Honeywell has launched a new connected freight solution that it says will help shippers and logistics companies prevent damage and loss by the monitoring of high-value and perishable goods, whilst in transit.
The technology has been developed in conjunction with Intel and third-party logistics companies: DHL, Expeditors and Kuehne + Nagel. It consists of sensor tags that sense a range of environmental conditions, such as temperature or vibration which can be affixed to pallets or individual packages. The sensor data is captured by a mobile gateway placed inside a truck or shipping container and then transmitted via cellular networks to a cloud-based command-and-control platform.
Users can establish alerts based on temperature, shock, tilt, humidity, pressure and intrusion detection. The solution can alert manufacturers of high-value, highly sensitive technology if equipment has been damaged while being loaded or unloaded, or if it may have been stolen. The cloud can also store data for compliance and audit needs, and provide predictive and reactive analysis, such as which routes to avoid.
The technology is one of a range of Connected Supply Chain solutions being developed by the company, according to Taylor Smith, president of Honeywell’s workflow solutions. “For shippers, logistics providers, retailers and others faced with a host of costly freight challenges, such as theft, damage, spoilage and delays, this convenient cloud-based solution provides customers with detailed analytics in order to plan, anticipate and react immediately to incidents that occur during shipment,” he said.
“After assessing our internal supply chain needs and the needs of the industry, we forged a unique collaboration with Honeywell,” said Chet Hullum, general manager for Industrial Solutions at Intel. “Together, we’ve customised Intel’s Connected Logistics Platform technology to deliver an IoT offering that solves real logistics problems. Thanks to data accessibility, shippers and carriers will be able to establish a more reliable supply chain network by having deeper visibility and information on shipments,” he said.
Image credit: Honeywell
