Technical Insight
Smart Temperature & Environment Monitoring Solution – IOTfying the Pharma & Food Logistics Industry ASHISH CHINTHAL
Napino Auto & Electronics Ltd
T
he need for technology to improve the business processes was always felt but many organizations were fence-sitters when it came to its adoption, more so in pharma and food logistics. The pandemic has infact pushed most organizations to adopt IoT-based technology to drive operational efficiency by reducing wastages, improving tracking and predictability of their supply chain. The demand has also surged where monitoring the indoor environment conditions, adjusting the storage temperature, or controlling the ambient conditions are vital to maintain
20 | Telematics Wire | April 2022
business uptime and optimize business profitability. As per market research estimates, the global asset tracking market is expected to grow to $ 32 Billion by the end of 2025, out of which the cold chain monitoring market is going to be $ 10 Billion. The logistics industry with the implementation of IoT is growing at a CAGR of 17% for cold chain monitoring alone. A Smart Tracking and Environment Monitoring (STEM) device is an environmental parameters logger. It records the live GPS location, ambient temperature, humidity, pressure, goods mishandling, tampering of the package, and several other parameters. It assures correct handling of goods throughout the supply chain. Implementing STEM based solutions will help organizations in discarding the damaged products reaching the customers thereby eliminating the cost of handling returns which not only is compensatory monetary claims but also brand image and
reputation. The data loggers for pharma logistics should be compact, portable, relatively inexpensive, and be able to work without any fixed cables & infrastructure. Batterypowered STEM is an ideal solution to track cold storage shipments in transit. There are enough trends and evidence which indicate that soon we will be required to store and transport goods over long distances at ultra-cold temperatures, which could be even below-average temperatures of Antarctica. With these changes in the market requirements, the STEM device also needs to evolve to work under extreme environmental conditions and stay connected to the cloud platform through multiple options on connectivity such as 4G,5G, LoRa, NB-IoT, and more. Irrespective of the choice of STEM features you go for in the Pharma & Food logistics; these are the top five nonnegotiable factors that should drive your
