Optimising Supply Chains with Satellite Analytics: Real-time Tracking and Monitoring
In our modern, intricately linked world, logistics is the heartbeat, driving the effortless flow of goods across continents. The advent of real-time tracking, powered by GPS, RFID, and IoT innovations, has reshaped this domain, ushering in a new era of transparency and effectiveness. These technologies meticulously oversee goods through the supply chain, furnishing invaluable, immediate insights crucial for smart decision-making, proactive measures taking, and streamlining operations.
Such digitalisation has allowed for creating precise, transparent, sustainable supply chains, which is of critical importance for businesses that want to stay competitive in the current times. Of course, fulfilling that without satellite data is close to impossible. After all, satellites are the only sensors that can “see” on our entire planet and collect invaluable data on any area in the shortest possible time. The possibilities are endless. Today, you can even get yield prediction data using satellite technologies. But first things first. Before we jump into the benefits of satellite analytics for food logistics and more, let’s cover the basics of supply chain management.
The Progress
It’s no denying that the ever-evolving logistics sphere is fostered by rapid tech advancements. From the steam engine’s world-shrinking impact to 20th-century containerisation streamlining trade, innovations like the Internet, RFID, and IoT devices now enhance supply chains. Today, analytics, machine learning, and automation have already changed logistics for good by offering the possibilities of gaining predictive insights, smart routes planning, and task automation.
Most importantly, technologies enable the possibility of real-time tracking, which is a gold mine for logistics companies and services. They don’t have to worry about monitoring complex global supply chains anymore, cutting expenses related to delays and miscommunications.
The Necessity of Real-time Tracking
In the world of globalisation, it’s essential for logistics to adapt and find ways of monitoring supply chains across the globe. More so, it has to be a never-ending process. Real-time tracking and visibility is crucial to achieve this. And what better way to observe the entire Earth than satellites? Although they have long aided remote sensing, recent advancements allow real-time monitoring through high-resolution cameras and better communication tech.
Collected and analysed satellite data allows logistics companies to track shipments, oversee remote operations, and even perform environmental monitoring and weather forecasting.
For businesses, satellite monitoring means spotting inefficiencies, reducing waste, and pinpointing areas of risk or improvement. More so, the evolving tech makes satellite data more and more accessible, affordable, and adaptable with the market offering numerous monitoring systems catering to different business needs.
Various tracking systems like GPS, RFID, and IoT devices serve unique purposes in logistics. GPS tracks locations, RFID manages inventory, and IoT devices monitor goods’ conditions, especially perishables, ensuring optimal quality throughout transport. These systems provide unmatched visibility, precision, and management. As logistics advances, real-time tracking systems continue to further drive efficiency, transparency, and reliability of supply chains across industries.
And one of the biggest industries that heavily depends on smart logistics is agriculture. Poor supply chain planning and management in this sphere results in food waste, which has a disastrous effect in a world that already faces the issues of hunger and ever-growing population. Let’s see how satellites can aid in solving this problem.
Logistics in Agriculture: Importance of Accurate Yield Predictions
Satellites help track plant health and growth, the data essential for crop yield prediction. Tracking the field state remotely, farmers can make smart decisions on irrigation, fertilisation, and pest control, optimising harvest and storage plans for efficient resource use in supply chains.
Accurate yield estimation is crucial for logistics planning in agriculture, impacting food security across the globe. Yield levels drive food productivity, influencing food safety and availability and guiding management and financial decisions for policymakers, farmers, and other parties involved.
Overall, crop yield signifies the output per unit of cultivated land, a key indicator of agricultural productivity. Monitoring crop yield is fundamental to national agricultural and economic progress. It shapes import/export choices, price structures, distribution, and future planning, employing methods like vegetation indices and statistical models for prediction. Some companies even offer specific solutions developed specifically for crop yield forecasting. Among them is EOS Data Analytics with a team, comprising data experts and engineers, that uses remote sensing and machine learning for precise crop yield estimation. Leveraging satellite earth observation data, they cover various scales, from individual farms to vast regions.
Their approach merges biophysical and statistical models for ensuring superior crop yield forecast accuracy. The biophysical model gathers diverse data (weather, soil, crop status, phaenology) and conducts simulations to estimate yield, updating every 14 days for weather-related precision. Meanwhile, the statistical model utilises various data sets (rainfall, temperature, soil type) paired with machine learning models like Linear Regression, Random Forest, XGBoost, etc, tailored to project-specific needs for optimal outcomes.
General Benefits For Different Industries
Satellite data is a game-changer in logistics across industries. It’s instrumental in inventory management, allowing real-time tracking for optimal stock levels, preventing shortages or excess inventory, thereby reducing costs and elevating customer satisfaction.
Moreover, companies harness this data to optimise transportation routes, cutting transit times and fuel expenses. This not only enhances efficiency but also promotes greener supply chains.
When combined with advanced analytics, satellite insights enable predictive modelling, including creating a yield forecast mentioned before. This helps businesses foresee potential disruptions, enabling proactive solutions and ensuring seamless operations, averting costly setbacks.
Consider the example of Amazon, which started using satellite data for route optimisation and real-time tracking in their logistics. This approach has significantly improved delivery times and customer satisfaction, showcasing the tangible benefits of utilising satellite technology in logistics operations.
There are no signs hinting at satellite analytics stopping to be a driving force behind supply chain management. Most likely, AI and machine learning will continue to interpret vast satellite data, optimising supply chain processes with actionable insights. In essence, integrating satellite data transforms supply chain management, aiding informed decisions, improving efficiency, and improving customer satisfaction rates. Yet, there is an issue of data security and privacy that needs to be considered when using satellite analytics. Strong cybersecurity measures safeguard sensitive information, ensuring the supply chain’s integrity.
Author Biography
Article by Vera Petryk
Vera Petryk is the Chief Marketing Officer at EOS Data Analytics, a global provider of AI-powered satellite imagery analytics.
She has a degree in marketing from the Netherlands Institute of Marketing, as well as a master’s degree from the Kyiv Institute for Interpreters and Translators under the Ukrainian Science and Research Centre.
Her main goal is to put EOS Data Analytics among the world leaders of satellite monitoring companies, as well as to promote sustainable products that utilise cutting-edge infrastructure, helping to preserve the Earth and bringing the benefits of space to all humanity.
At the Institute of Supply Chain Management, we deliver tailored, flexible, professional qualifications in supply chain management to support every learner to progress in the industry. Study supply chain management courses part-time or full-time using our online learning platform with unlimited support from a dedicated mentor. Our supply chain management courses range from introductory supply chain short courses to certifications at strategic management level—you choose the qualification which is best suited to your career goals.