Eyefortransport research finds the majority of respondents are using Internet of Things technology to gather location information to improve customer service.
Interest and hype around the Internet of Things (IoT) shows no signs of dying down, according to a survey of 600 supply chain decision makers by the business intelligence and event company eyefortransport (EFT). Forty-one percent of respondents work for a manufacturer or retailer, while 59 percent work for a logistics provider.
The survey, "The Internet of Things (IoT) in Supply Chain and Logistics," found that 64 percent of respondents either have an IoT strategy in place or plan to adopt one. Of those who already have a solution in place (41 percent of the total respondent base), 87 percent are looking to expand their use of the technology.
Furthermore, respondents are adopting IoT sensors and monitoring technology at a significantly greater rate than other kinds of technology used to boost operational visibility. The number of respondents using IoT-related technology has increased by 19 percent over a similar survey in 2014. In comparison, adoption levels for global positioning system (GPS) and satellite technology increased by 5 percent and data logger use increased by 14 percent. Meanwhile, use of bar codes and radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology remained steady.
The attraction of IoT is clear. According to survey respondents, the top challenge they face in their supply chain is obtaining timely information. IoT has the potential to provide information to decision makers in real time. But how are companies actually using the technology in their supply chains, and are they seeing a return on their investment?
According to the study, the main reason companies are deploying IoT solutions is to improve customer service by providing their customers with additional information, such as more frequent updates about shipments and delivery times. Not surprisingly, then, the survey found that almost 80 percent of companies are currently using or planning to use the IoT to capture information about the location of products and assets. Other key uses are to capture information about security, temperature, and speed.
It is also clear that survey respondents do not see the IoT sensors and monitoring technology as something they will only use on a limited scale. Instead, more than 50 percent said they are looking to use IoT technology to monitor more than 10,000 shipments per year. Respondents are also looking to extend their data collection beyond their own company. Currently, 50 percent of users are collecting data down to the third-party mobile asset level and more than 20 percent are collecting data from their suppliers' IoT networks.
At this time, more users (59 percent) are utilizing IoT information for alarms and real-time monitoring than for analysis that would lead to optimization and prediction (41 percent). EFT says that alarms and real-time monitoring often provide an entry-level application for IoT. The research company expects to see an uptick in the use of IoT data for optimization and prediction as users gain more familiarity with the technology.
The biggest challenge that IoT users face, according to the survey, is figuring out how to manage, analyze, and protect the large amount of data now available to them. At the time of the survey, 61 percent of respondents were analyzing less than half of their IoT data. Similarly, 31 percent of respondents say that the largest costs associated with their IoT investment are related to data management, more than network carrier costs, planning and strategy costs, or hardware costs. There was also some concern about data security, with 17 percent saying they thought that potential cybersecurity breaches posed a major threat to their IoT strategy while 47 percent said it was a moderate threat.
Return on investment results, however, indicate that the risks and costs associated with the IoT are outweighed by the benefits. EFT was able to follow up with respondents from the 2014 survey who predicted they would see ROI in the coming 24 months. According to the survey, roughly half of them had achieved the predicted ROI while the other half had not. Of those that hadn't seen an ROI, the most common reason was delays in their IoT implementation. The majority of those respondents were confident they would attain their ROI once the IoT project was back on track, EFT said.
In short, the survey results indicated that the future for IoT is bright and that adoption levels for the near term will only continue to rise.
Even as a last-minute deal today appeared to delay the tariff on Mexico, that deal is set to last only one month, and tariffs on the other two countries are still set to go into effect at midnight tonight.
Once new U.S. tariffs go into effect, those other countries are widely expected to respond with retaliatory tariffs of their own on U.S. exports, that would reduce demand for U.S. and manufacturing goods. In the context of that unpredictable business landscape, many U.S. business groups have been pressuring the White House to pull back from the new policy.
Here is a sampling of the reaction to the tariff plan by the U.S. business community:
American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA)
“Tariffs are taxes,” AAPA President and CEO Cary Davis said in a release. “Though the port industry supports President Trump’s efforts to combat the flow of illicit drugs, tariffs will slow down our supply chains, tax American businesses, and increase costs for hard-working citizens. Instead, we call on the Administration and Congress to thoughtfully pursue alternatives to achieving these policy goals and exempt items critical to national security from tariffs, including port equipment.”
Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA)
“We understand the president is working toward an agreement. The leaders of all four nations should come together and work to reach a deal before Feb. 4 because enacting broad-based tariffs will be disruptive to the U.S. economy,” Michael Hanson, RILA’s Senior Executive Vice President of Public Affairs, said in a release. “The American people are counting on President Trump to grow the U.S. economy and lower inflation, and broad-based tariffs will put that at risk.”
