Significantly Speeding up Delivery Times with AI

Andre Luecht, Global Strategy Lead – Transport & Logistics, Zebra Technologies, writes about AI’s transformative impact on logistics.“As a critical global industry that only thrives by attracting new employees, there is a unique opportunity for logistics to harness artificial intelligence as we head through 2025.Postal and courier services need a regular flow of new drivers and warehouse operatives to handle their new and expanding routes, meeting growing consumer and business demand.But getting these new colleagues up-to-speed quickly, and ensuring they are as efficient as those who’ve already been within the business for years, is always a real challenge.And that’s where AI comes in.How it will alleviate this problem comes down to how it gets integrated into the design of tomorrow’s mobile enterprise devices used with logistics. Embedding its potential into these handhelds is something we at Zebra are already working towards.It will be a game-changer for C-suites looking to transform operations and operatives across the supply chain and down to the last mile of delivery. Future-proofed and AI-capable devices ordered from now must have the:Latest chipsetRight software architectureBest design for enterprises (rather than consumers)Simple, centrally controlled management and monitoringReal-time updates and fast servicing to prevent operational downtimeFinding the Best Value AI’s capacity to speed up deliveries and inject value back into all logistics businesses means investment in new mobile devices cannot be judged only by cost of purchase.Instead, CEOs, CTOs, and CFOs should be concentrating on long-term value as a way to understand how managed services will deliver ROI that can’t be measured simply in Pounds, Euros, or Dollars.For instance, if a cheaper unmanaged consumer handheld being used by employees or contractors is more likely to be subject to a data breach or data theft, this could cause huge cost to the business in fines (such as through the EU’s GDPR privacy legislation) and then the resulting compensation.Choosing correctly amid this technological evolution is as much about risk mitigation as it is features and price. Total cost of ownership is an OPEX cost, not a capital one. Investment in handhelds that work with AI must be the choice for IT procurement going forward as advances will eventually include:Drivers knowing exactly where in their van a package has been placedAugmented reality available at a delivery location to show safe storage placesOptimized routes delivered to the handheld by predicting disruptions and diversionsAI’s Influence on the Future of Parcel Deliveries Improved drop rates, fuelled by artificial intelligence’s involvement, will transform courier services and deliveries over the next five years.Van Loading We all know how today’s drivers open the back doors of their vans to find packages are piled high. Going forward, AI-driven handhelds will pinpoint where in a van the package for a specific address has been placed – giving audible alerts to find them, via RFID tags.Safe PlacesArtificial intelligence and augmented reality will combine in the future to highlight where the recipient is happy for a parcel to be left. Pointing the device’s camera at the property will bring up that location, dramatically reducing a return visit if someone isn’t at home.Route IntelligenceThe last mile of the supply chain represents a huge slice of the logistical cost of delivery. AI can bring that down by optimizing routes to make them quicker, and by analyzing daily or weekly trends plus data from the various routes to predict when a detour would be quicker.There are many other advantages coming down the line too:AI will more effectively plan how a truck should be loaded, matched to the routeIt will know when someone will be at the destination at specific times for deliveryProof of delivery pictures can be retrospectively analyzed by AI for future dropsAI can respond to data streams to create delivery reports across the supply chainAll of these examples will boost productivity and enable more last mile deliveries on a single shift given delivery drivers will have far less to think about, empowering their roles. Many manual documentation processes will be removed, increased transparency will be offered, and logistics companies, suppliers, and the consumer/business will see satisfaction increased.Tracking, Transparency, and TransformationCustomers are increasingly anxious about receiving real-time delivery information. No longer is it enough to simply offer them a time window during which something will arrive. Especially as this is not always accurate on the day.Demand from buyers to be able to follow their package in real-time, and to see how many stops are left before it reaches their door, is now a key consideration. Artificial intelligence will assist with this, constantly scanning for delays and disruptions and updating ETAs instantly.The next generation of handhelds will have far greater levels of intelligence built-in to the device to bring all of these examples – and more – into the real world. Ultimately technology will evolve to process available data at source, on the handheld, rather than relying on it being fed from internal systems via the cloud – revolutionizing the speed of work.Geo-location, geo-tagging, and geo-fencing are other areas of advancement we could well see increase before 2030. Devices will know a driver’s location and immediately pop-up the appropriate information for a delivery by matching that location to a GPS point on a map. An evolution could then be to use a dashcam to follow their journey and harness AI to match pictures of this route in real time to the correct delivery destinations.Everything Through One DeviceThe logistics industry will be transformed by AI and the change management required will therefore rely on the right choice of enterprise mobile device to be put into the right hands in the right part of the supply chain and last mile. This matters especially for temporary contractors during busy seasonal periods who often rely on a consumer handheld.Bring Your Own Device policies will need to be updated here because all the critical AI-driven features for logistics will need handhelds in the future to be rugged, robust, and ready for the road with batteries that can last for a whole shift and longer.And then there’s the future.It’s clear artificial intelligence within logistics will not only improve the lives of delivery drivers and those working within warehouses, but it will also drive changes to kiosks in-store where parcels are dropped off – making these more efficient for the sender.These kiosks will also eventually use machine vision to scan packages, determine their size, and this will help automatically determine the various delivery costs.However, time is of the essence. Unless those within the logistics industry take that future seriously now in the present moment, these many opportunities to transform, improve, and succeed will race by on the other side of the road.”To find out more and to contact a transport and logistics expert in your location, visit: https://www.zebra.com/gb/en/industry/transportation-logistics/sub-vertical/post-and-courier.htmlWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Post&Parcel Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Post&ParcelWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Post&Parcel Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Post&Parcel