Improving Efficiency, Downtime, And Safety: IoT Applications in Transportation
Today, the transportation industry faces a lot of upheaval, from increasingly complicated supply chains to more difficult requirements within it. Despite this, operational efficiency, downtime, and safety remain at the forefront of the industry’s priorities. And that’s exactly why there has been a rise of The Internet of Things (IoT) applications in transportation. IoT connects machines to sensors as a way of offering greater visibility into operations. As evidence of this, research has found that the IoT in transportation market will grow to 328.76 billion by 2023.
This blog post will look into the benefits of IoT in the transportation industry, specifically as it relates to operational efficiency, downtime, and safety, as well as the specific IoT applications in transportation that go along with it.
Improving Efficiency, Downtime, and Safety: IoT Applications in Transportation
The transportation industry has already been implementing technologies like M2M for years; IoT is simply an extension of this that provides a greater level of connectivity.
1. Improving Operational Efficiency
Operational efficiency is the very foundation of how the transportation industry can remain competitive. From reducing errors to more optimized supply chains to replacing workforces with automation, IoT can help with this. At the heart of IoT is the greater visibility it offers, whether of personnel, equipment, and so on.
Here are some examples of IoT applications in transportation and how it can improve operational efficiency:
- Fleet Management: IoT solutions offer predictive lifecycle monitoring and load scheduling optimization.
- Warehousing Monitoring: IoT solutions for warehousing monitoring could include inventory management (i.e. real-time invisibility into products) and their conditions (e.g. temperature and humidity) as well as smart lighting to reduce energy consumption, to name a few.
- Automation: Countries around the world, from Copenhagen to Dubai, now have driverless tracks, a feat made possible by IoT.
2. Reduce Downtime (And Improve Productivity)
We know that downtime is also a priority; research by Aberdeen Research concludes that downtime costs businesses an average of $260,000 per hour, a figure that’s up 60% from the previous year. Logistic firms are also facing extensive penalties for this downtime, compounding the net effect even further.
IoT in the transportation industry, however, promises a solution, with several applications of IoT in transportation, including:
- Asset Monitoring: Asset monitoring uses sensors to enable predictive maintenance, preventing unnecessary downtime before it occurs. This can be applied to various segments of the transportation industry, from rail tracks to truck wheels to airport baggage carts. It is particularly useful for rail and public transport, where signal failures cause substantive delays.
- IoT and Telemetry: For instance, aircraft telemetry uses satellites to provide engine data to crews in real-time, ensuring they have the right parts, therefore reducing downtime. This same sort of solution can also be applied to trains, streetcars, and buses to improve routing, planning and so on.
3. Improve Safety
With ever-present regulations, as well as the need to ensure compliance to reducing downtime after disasters and the need to ensure that workplace insurance requirements are in place, safety is always a priority for the transportation industry.
Here are some of the IoT applications in transportation that can help:
- IoT Fleet Management: These solutions can improve employee safety via optical sensors that monitor driving behaviour.
- IoT Freight Management: Freight management solutions include hazardous goods monitoring, ensuring, for instance, that items don’t get stored together.
4. Improve Customer Service
Your customers want more real-time tracking and support, and IoT applications in transportation can help with that.
- IoT Fleet Management: These solutions provide data for geolocation, enabling a higher level of customer service.
- IoT Freight Management: Freight management solutions can provide a greater level of accuracy, ensuring delivery is always on-time.
- Beacon Technologies: Train stations and airports can use beacon technologies to offer real-time insight into congestion, therein providing an enhanced level of customer service.
Wrapping It Up
There is a growing interest in and movement toward IoT applications in transportation. With solutions like asset monitoring, telemetry, and fleet management, the transportation industry can improve its key challenges, from operational efficiency to downtime, safety, and beyond.
To find out more information about IoT in the transportation industry, call us at 1-877-721-7070 or contact us online here.
Nova Communications, a division of ROCK Networks, is the largest communications system integrator in Eastern Canada with a focus on IoT. The combination of our best-in-class partnerships and over 35 years of experience in the transportation industry makes us uniquely equipped to find a solution that will suit your needs.
