Category Archives: Technology

Leveraging state-of-the-art technology, NebulARC has developed computer vision and 3D tracking solutions that help shippers to monitor and track shipments in real-time, thereby eliminating human errors and achieving operational excellence in yard management. Slow decision making can hinder business operations and ultimately the bottom line for businesses. Having identified key challenges in the shipping industry, the company is providing actionable insights into day-to-day operations to shippers and yard managers to optimise yard utilisation and help with capacity planning. NebulARC’s technology is expected to reduce man hours, eliminate risks and accidents in man-to-machine interactions, and increase overall efficiency by over 25%. Commenting on the same, Alok Sharma, CEO & Co-founder, says, “We have designed a one-stop solution that is tailored to meet the needs of our customers. Besides unlocking the challenges in ecommerce, retail and B2B logistics, we have always been focused on solving the complexities in the shipping industry. Today, NebulARC is one of the few SaaS companies in India that is bringing the power of technology and predictive visibility to the shipping and port logistics operations.  We strongly believe that the current challenging time has acted as an accelerator for digitizing the industry. By offering a comprehensive suite of solutions for shipment tracking, we have not only created 360-degree visibility for the businesses but also have laid a foundation for customers to manage their logistics anytime and anywhere.” The shipping industry has been one of the most affected industries amid the outbreak. Owing to port delays, shipments have been stalled across the globe with exporters and importers struggling to track their shipments. However, NebulARC unlocks the power of AI and analytics to fill in major gaps in the shipping …

According to WheelsEye Technology research, “Indian trucking sector is suffering from losses of ₹2-3 crore per day in faulty toll transactions. The Gurugram based logistics tech startup has revealed this figure in a research conducted on over five lakh FASTag users. WheelsEye claimed that one out of every 60 FASTag transactions is faulty, as a result of which truck owners lose hard-earned money every day. This survey prompted the startup to develop an auto-detection and refund feature for wrong or double toll deductions from FASTag accounts. In an industry-first move, the company has launched an auto-detection & refund system for faulty FASTag transactions. “E-toll collection systems are a symbol of developing economies. They enable a faster transit, check leakage, and create an efficient flow of money. While countries like Norway, Italy, Japan, USA, Germany have their e-toll collection systems since as early as 1969, India has just begun. It got a massive push due to the government making it mandatory and COVID-19 forcing contactless toll transactions. While we have reached a massive scale on adoption, we are still way behind in providing a glitch-free and smooth experience” says Sonesh Jain, Spokesperson, WheelsEye Technology.

Freightwalla has announced partnership with TradeLens; a blockchain enabled digital supply chain solution jointly developed by Maersk and IBM, to provide unparalleled visibility and connectivity for shipper’s international shipments. Improving transparency, traceability, and rapid response mechanism has been a significant concern for the shipping and logistics industry. With robust end-to-end connectivity of all stakeholders with the blockchain technology, the partnership will strengthen the overall supply chain transparency. The association will further fast-track the digitization revolution in the industry. Speaking on the occasion, Punit Java, Co-Founder & CTO, Freightwalla, says, “As a digital freight forwarder, our mission is to improve transparency and reduce costs for our partners and customers. Freightwalla getting on board the TradeLens platform will enable seamless connectivity between all stakeholders in the logistics ecosystem, including transporters, shipping lines, ports, and financial institutions. It will enable shippers to get full visibility into their shipments and reduce the overall cost of logistics.” The company has developed its own digital freight forwarding app for the EXIM fraternity and plans to link it with TradeLens, providing its customers unparalleled transparency and visibility while shipping internationally. Java, who also heads the development of Freightwalla’s digital freight forwarding platform, believes that TradeLens will help reduce the operational overheads and errors by enabling the automation of significant parts of the operational process. Bimal Kanal, Head – South Asia, TradeLens, mentions, “TradeLens is an industry-wide neutral platform aiming at digitalising supply chains and the logistics industries. We aim to bring as many stakeholders involved in the logistics sector as possible onto the platform and create an efficient, digital ecosystem that will drive benefits to one and all. Freightwalla’s moves towards digital transformation are helping shippers to …

With an aim to work together on last-mile delivery and distribution of products in rural India, Mahindra Logistics (MLL) has signed an MoU with 1Bridge. While Mahindra Logistics specialises in supply chain management and serves customers across various industries including Consumer Goods and E-commerce across India, 1Bridge is a bridge that connects the supply side of the value chain, i.e., industry stakeholders within the Consumer Goods, E-commerce, Fintech, etc. to the demand side of the chain – i.e., the rural consumer at the village level through its village entrepreneurs and a technology platform. Signing this significant partnership with 1Bridge, Rampraveen Swaminathan, MD & CEO, Mahindra Logistics, says, “This collaboration will complement MLL’s logistical expertise, pan-India network and a wide customer base with 1Bridge’s deep presence across villages in rural India through its network of local business associates and district-level stations. We look forward to working collaboratively towards a strengthened supply chain network in rural India.” Madan Padaki, CEO, 1Bridge, says, “We are delighted to partner with a leader like Mahindra Logistics, as this will enable a start-up like us to learn faster and deliver better consumer experience to the village consumers.” Mahindra Logistics and 1Bridge have begun pilot projects in Karnataka, Maharashtra & Tamil Nadu on deliveries of consumer/home appliances and groceries. Over the next 3 years, the partners intend to build an efficient last-mile delivery capability covering over 100,000 villages in India.

