BOX ID and KPN IoT cut waste from logistic processes
Sending glass panels to Spain, aircraft engines to Brazil or CT scanners to India? These are delicate operations where standard cardboard boxes simply aren’t good enough. They require special equipment and expensive packaging solutions designed for multiple use. And if you happen to be the product manufacturer or transport company involved, you want to be able to keep track of your valuable shipping assets and know when you can expect them back. This is exactly what BOX ID and KPN IoT realised when they decided to address these logistic processes, looking for ways to improve them. Meanwhile, their combined efforts have resulted in overall efficiency gains of up to 20%.
These transports present many challenges, directly impacting products and shipping materials alike, including theft, damage or loss. Sometimes, valuable, multi-use packaging commodities, like shipment carriers or roll containers, can completely go missing, with no clue of their location remaining. This may result in 10 to 20% additional cost on the part of suppliers and transporters, either in purchasing expensive replacement packaging, time lost while waiting for products to turn up or money spent on trying to recuperate missing shipments. “Our mission,” says BOX ID Chief Sales Officer Matthias Piekarczyk, “is the elimination of waste in logistic chains.”
Uninterrupted transparency of location and condition
Box ID and KPN IoT help businesses manage complex logistic processes by facilitating the selection of appropriate tracking technology. “It’s all about insight in an asset’s location and condition at any given point in time,” says Matthias. To this purpose, on a global scale, BOX ID has equipped over 85,000 objects with smart trackers and passive identification resources like barcodes, QR codes and RFID. Additionally, active trackers are in place to provide real-time updates, allowing for constant monitoring of current location and condition of products in transit. The system also makes use of various sensors, providing information on transport-relevant parameters like humidity, temperature and shock impact.
The software offered by BOX ID combines location and sensor data with information from existing business systems. “Our software not only tracks the location of a shipment, users can also, at a glance, check its destination, the intended recipient and the products or materials contained in the shipment,” explains BOX ID’s CSO. “Plus, the number of packaging products of a specific type that are present at a specific location at a given point in time.”
Apart from this, BOX ID’s software also allows process automation. For instance, end customers can automatically be notified of a shipment’s arrival in their region, or receive reports listing the transport materials to be returned. And in case of damage on arrival, the customer can scan a QR code and use a dedicated web page to report the problem, allowing the supplier to immediately arrange for replacement or repair.
Connectivity ensured
At this point, the system provided by German start-up BOX ID, is already in use with over 60 customers, among them Simon Hegele, a logistics service provider where deployment of BOX ID’s software has resulted in approx. 20% reduction in missing shipments, while speeding up return rates by 5 to 10%.
“For the application to successfully operate, it is essential for the IoT devices to constantly transmit data to the system,” Matthias notes, adding that this is where KPN IoT plays a pivotal role as a reliable provider of the required network services, offering optimised connectivity schemes for all types of IoT equipment. With over 600 global roaming partners, KPN supplies high-quality connectivity through its LTE-M network, guaranteeing world-wide access to premium networks under all circumstances.
Overall, KPN IoT serves as an essential technology partner to BOX ID. Matthias: “Imagine what it would mean if we ourselves had to take care of integrating 3,000 trackers into our platform. Just managing the continuous streams of constantly changing data would require a massive IT staff. KPN IT has its own, fully operational and proven Internet of Things platform for the task, apart from a wide range of IoT tracking options and a surplus of relevant expertise. They can offer support in all scenarios of technological challenge, now and in the future. That is a very reassuring thought.”
Starting small
Matthias does have a piece of final advice for businesses interested in taking back control of their valuable transport resources. The message is simple: start small. “Limiting your scope to fifty or 100 instances makes perfect sense if you’re just getting started. It’s a good way to quickly get a feel of what your major issues are likely to be. Share your challenges with KPN IoT and let the experts help you resolve them. With no vendor lock-in. The open architecture of our software is based on guarantees that you are never committed to pre-selected technologies. There is always room for new choices and additional development.”
About BOX ID Systems GmbH
Founded in 2018 the software company offers a cloud service for industrial logistics enabling the tracking, automation, and optimization of material flows within single sites as well as across entire supply chains. The BOX ID software manages transparent and efficient fleet assets equipped with appropriate Auto-ID and/or IoT objects (e.g. LPWAN, BLE, NB-IoT, QR code, RFID). BOX ID provides customers with a highly scalable solution to manage and optimize complex supply chain processes in industry sectors such as Automotive, Wholesale, Healthcare, Machinery, Glass Industry, Post & Parcel. More at www.box-id.com
Want to know more about how KPN IoT can help you keep track of your organisation’s transport assets? Contact us and discover a world of exciting solutions.
