There is a constant need for innovation in shipping and logistics. Everyone is looking for any way to make their operations more efficient, have their freight arrive faster, and make their shipping costs less. Innovations typically come in small increments, new solutions found that are specific to that one shipper. There are, however, occasionally huge innovations that push the entire industry forward. These innovations are usually new technologies.
No matter, how big the innovation is, there will always be some impact. The most common areas impacted by innovation in shipping and logistics are visibility, flexibility, and savings.
Visibility
It used to be you’d load up a truck and just hope that it made it to the destination on time and undamaged. If anything did go wrong, you might not hear about it for a few days or ever. Now, due to great innovations and technology, everyone involved in shipping can have a live view of exactly where the freight is. Also, not only can they see where it is, they can see the temperature, humidity, and even a live view of it.
Apart from the visibility of the freight, innovations in shipping and logistics have provided visibility on the data. With transportation management systems, anything can be tracked, recorded, and analyzed. Then, with AI, trends can be found in the patterns resulting in new ways for the shipper to save.
Flexibility
Innovation in shipping has led to many more options. Options in services, processes, and even options in business plans. Think about it, before refrigerated trailers, there was no way to ship certain food items across the STATE! Forget about country or globe. But now, with the robust supply chain we have today, countless companies and industries exist that otherwise wouldn’t be able to.
Savings
Innovation leads to better engines, better processes and routes, and better-streamlined operations. All of these save wither time or money. Savings is typically the main driver behind innovations in shipping and logistics. Shippers are looking for some way to shave down their budget spent on shipping.
The best way for a shipper to find savings is to partner with a transportation provider. There are very few ‘one size fits all’ solutions when it comes to the supply chain. Most savings are going to be tailored specifically to the way the shipper has their operations set up. The big innovations in shipping and logistics are probably well known by them and implemented, but there are always hundreds of small adjustments and tweaks to get even more savings.
Upcoming Innovations in Shipping and Logistics
There are a couple of upcoming innovations that should change up the framework of the supply chain. One big one is an increased use of automation. There is already plenty of automation that goes into every shipment but, as the technology is getting better, there is potential for entire shipments to go through automatically. Apart from the shipping that is, we’re still a ways off before we have self-driving trucks.
One place that self-driving vehicles will have a place in is warehouses. There have been huge innovations in warehousing. New processes, self-driving forklifts, drones, you name it. Warehousing tends to be overlooked (outside of Amazon) but it is a vital step in the supply chain that is constantly being improved.
At Becker Logistics, we focus on new solutions every day. Innovations to improve our own operations, and those of our partners. We know that innovation in shipping and logistics will always be important and have invested heavily in it. We offer the best technologies and operations so that our customers and carriers get the best service. If you think you want to partner with Becker Logistics, you can reach out and contact us here. Additionally, if you want to get started today then request a freight quote!
