M2M ‘Set to Transform Supply Chain, Transportation’

While just 26.25 percent of transportation and supply chain management executives say they currently use machine-to-machine technology to increase real-time information and operational visibility, almost half (46.62 percent) say the plan to deploy M2M in the future, according to a report by eft and AT&T.

The 13-page report, Visibility, Speed and Agility – How M2M is Redefining the Supply Chain and Transportation, was put together using data collected from about 350 surveys that asked transportation and supply chain management companies how they use or plan to use this technology, also called the internet of things.

Key findings in the survey data include:

• Almost 90 percent of respondents report that improving operational visibility and real time information is either “critical and necessary” or “very important.”
• Organizations are becoming more sophisticated in their visibility requirements, looking beyond location checks for near real-time information on temperature, security, vibration and other environmental conditions that are critical to maintaining the quality of goods from departure to destination.
• M2M as a means for gathering information is growing in popularity and will surpass RFID and bar codes, ranking second to GPS as a visibility tool.

M2M technologies could help reduce global GHG emissions by 9.1 billion metric tons by 2020, equivalent to 18.6 percent of global GHG emissions in 2011, according to a February 2013 report by AT&T and the Carbon War Room.