logistics business:

Route optimisation

Fleet management is one of the most important use cases for the transportation and logistics industry. IoT sensors mounted on vehicles transmit real-time data, which allows you to track routes easily.

However, IoT can do more than track location. One of our clients is a global automotive company. Together, we created a data trading platform. Around 1.7 million vehicles send data directly to this solution. It shows real-time vehicle information, including acceleration, driving speed, and start/end route locations.

What’s interesting is that road conditions are monitored as well. So their clients can see potholes, dangerous road curves, and high-traffic areas.

This opens up many possibilities, including route optimisation and driver behaviour suggestions, enabling safer driving, increased productivity, and optimised uptime. For a delivery company, this means that the goods will always arrive in good condition.

Fleet management

Fleet management is closely related to route optimisation, but it can do much more than that. Fleet companies can manage all their vehicles from a single platform, which is handy, especially as they grow.

Astrata is a software company that delivers solutions that streamline transport, logistics, supply chain operations and mobile workforce management. We have worked on one of their solutions, called FleetVisor designed for fleet managers. They can take full control of fuel consumption, driver hours and back-office performance improvement.

These metrics help them optimise transport activities. This translates into reduced operational costs, increased utilisation of all fleet assets, boosted driver performance and improved overall security.

Workplace safety

In the US, there are nearly 100,000 forklift-related accidents per year. In the UK, 18% of accidents between 2020-2021 happened because of handling, lifting or carrying. 

Safety should be a red thread that connects every warehouse process. IoT can help alert workers before something goes wrong. For example, wearable trackers tell them when an object, such as a forklift, is approaching. It can detect falls and notify workers when they are not using the proper safety protocols.

Thus, IoT can prevent potential health hazards and improve compliance in general. This is also true for transportation companies. Our client has derived an innovative insurance practice that is the future of insurtech.

We are helping them add new functionality to their application, which allows fleet owners to understand their driving safety practices. They can see which vehicles affect their overall safety score, which also directly impacts their insurance. As a result, they have an additional incentive to put safety first.

Cost reduction

More efficient routes help companies save money and resources. Using GPS data, apps identify the best routes in real time and alert drivers to improve their driving habits.

Additionally, IoT helps detect anomalies and lets you fix vehicles or machinery before something happens. This saves money since repairs are generally more expensive to fix. IoT also helps warehouses optimise energy efficiency, reducing costs and increasing sustainability efforts.

Last but not least, overall operations become more efficient, contributing to the company’s bottom line. For example, customer support is improved due to more effective processes, leading to increased customer satisfaction.

Better decision-making

Optimising processes doesn’t have to be based on guesswork or extensive research – you have data for that. Data enables better decision-making, whether it’s about delivering or storing goods.

IoT lets you control warehouse conditions, ensure employee safety, schedule maintenance, etc. The good part is that all of this can be anticipated, so you don’t have to deal with the costs of poor planning.

For example, easy access to analytics also helps business managers with forecasting. You can predict demand more accurately and automatically adjust stock levels based on data.

In turn, this helps minimise inefficiencies and increase sustainability practices.

Predictive maintenance

Predictive maintenance uses IoT data to predict future potential failures of equipment and vehicles. Our client addresses waste management companies that own mobile compactors. In order to anticipate equipment errors, their customers need to see everything related to their equipment, including their health status. So, we worked with them to build a cloud-agostic solution that also does predictive maintenance. 

This works by setting specific parameters to determine the vehicle’s health status. Standard parameters include equipment sound and temperature. IoT sensors detect anomalies and send this information back to a gateway. Then, this data is processed and sent to an application that displays error statistics directly to the clients.

What’s more, they can see these stats and get notifications about potential errors in advance. They can also set a maintenance schedule so they’ll be alerted to perform maintenance work on specific compactors. In this way, they save time and money, and avoid downtime.

Take full advantage of IoT in transportation and logistics

Are you ready to take your business to the next level? We build custom IoT solutions that drive growth and efficiency, enabling you to act on valuable data in real time and stay ahead of your competitors.