| |MAY 20219Real time tracking enables better services to consumers by allowing them the ability to change delivery time or place at different stages of package deliverypredictability and technology driven tasks to drive efficiency is the way to go.Optimising resources across operationsUnder-developed infrastructure, fragmented warehousing, inadequate inter-modal transportation, limited use of new age technology and resultant high costs are among the ma-jor challenges experienced by the supply chain and logistics sector in India.A recent report by CII & Arthur D Little India suggested that India's supply chain industry needs to halve its logistics costs from the current 14% of GDP to 7% to make the sector globally competitive . This requires optimi-sation across operational levels, creation of resilient logis-tics services and adoption of digitization across the sector. Lower delivery density is a major bottleneck that rais-es costs and prevents optimization. Increasingly, as com-mitments for time-bound one day and two day deliveries increase, logistics providers are experiencing the growing challenge of less than truckload shipping and low delivery density. A multi vertical delivery model is one step towards addressing the low delivery density problem. Another im-portant intervention needed to overcome these optimis-ation challenges is effective use of digital technology and predictive analysis to achieve greater supply chain visibil-ity and step by step tracking. Use of AI based tools and data analysis is critical in establishing intelligent supply chains that can optimize delivery routes as well as fleets and make tracking more efficient and real time. Real time tracking enables better services to consumers by allowing them the ability to change delivery time or place at different stages of package delivery. Not only does this im-prove customer satisfaction, it also saves the time and costs of delivery services providers.Having a real time view of dif-ferent package locations, delivery providers can predict to a high degree of accuracy the density of supplies at different locations and enable its fleet to adjust delivery routes faster to respond to the situation. This high level of trans-parency and data monitoring enables optimization of resources to a high degree, thereby savings time and costs.Improving last mile deliveryLast mile delivery or the final stage of delivery to the consumer mostly happens from one point to another within a city. It is estimated that last mile delivery accounts for a major part of delivery costs for the lo-gistics sector and stands at around 30-40 per cent of the total logistics cost. Evidently, optimising last mile delivery costs can reap rich dividends for the sector. In fact, efficient intracity logistics are critical not just to satisfy B2C customers but also for optimizing times and costs for enterprises. The manufacturing sector also depends on efficient last mile delivery services to improve its supply chain management.Digitization and transparency of the entire delivery pro-cess is key to achieve the last link optimization by ensur-ing effective utilization of the delivery fleet. At Pickkup, we have devised innovative technology based solutions to opti-mise our resources and last mile delivery costs while ensur-ing high degree of customer satisfaction. Our sector-agnos-tic multi-vertical model backed by an efficient tech-enabled system achieves not only optimization of the delivery fleet but also yields better unit costs.ConclusionAdopting the Industry 4.0 approach is now a critical need for the logistics sector that plays a pivotal role in improving the efficiency of other major sectors in the economy including manufacturing and services. Digital fitness and agility will increasingly become prerequisites for survival of logistics operators, particularly the last mile delivery providers.
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