The logistics industry is the backbone of industries such as retail, e-commerce, healthcare, and FMCG. Such sectors are highly reliant on the logistics industry to move their products across the world to maintain customer satisfaction. Increasing consumerism is pushing the logistics industry to deliver superior performance and offer services such as overnight shipping. For instance, UPS operates more than 2000 flights a day to more than 200 countries and territories, which enables them to receive a package late at night and deliver it by 8 AM the following morning. Apart from making strategic changes to achieve efficiencies, the logistics industry has embraced a host of new technologies to help them save costs and reduce wastages. So what are the upcoming top logistics industry trends for the year 2018?
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Top Logistics Industry Trends
Blockchain
Blockchain technology has made numerous headlines currently due to the exploding popularity of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin. However, the technology has a wide range of applications because of the security and transparency it offers. The ability to record a chain of transactions that cannot be tampered with is especially useful in the logistics industry where the product goes through a sequence of custody handovers and transactions to reach its final destination. In such a case, it becomes vital to know who is responsible for the goods during each handover, which, in turn, enables package tracking as well as accountability. It is one of the most significant logistics industry trends that can potentially save companies billions of dollars when implemented on a mass-market level.
Perfect order deliveries
Perfect order is one of the key metrics used by companies in the logistics industry to measure customer satisfaction. Perfect order is an index compiled by measuring four key aspects of an order, including on-time deliveries, completed shipping, damage-free shipping, and correct documentation. Recent surveys state that only 84% of all orders can be deemed perfect, which is way too low as shippers have to incur the additional cost to rectify the errors. New technologies like RFID, barcodes, and IoT are helping logistics companies achieve a higher rate of perfect orders. Such logistics industry trends will help curtail losses and improve customer satisfaction.
Elastic Logistics
Elastic logistics refers to the ability to expand and shrink logistics capabilities to align with the demands. Logistics service providers are usually not prepared to handle considerable surges in customer demand. Flexible automation solutions increase the agility of the logistics companies to adjust to market fluctuations. When companies achieve optimal utilization, companies can deliver customer delight at a reduced cost. As a result, more and more companies are exploring outsourcing, third-party providers, and a shared economy.
Data-driven logistics
One of the most prominent game-changing logistics industry trends is the widespread adoption of data-driven logistics. Logistics companies can leverage data to predict future demand so that they can align their operations accordingly. Logistics companies usually have a massive collection of unstructured data. Technological logistics startups are using machine learning algorithms to analyze such unstructured data to forecast demand. Additionally, using other technologies such as IoT, RFID, sensors, and big data, companies can automate a number of processes, which aid in reducing the delivery time and increase process efficiency.
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