Since e-commerce has steadily been on the rise globally in recent years, many people prefer not to visit physical stores as usual, leading to a major boom in online shopping and home parcel delivery.
This means there are unprecedented opportunities for e-commerce and logistics companies to expand their businesses and grow their revenues. However, success depends on increasing performance and throughput, while also tracking and securing thousands of parcels a day as they head towards end-customers’ addresses.
Why manual processes make parcel tracking harder
For many logistics companies, the sheer volume of goods passing through distribution and fulfillment centers creates major challenges for tracking and securing parcels effectively. This is especially the case during manual steps in the parcel delivery process such as opening boxes to conduct quality control checks, and packing parcels for delivery to customers’ addresses.
This is because manual processes inevitably introduce an element of risk into the parcel delivery process. Errors can occur, for example, leading to lost or mis-directed parcels. Additionally, manual interventions in the supply chain may increase the risk of lost inventory, especially where effective monitoring systems and processes are absent.
The question for logistics providers processing thousands – or even tens of thousands – of parcels a day, is how to minimize the risk of errors and loss of goods across the entire, end-to-end delivery process.
Track each and every one of the parcels with digital technology
Using a combination of digital technologies, it’s now possible to monitor goods as they flow through the facility in real time. In particular, smart video cameras can be connected to barcode scanners, allowing users to understand exactly where goods and parcels are located, and how they are moving through their facility.
By cross referencing data from cameras and scanners, one can quickly access footage of incidents such as goods that are dropped or damaged. In the same way, he can identify goods that were damaged before they reached him, proving that his teams were not responsible for breakages.
The value of an end-to-end audit trail
By creating an end-to-end audit trail for every parcel, this kind of solution allows the user to monitor his performance on an ongoing basis, and to make operational improvements that increase his productivity and throughput. Equally importantly, he can also find out exactly what happened to goods that are lost or stolen from the supply chain and take immediate action if required.
If goods are lost, for example, he can quickly cross reference time and date information from barcode scanners with video footage recorded by security cameras. He can then see exactly what happened, giving him clear evidence for later use.
Many times, of course, mistakes and issues are innocent such as parcels stuck in joins between conveyer belts. However, with digital, end-to-end parcel tracking, these kinds of events are also fast and easy to spot, ensuring that one can meet your delivery SLAs.
