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Companies like Amazon and Inditex, who set new industry standards for innovative logistics in 2016, are a testament to the role supply chain plays in a company’s success. In 2017 look for two things to happen: first, Amazon will continue its push from the middle-out as it gets stronger in high-end and fashion merchandise, and it starts to encroach more on day-to-day needs. This technology was mainly used to enable machine-to-machine communication and improve shipping efficiency, but, IoT is expected to play a bigger role in the future of logistics in 2017 and increase speed, reduce waste and decrease overall costs. Many believe that IoT will enable communication with other new technologies, such as AIDC (Automatic Identification and Data Capture,) RFID (Radio Frequency Identification,) or Bluetooth to identify elements that need to change according to demands of companies and customers.

But the Internet of Things can also enable vast automation improvements in inventory flow, equipment monitoring, stock replenishment, inventory control, product expiration dates and maintenance. For example, based on real-time data from combined sources, software will automatically re-route certain items based on customer changes and proactively replenish inventory based on exact physical data and forecasted demand. For multi-location warehouse networks the IoT-centered supply chain will automatically match available product across distribution facilities with current demand across multiple sales channels and automatically prescribe appropriate inventory levels for each facility. If no inventory is currently available, the systems will be able to check raw material availability and manufacturing capacity and possibly even pull an automatic production lever to request production of more product for specific destinations.