A pandemic outbreak of this magnitude has caught automotive companies and whole other industries off guard, with a wave of ripple effects tearing through their supply chains and business objectives.
Sector Lead – Auto, Mnf & CPRDT. | Global Expert Connect
Capgemini India
For example, let’s look at the automotive sector:
We see many automotive players who have come forward by shifting the focus of their operations and are enabling governments to overcome the shortages of critical supplies like ventilators, masks, medical equipment, etc. Some of the examples are stated below.
In response to a severe shortage of response equipment, SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile (SGMW) announced it would produce face masks, which can help prevent the virus infection via respiration. SGMW worked with Guangxi Defu Technology, who is an interior parts supplier, to install mask production in Guangxi Province. There will be 14 new production lines for both medical masks and N95 facial masks with the planned volume of 1.7 million per day.
Similarly, Ford is working with 3M & GE to channelize its manufacturing operations to make respirators and ventilators…and so is Tesla. Tesla would start delivering Resmed, Philips, and Medtronic ventilators to New York hospitals by leveraging its plant capabilities in Buffalo.
While automotive companies have stretched themselves to fight back this situation by manufacturing products in the nick of time, it is equally important that the logistics of this lifesaving equipment is closely monitored to ensure on-time availability.
This is where IoT as a platform comes into the picture and can be best implemented in Fleet management and tracking. The implementation of IoT in this business function sector has already brought in a huge development. Trucks nowadays are integrated with weight measurement, location tracking, and several other sensors.
The best mechanism in order to have an eagle’s view on movement to transport is by leveraging the potential of vehicle telematics.
Some of the major ways in which vehicle tracking can help both business organizations and government authorities are:
1) In monitoring the location and status of Fleets & Containers carrying this essential equipment on a real-time basis
2) Weight and Volume tracking of the cargo, which can be further analyzed to arrest shortages, as well as plan the allocation based on geographic priorities
3) In tracking traffic conditions, which can be a crucial input to plan prioritized routes for the fleets in accordance with Traffic authorities.
4) And last but highly important – the status of drivers. It becomes imperative for both business organizations and government authorities to ensure that the health and fitness levels of the human resources who play the most important role in end to end supply chains, should always be in a green zone. Just like telematics devices for the fleet, human wearable IoT devices, can help the authorities monitor the mental, physical and immunity parameters of the drivers of these fleet.
There are multiple product offerings in the market, each with its own marketing pitch, offerings, subscription plans, etc. These products also come bundled with multi-device scalable dashboards which keep the users updated with insights, based on predefined data crunching logics.
While these dashboards and quite insightful and engaging, they do not serve the purpose of giving a holistic view of both strategic and tactical planning…
Article Published in Telematics Wire
