GPS for Supply Chain?

GPS in Supply Chain Currently

We hear a lot about RF for tracking, but not nearly as much about GPS. GPS seems to be specialized in vehicle and container tracking. While that is helpful, it is not as helpful as going to the pallet level or below for tracking. Secondly, in terms of tracking, using RF is fine for inside the warehouse, however, one items leave the warehouse it is not as helpful.

Current Design

The current design of package tracking is through the use of the bar code and the bar code reader. For the development of comprehensive This requires that the company that scans the package, provide a feed to a different company. As those of you know who read our blog on fourth party logistics providers, we propose that intermediaries that do nothing but build platforms that perform supply chain monitoring is the future. (see the article on this topic here)

http://fourthpartylogistics.wordpress.com/2009/05/23/fourth-party-logistics-providers/

The nice thing about GPS, is that multiple people can track it, without having to necessarily integrate to one another. This is because the GPS transmitter can be picked up by multiple parties that don’t necessarily even have any integration to one another. In this way, GPS is a one to many technology that could have significant scale economies if used properly.

Consumer GPS Transmitters

The cost of transmitters is decreasing. However, they are not as common as one would think. The most successful and numerous consumer GPS transmitter currently is for keeping track of dogs and runs roughly $150 Garmin makes the model below.

Commericial GPS Transmitters

The commercial GPS transmitter by WorldTracker is roughly $250 (figure $170, or less if purchased in bulk, which they would be), and transmits the unit’s location every 15 seconds. This is far too more frequent than required for logistics, and could be made more energy efficient by changing the transmission frequency to once per hour. This unit is smaller than a deck of cards and could easily be affixed to a pallet. The lifespan of this unit or competing units is unknown to us.

Conclusion

Supply chain firms are not doing enough to take advantage of what GPS has to offer and is overly focused on bar coding and RF for package tracking. In the future 4PL environment, a device that transmits a signal, that multiple companies can read will be highly advantageous.