One of the remarkable things about IoT technology is its potential to impact sustainability across many industry verticals worldwide. The case for IoT solutions impacting sustainability is particularly evident in the global supply chain, where IoT-enabled solutions such as Critical Asset Monitoring improve both visibility and sustainability.

An article in IoT World Today outlines some of the ways IoT technology can drive efficiency and sustainability in use cases that range from monitoring oceanic conditions to reducing truck rolls. “In the end, technologies such as IoT and data analytics can help shed light on global problems, enabling organisations to understand them better but also devise more sustainable strategies to succeed in the future,” the author writes.

Sustainability That’s Good for the Bottom Line

It’s a common misconception that a technology solution cannot improve sustainability while also positively affecting a company’s bottom line. When optimising business operations with supply chain visibility, it’s possible to improve the company’s bottom line while also moving towards more sustainable business operations that reduce waste.

Supply chain visibility solutions also help logistics companies optimise fuel consumption, which has a dual effect of saving money and reducing emissions and environmental impact. Saving money and resources through reducing waste and loss makes a business more sustainable and has a positive overall effect on the planet.

Reducing Waste and Loss

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations (UN) estimates that 14% of food is lost between harvest and distribution, globally. The estimated cost of this loss is $400 billion annually. In the medical industry, supply chain waste and loss are significant, especially when it comes to temperature-sensitive medical supplies that may be impacted by a break in the cold chain. Disruption is costly to the healthcare supply chain, as Gartner reports that 37.7% of the total cost of patient care comes from healthcare supply chain costs to serve.

Beyond the food, agriculture and medical industries, streamlining logistics operations can also reduce waste by optimising fuel consumption as well as saving time and resources. Supply chain visibility can help reduce waste beyond just product loss that occurs during the distribution by providing real-time insights that can be used to improve efficiency and optimise supply chain operations.

Critical Asset Monitoring

IoT-enabled supply chain visibility solutions empower supply chain managers to take necessary action based on real-time data. KORE Critical Asset Monitoring sends notifications about anomaly events as they happen — such as temperature changes, route deviations, shock, and tilt — and provides the data required for process optimisation with actionable analytics. This supply chain optimisation results in not only improving sustainability but reducing costs associated with loss and waste and improving ROI.

To learn more about how supply chain visibility can increase sustainability and boost business, watch the video, “QuickFire Interview: Improve Supply Chain Visibility.”