Customer story – automotive manufacturer

An automotive manufacturer transports sensitive car components to customers around the world - by ship, road and rail. Our real-time tracking solution, Visilion from Sony, is helping them understand what type of conditions their cargos are exposed to in transit, so they can work together with carriers to minimise damages.

Challenge

Due to the sensitive nature of many car components, a certain proportion of every shipment arrives damaged. While this company already invests heavily in packaging materials to minimise damages, until recently they didn’t have the means to understand the underlying causes of damage. Through better supply chain visibility, they hoped to obtain more detailed information.

Solution

Visilion tracking and supply chain visibility solution, now provides the company with real-time insights into the condition of cargos. Tilt & shock sensors let them know when there’s turbulence en-route, and location trackers provide information about unexpected delays or detours. Furthermore, analytics from us allow the company to optimise routes and transport methods to become not only safer, but also faster. Greater understanding of events in the supply chain also opens up the opportunity for a constructive, fact-based dialogue with carriers.

Results

The information captured by Visilion helps this automotive manufacturer to better understand and improve their supply chain operations. Condition monitoring data allows them to calibrate future shipments. Detailed comparisons of different routes, transport options, and suppliers provides the foundation for optimising operations. Over time, this increases the number of products that arrive in good shape. What’s more, customers can access positioning data and follow their shipments’ progress, which significantly improves the customer experience.