National Association of Manufacturers (NAM)
“Manufacturers understand the need to deal with any sort of crisis that involves illicit drugs crossing our border, and we hope the three countries can come together quickly to confront this challenge,” NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons said in a release. “However, with essential tax reforms left on the cutting room floor by the last Congress and the Biden administration, manufacturers are already facing mounting cost pressures. A 25% tariff on Canada and Mexico threatens to upend the very supply chains that have made U.S. manufacturing more competitive globally. The ripple effects will be severe, particularly for small and medium-sized manufacturers that lack the flexibility and capital to rapidly find alternative suppliers or absorb skyrocketing energy costs. These businesses—employing millions of American workers—will face significant disruptions. Ultimately, manufacturers will bear the brunt of these tariffs, undermining our ability to sell our products at a competitive price and putting American jobs at risk.”
American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA)
“Widespread tariff actions on Mexico, Canada, and China announced this evening will inject massive costs into our inflation-weary economy while exposing us to a damaging tit-for-tat tariff war that will harm key export markets that U.S. farmers and manufacturers need,” Steve Lamar, AAFA’s president and CEO, said in a release. “We should be forging deeper collaboration with our free trade agreement partners, not taking actions that call into question the very foundation of that partnership."
Healthcare Distribution Alliance (HDA)
“We are concerned that placing tariffs on generic drug products produced outside the U.S. will put additional pressure on an industry that is already experiencing financial distress. Distributors and generic manufacturers and cannot absorb the rising costs of broad tariffs. It is worth noting that distributors operate on low profit margins — 0.3 percent. As a result, the U.S. will likely see new and worsened shortages of important medications and the costs will be passed down to payers and patients, including those in the Medicare and Medicaid programs,” the group said in a statement.
National Retail Federation (NRF)
“We support the Trump administration’s goal of strengthening trade relationships and creating fair and favorable terms for America,” NRF Executive Vice President of Government Relations David French said in a release. “But imposing steep tariffs on three of our closest trading partners is a serious step. We strongly encourage all parties to continue negotiating to find solutions that will strengthen trade relationships and avoid shifting the costs of shared policy failures onto the backs of American families, workers and small businesses.”
Businesses are scrambling today to insulate their supply chains from the impacts of a trade war being launched by the Trump Administration, which is planning to erect high tariff walls on Tuesday against goods imported from Canada, Mexico, and China.
Tariffs are import taxes paid by American companies and collected by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Agency as goods produced in certain countries cross borders into the U.S.
In a last-minute deal announced on Monday, leaders of both countries said the tariffs on goods from Mexico will be delayed one month after that country agreed to send troops to the U.S.-Mexico border in an attempt to stem to flow of drugs such as fentanyl from Mexico, according to published reports.
If the deal holds, it could avoid some of the worst impacts of the tariffs on U.S. manufacturers that rely on parts and raw materials imported from Mexico. That blow would be particularly harsh on companies in the automotive and electrical equipment sectors, according to an analysis by S&P Global Ratings.
However, tariff damage is still on track to occur for U.S. companies with tight supply chain connections to Canada, concentrated in commodity-related processing sectors, the firm said. That disruption would increase if those countries responded with retaliatory tariffs of their own, a move that would slow the export of U.S. goods. Such an event would hurt most for American businesses in the agriculture and fishing, metals, and automotive areas, according to the analysis from Satyam Panday, Chief US and Canada Economist, S&P Global Ratings.
To dull the pain of those events, U.S. business interests would likely seek to cushion the declines in output by looking to factors such as exchange rate movements, availability of substitutes, and the willingness of producers to absorb the higher cost associated with tariffs, Panday said.
Weighing the long-term effects of a trade war
The extent to which increased tariffs will warp long-standing supply chain patterns is hard to calculate, since it is largely dependent on how long these tariffs will actually last, according to a statement from Tony Pelli, director of supply chain resilience, BSI consulting. “The pause [on tariffs with Mexico] will help reduce the impacts on agricultural products in particular, but not necessarily on the automotive industry given the high degree of integration across all three North American countries,” he said.
“Tariffs on Canada or Mexico will disrupt supply chains beyond just finished goods,” Pelli said. “Some products cross the US, Mexico, and Canada borders four to five times, with the greatest impact on the auto and electronics industries. These supply chains have been tightly integrated for around 30 years, and it will be difficult for firms to simply source elsewhere. There are dense supplier networks along the US border with Mexico and Canada (especially Ontario) that you can’t just pick up and move somewhere else, which would likely slow or even stop auto manufacturing in the US for a time.”
