Supply Chain Innovation Booms to Build Industrial Resilience
The pandemic has revealed various supply chain
inefficiencies — data inaccuracy, excess inventory,
fulfilment errors, to name a few. Innovative solutions
introduced in this article have improved supply chain
management by enabling the industry to forecast demand,
increase data visibility and streamline the shipping process.
(Image Courtesy: Unsplash, Origami Labs, Craft, Machinemetrics, Crisp, Granular, Mooofarm, Fareye, Matternet, Project44)
Platforms Harnessing Data Accuracy
A supply chain encompasses a vast network of players such as raw material producers, manufacturers and retailers. A disconnected network can put the entire supply chain at risk during severe crises like Covid-19. As factories in China were ordered to close to curb the virus at the beginning of the pandemic, downstream brands and distributors failed to respond to customer demand due to poor supply chain visibility. McKinsey predicts the Covid-19 supply chain disruption to cause 5 trillion USD of economic losses — the startling number has woken up the industry to fully adopt digitised platforms that keep data synchronised and transparent between players.
Oflo by Origami Labs
Founded
2015
Headquarters
Hong Kong
Developed by Origami Labs, a Fabrica incubatee, OFLO is a voice communication system that replaces traditional walkie talkies with a compact and lightweight device supported by Wi-Fi and bone conduction technologies. The system covers an unlimited area and supports multiple channels, providing frontline workers in property, hospitality and manufacturing industries with a hands-free communication solution. The system can also transcribe and analyse conversations in multiple languages, enabling manufacturers and brands to monitor worker performance and shopfloor activities with real-time data.
Craft
Founded
2014
Headquarters
San Francisco, US
Craft’s portal-based platform collects over a million data points across the supply chain, such as share price, shipping data and the history of cybersecurity breaches. Apart from providing real-time supplier performance reports, the platform will inform its users when it notices any unstable activity in the supply chain, allowing them to avoid risks caused by suppliers ahead of time.
MachineMetrics
Founded
2014
Headquarters
Northampton, US
MachineMetrics is an IoT platform that suggests follow-up actions based on real-time data collected from the shop floor. It facilitates manufacturers and their service providers to keep track of machine capacity, workers’ health conditions and productivity. The system also predicts and diagnoses machine failures, reducing losses caused by machine downtime.
Demand Prediction for the Agri-food Industry
According to the International Fund for Agricultural Development, 70% of farms worldwide are family-owned, and most of them have not digitised their businesses. Low visibility to the supply chain makes it even more difficult for them to brace for uncertainties. As most agricultural products are perishable, carrying excess inventory will cause severe financial losses, not to mention food waste. AgTech startups backed by impact investors empower the agri-food industry to adjust capacity, optimise farming processes, and most importantly, predict demand using data science.
Crisp
Founded
2016
Headquarters
New York, US
Crisp is a dashboard-based platform that helps the agri-food industry reduce food waste. By fetching and analysing real-time data collected from data suppliers, including leading e-commerce companies Amazon and Shopify, Crisp allows users to gain insight into the best-selling products in the market. In addition, the platform predicts demand by analysing market data and users' sales figures, enabling them to adjust farm input and capacity more precisely.
Granular
Founded
2014
Headquarters
San Francisco, US
With the mission of empowering farmers to make data-informed decisions, Granular provides the agriculture industry with a full range of services, for example, monitoring farm input and inventory, forecasting yield and future demand, and generating crop contracts and invoices. It enables farming companies to improve communications with their partners by sharing real-time data in one place.
Mooofarm
Founded
2018
Headquarters
Gurugram, India
The startup has created a mobile app to help dairy farmers in India digitise their businesses, allowing farmers to register their livestock, estimate revenue, take online courses and even make video calls with veterinarians through the app. The all-in-one solution empowers dairy communities in remote areas to adapt to the ever-changing world.
Optimising Fulfilment Processes with Logistics Tech
Although the overall retail market has been performing poorly, global e-commerce sales have increased by 28% as consumers change their buying behaviours to adapt to the new normal. As a result, the logistics industry has been operating at full capacity. The soaring demand for shipping services from the e-commerce and healthcare sectors have put extra pressure on logistics. These startups’ innovative solutions try to remove the roadblocks that might obstruct a smooth fulfilment process, ensuring that goods are delivered to customers on time:
FarEye
Founded
2013
Headquarters
New Delhi, India
While most shoppers have 'delivery anxiety' when they order from online shops, FarEye has designed an API solution that allows both shippers and end-customers to track the courier's real-time location. It helps retailers and food businesses enhance customer experience by providing a highly transparent delivery process, which has been adopted by major industry players like DHL and Walmart.
Matternet
Founded
2011
Headquarters
Mountain View, US
Matternet’s on-demand delivery platform incorporates drone technology and a cloud-based platform, enabling healthcare and e-commerce sectors to deliver goods up to 2 kg within a radius of 20 km. The company has launched several pilot programs in the US, Japan, and Germany with logistics services providers UPS and JAL, as well as healthcare companies like BVLOS and WakeMed to deliver personal protection equipment during the pandemic.
project44
Founded
2014
Headquarters
Aalborg, Denmark
Project 44 bridges the gap between shippers and logistics services providers by combining delivery and inventory management into one integration platform, which improves retailers’ fulfilment accuracy with a seamless delivery process. It also allows shippers to send push notifications to suppliers, logistics services providers and end customers at once, ensuring all stakeholders receive consistent information.