THE CARGO storage and distribution industry is well on its way to becoming completely electronically-connected. The ultimate target here, according to Brian Mulligan, MD of Freight Fusion Systems, is to eliminate human intervention in the supply chain. “Simplistically stated,” he said, “this ideal world would see the progress of orders for product movement electronically monitored every step of the way. This, through all the statutory procedures of the paper-trail and the logistical flows of the cargo, to final delivery to the point of sale. “It would also be accompanied by an electronic monitoring of the sales statistics and the automatic replenishment of stocks on the fly without human intervention.” This is already occurring with warehousing, where goods enter the warehouse and are automatically stored until needed, using radio frequency indentification (RFID). An electronic data interchange (EDI) message will have booked cargo into the warehouse and another will trigger the removal of the goods when required. “The goods are moved from the storage area automatically – based on their RFID signature, and without human intervention – and loaded onto trucks for delivery,” according to another source. “No more warehousemen running around with picking slips trying to find misplaced goods. Stocktaking is a breeze in this environment – press a button and instantly know, to the last item, what is actually in the warehouse.” This RFID tagging, Mulligan added, is rapidly advancing, with some companies already able to scan multiple packages passing through the gate in split seconds. “Imagine what that can do to the queues at supermarkets or even to the warehouses receiving or dispatching cargo,” he said. “At the moment the only obstacle to this area of electronic processing standing in the way of RFID expanding more rapidly, is the costs of the tags. But, with nanotechnology advancing, it won’t be long before some company cracks this barrier as well.”