If the tariffs on either Canada or Mexico stay in place for an extended period, the effects will soon become clear, said Hamish Woodrow, head of strategic analytics at Motive, a fleet management and operations platform. “Ultimately, the burden of these tariffs will fall on U.S. consumers and retailers. Prices will rise, and businesses will pass along costs as they navigate increased expenses and uncertainty,” Woodrow said.
But in the meantime, companies with international supply chains are quickly making contingency plans for any of the possible outcomes. “The immediate impact of tariffs on trucking, freight, and supply chains will be muted. Goods already en route, shipments six weeks out on the water, and landed inventory will continue to flow, meaning the real disruption will be felt in Q2 as businesses adjust to the new reality,” Woodrow said.
“By the end of the day, companies will be deploying mitigation strategies—many will delay inventory shipments to later in the year, waiting to see if the policy shifts or exemptions are introduced. Those who preloaded inventory will likely adopt a wait-and-see approach, holding off on further adjustments until the market reacts. In the short term, sourcing alternatives are limited, forcing supply chains to pause and reassess long-term investments while monitoring policy developments,” said Woodrow.
Editor's note: This story was revised on February 3 to add input from BSI and Motive.
In a statement, DCA airport officials said they would open the facility again today for flights after planes were grounded for more than 12 hours. “Reagan National airport will resume flight operations at 11:00am. All airport roads and terminals are open. Some flights have been delayed or cancelled, so passengers are encouraged to check with their airline for specific flight information,” the facility said in a social media post.
An investigation into the cause of the crash is now underway, being led by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and assisted by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Neither agency had released additional information yet today.
First responders say nearly 70 people may have died in the crash, including all 60 passengers and four crew on the American Airlines flight and three soldiers in the military helicopter after both aircraft appeared to explode upon impact and fall into the Potomac River.
Editor's note:This article was revised on February 3.
The less-than-truckload (LTL) industry moved closer to a revamped freight classification system this week, as the National Motor Freight Traffic Association (NMFTA) continued to spread the word about upcoming changes to the way it helps shippers and carriers determine delivery rates. The NMFTA will publish proposed changes to its National Motor Freight Classification (NMFC) system Thursday, a transition announced last year, and that the organization has termed its “classification reimagination” process.
Businesses throughout the LTL industry will be affected by the changes, as the NMFC is a tool for setting prices that is used daily by transportation providers, trucking fleets, third party logistics service providers (3PLs), and freight brokers.
Representatives from NMFTA were on hand to discuss the changes at the LTL-focused supply chain conference Jump Start 25 in Atlanta this week. The project’s goal is to make what is currently a complex freight classification system easier to understand and “to make the logistics process as frictionless as possible,” NMFTA’s Director of Operations Keith Peterson told attendees during a presentation about the project.
The changes seek to simplify classification by grouping similar items together and assigning most classes based solely on density. Exceptions will be handled separately, adding other characteristics when density alone is not enough to determine an accurate class.
When the updates take effect later this year, shippers may see shifts in the LTL prices they pay to move freight—because the way their freight is classified, and subsequently billed, could change as a result.
NMFTA will publish the proposed changes this Thursday, January 30, in a document called Docket 2025-1. The docket will include more than 90 proposed changes and is open to industry feedback through February 25. NMFTA will follow with a public meeting to review and discuss feedback on March 3. The changes will take effect July 19.
NMFTA has a dedicated website detailing the changes, where industry stakeholders can register to receive bi-weekly updates: https://info.nmfta.org/2025-nmfc-changes.
Artificial intelligence (AI) and the economy were hot topics on the opening day of SMC3 Jump Start 25, a less-than-truckload (LTL)-focused supply chain event taking place in Atlanta this week. The three-day event kicked off Monday morning to record attendance, with more than 700 people registered, according to conference planners.
The event opened with a keynote presentation from AI futurist Zack Kass, former head of go to market for OpenAI. He talked about the evolution of AI as well as real-world applications of the technology, furthering his mission to demystify AI and make it accessible and understandable to people everywhere. Kass is a speaker and consultant who works with businesses and governments around the world.
The opening day also featured a slate of economic presentations, including a global economic outlook from Dr. Jeff Rosensweig, director of the John Robson Program for Business, Public Policy, and Government at Emory University, and a “State of LTL” report from economist Keith Prather, managing director of Armada Corporate Intelligence. Both speakers pointed to a strong economy as 2025 gets underway, emphasizing overall economic optimism and strong momentum in LTL markets.
Other highlights included interviews with industry leaders Chris Jamroz and Rick DiMaio. Jamroz is executive chairman of the board and CEO of Roadrunner Transportation Systems, and DiMaio is executive vice president of supply chain for Ace Hardware.
Jump Start 25 runs through Wednesday, January 29, at the Renaissance Atlanta Waverly Hotel & Convention Center.