Reuters Events | Supply Chain & Logistics Business Intelligence

A new report published by leading supply chain and logistics business intelligence and networking company eft (eyefortransport) and AT&T has found that ‘Machine to Machine’ (M2M) technologies will surpass both RFID and bar-codes as a means of...

The “Visibility, Speed and Agility - How M2M is Redefining the Supply Chain and Transportation” report was produced in conjunction with AT&T. Nearly 350 surveys were collected from industry executives to shed light on how companies use or plan to use this technology within the supply chain.

Key findings include:

• Almost 90% of respondents report that improving operational visibility and real time information is either ‘critical and necessary’ or ‘very important’

• Organizations are becoming more sophisticated in their visibility requirements, looking beyond location checks for near real-time information on temperature, security, vibration and other environmental conditions that are critical to maintaining the quality of goods from departure to destination

• M2M as a means for gathering information is growing in popularity and will surpass RFID and bar codes, ranking second to only GPS as a visibility tool

“M2M technology, also referred to as the ‘Internet of Things’ is becoming prevalent throughout society and business; the supply chain is no exception, indeed one could argue that supply chain and transportation has a huge amount to gain from the adoption of M2M technology,” states eft CEO Chris Saynor. “The ability to collect accurate data in real time is a vital component of a successful supply chain. M2M technology is enabling this, and allowing companies to make effective decisions. The speed of M2M adoption in the supply chain is staggering. In terms of future deployments of operation visibility technology, only GPS exceeds M2M as a medium of choice,” Saynor concludes.

“Not only does M2M technology help to streamline operations throughout the supply chain, it also provides businesses with the ability to transform how they interact and communicate with customers,” said Mike Troiano, Vice President, Advanced Mobility Solutions, AT&T Mobile and Business Solutions.  “We are on the front lines with businesses of all sizes creating, managing and deploying the M2M solutions they need to stay competitive.”

The 13 page “Visibility, Speed and Agility - How M2M is Redefining the Supply Chain and Transportation” report features 13 unique graphs and data-sets and is now available to download here