5 Logistics and Supply Chain Management Trends of 2021

Thank you, 2021! 

You’ve taught us how to:

• Evolve with the rising trends.
• Be resilient.
• Learn with serious attention to detail.
• Normalise ups and down.
• Make mistakes and not commit them again.

2021 was a roller coaster ride and an extremely challenging one for each of us in different ways, yet we’ve survived. We have seen it all from job losses to new opportunities, from shutting down businesses to rising new ventures, and more. 

Pat on our backs!!! 

Now, what does this mean to the logistics and supply chain management companies, you ask? To put it simply, the rise in new technologies and automation has taken it overall. 

It was a challenging year for the logistics industries and manufacturers. With great demand for Shipping

from the consumer side there was equally a massive impact on these shipping businesses because of Covid.

Yet, technology-driven solutions have kept the industries going above and beyond.

From an analysis conducted by StartUs insights discovery, we’ve found the five topmost Industry Trends and innovations that had a huge positive impact on Logistics and Supply Chain industries, globally. 

1. Blockchain 
2. Internet of things
3. Artificial Intelligence
4. Warehouse Automation
5. Cloud Computing

Blockchain Technologies

Blockchain is a decentralised public ledger system equipped with data at every touchpoint of the delivery stages. The upside of Blockchain in the Logistics and supply chain industries is that it gives extreme transparency in all aspects of the shipping operations. E-commerce industries are on a constant rise. The number of deliveries has considerably increased, and so is the data. Logistics companies have started using this newest technology more efficiently to process enormous data and ensure utmost security for all the processed data, resulting in a seamless delivery process. 

Internet Of Things

Who wouldn’t love data that is organised, precise, and accurate? And this is exactly where IoT (Internet of things) plays its significant role. IoT is nothing but the connection of physical devices that transfers data on the internet without any human intervention, ensuring transparency, security, and clear visibility of supply chain processes. 

Companies have now rigorously started to rely on IoT technologies and have a plethora of positive business impacts, including increased efficiency, reduced miscalculations, better productivity, and reduced tonnes of manual effort. 

Warehouse Automation

You would be amazed to know how automation in the Warehouse Management space has simplified that whole warehouse and storage processes. Companies, through automation, have aggressively started cutting down unnecessary costs and implemented efficient strategies that increase productivity and reduce human effort to a considerable extent. 

This ensures speed in dispatching the order deliveries and, more importantly, reduces the intervention of any manual effort in the process. Some of the active practices in Warehouse Automation are using robots to pick up and drop the orders, employing Automated Guided Vehicles to send the item from A to B, and utilising automated storage and retrieval (ASRS) to increase warehouse productivity. 

Elastic Logistics

Flexibility is the key, and the good thing is that it wins most of the time. Elastics Logistics is one of the critical Supply Chain & Logistics Management trends used in 2021. Supply Chain industries need to be more flexible to tackle the upscale and downscale of the industry variables, and this practice is precisely what we call Elastic Logistics. Usually, the companies rely on 3PL logistics to increase or decrease the workforce based on delivery needs, and 3PL logistics use a temporary workforce. Elastic Logistics is crucial and beneficial in many ways as they help companies overcome challenges, offer flexibility, get rid of issues like under-used or less-used vessels, overstocking or less stocking, and more. 

Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is one of the rising trends as companies have started to rely on Cloud-based SaaS solutions for better optimisation of the processes. Cloud computing is a reliable solution for plenty of other reasons. E.g. The company’s data can be stored in the cloud and can be effortlessly accessed at any time of the day. With SaaS-based solutions, you can find a solution for any pain point and work on making the process better. SaaS-based logistics solutions offer simplified workflows that serve your business problems easily. You can read more on why SaaS-based logistics are the next big thing, from this article. 

Other Essential benefits of relying on Automation & Technology Driven Solutions 

• Automation is the backbone of all the technology-driven solutions, reducing the manual human effort by 60% 
• Technology-driven solutions resulted in increasing efficiency & productivity in the workflows 
• Technology-driven solutions have brought transparency in the systems and business processes 
• Customer-centricity has been so important for businesses, and automation does it all
• The report says that technology-driven solutions play an important role in strategic decision-making processes

Wrapping it up!!!! 

We’ve jotted down the importance of modern technology-driven solutions, over old conventional techniques. If you still believe the traditional solutions are better than the SaaS-based solutions, you are missing out on plenty. In the blink of an eye, companies have been doing their transitions from old to modern solutions, and it’s a big time that you take actions that drive growth. 

We, at eShipz, take full responsibility for a seamless transition process. Fill this form, and we’ll get in touch with you or schedule a demo. Our product is bundled with all the amazing things that a Logistics or a Shipment company would require to facilitate the processes efficiently. 

We offer NDR Management to manage your non-delivered shipments from multiple shipping carriers on a single platform. And we offer a Smart app that helps capture pick up & package related information through a short android App & thus helps worldwide Shipping and more. Check out our website. 🙂 

On a happier note, we wish you and your loved ones Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year! We must say,  we have incredible things in store, & 2022 looks promising. We are super excited for the coming year. 

Here’s to health, wealth and happiness!! 

See you in the next one.