In a bid to orchestrate last-mile deliveries, achieve real-time visibility and enhance the customer experience, HomeTown has partnered with FarEye. HomeTown has improved delivery turnaround time by 50 per cent and achieved a 60 per cent reduction in customer calls due to proactive communication regarding orders and deliveries. With people favoring to stay indoors, following social distancing measures, and working from the comfort of home, shopping habits underwent rapid change. People increasingly invested in items such as fitness equipment, home entertainment, and furniture. HomeTown witnessed a gradual month-on-month increase in online purchases post-unlock. The brand’s ‘Home Office’ section saw a three-times increase in demand. Amidst surging orders and the need to drive seamless on-time fulfillment, HomeTown was facing challenges in ensuring safe and satisfactory deliveries. With regards to their multi-unit furniture delivery, highly efficient collaboration and interoperability between delivery and installation teams emerged as a key requirement. Leveraging FarEye’s logistics orchestration platform, the retailer was able to streamline processes such as- assigning orders to delivery executives, tracking incomplete orders and return/ replacement requests, and scheduling appointments for installation while keeping the customers informed at every step. Managers now track the delivery status in real-time with ePod and service completion pictures. Vaishali Thakkar, GM–Customer Service and Operations, HomeTown comments, “FarEye has helped us scale up our product delivery and post-sale processes with new distribution models and logistics partners smoothly, to ensure consistent customer experience. Being a highly customisable platform, it has been able to completely deliver as per our requirements. It has helped us in increasing the productivity of our field service engineers and technicians who are on the front lines of our business, and the face of the organisation.” Kushal …

Considering the need for a reliable supply chain mechanism for the vaccine distribution, LogiNext has announced the launch of a COVID -19 vaccine supply chain management and tracking platform. Building the digital backbone for a global logistics movement, LogiNext has been at the forefront of the automation technology revolution. During the nascent phases of the pandemic, the company has proactively started working on a solution which is now available for government and healthcare organisations. Dhruvil Sanghvi, Chief Executive Officer of LogiNext said, “We have been working hard for a while now on this vaccine tracking solution including some key features for the cold chain. We’re very proud to launch the first solution to manage a complex supply chain around COVID-19 vaccine from manufacturing facilities all the way till the last mile.” LogiNext Mile is a complete all-mile transportation automation platform which can be used for tech-enabled management of vaccine distribution. The SaaS platform can be deployed for complete visibility and tracking of the vaccine distribution right from the point of origin at the manufacturing units to the last mile. The solution can be used for the entire chain or a part of the solution can be used for: Visibility and tracking: LogiNext Mile gives a real-time dashboard via which managers can keep track of all logistical movement and orchestrate a distribution plan. Demand forecasting and Order scheduling: Operators now have the capability to accurately forecast the needs across the globe according to which orders on the first mile can be triggered. Detailed analytics: LogiNext’s expertise in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning capabilities gives its clients (healthcare enterprises, governmental organizations, carriers and 3PLs) an added advantage in the form of detailed …

CHAMP Cargosystems, the leading air cargo systems provider, announces its partnership with CargoAi. By connecting their systems through APIs, both partners are giving their users new connections and capabilities for the future. CHAMP offers increased visibility to CargoAi for its more than 100 airlines and GSAs customers. In return, CargoAi offers CHAMP clients a new sales channel and CargoAi increases its capacity to make quotes, prices and bookings instantly available to freight forwarders. ‘Our clients and users are at the heart of this partnership. Creating value for them has always been our priority and that is why we have the widest range of suites of systems dedicated to air freight. Being available on CargoAi, if they wish, is therefore an additional service that we can offer our clients’, says Nicholas Xenocostas, VP Commercial & Customer Engagement, CHAMP Cargosystems. As he sees it, now is the time to ‘deliver innovation faster’ to support and transform customers’ business processes, while bringing more digitalisation and visibility to the air freight industry. Connecting via APIs, CHAMP and CargoAi in effect enable supply chain partners to be integrated: airlines, freight forwarders and GSAs can thus connect and exchange information very easily. ‘Our goal remains the same; to make digitisation accessible to all industry players. This partnership with CHAMP is a real boon for our customers. Because thanks to the joint work we have accomplished, our customers can grow their businesses by being connected to each other, without having to do anything,’ says CargoAi CEO Matthieu Petot. ‘CHAMP and its teams are the gold standard in our industry and working with these cargo system experts is a fantastic opportunity.’

With a vision to improve intra-warehousing logistics and supply chain, Godrej Material Handling has announced the launch of MOPTro™, a product of Greendzine Technologies – a motorized order-picking trolley. This is a natural extension to Godrej’s existing product – SKUtro, a manual order-picking system, which was launched last year, to aid in improving shop floor mobility and employee productivity. The pandemic brought about many changes in the functioning of businesses with many city-working people moving back to their hometowns. This reverse migration pivoted e-commerce sales from tier-1 cities to tier-2 cities. Launched in 2019, SKUtro has been seeing a rise in demand from e-commerce, retail and pharmaceutical companies especially over the past few months. Factors such as the past few months of lockdown, the subsequent pent up demand and seasonal festive sales are pushing companies like Godrej to partner on solutions that ensure speedy and accurate order-picking thereby achieving higher throughput. This also ensures that the warehouse employees reap benefits such as better health, safety, and wellness. MOPTro™ revolutionises the everyday manual order-picking practices by simplifying the tedious manual picking process for operators, ensuring accurate picking and put-away. The software on the mobile device attached to MOPTro™ helps in showing the fastest aisle route to picking a product thus enabling greater throughput. According to statistics released in the public domain by research organizations on the recent sales by Amazon and Flipkart, 91% of Amazon’s and 65% of Flipkart’s new customers came from smaller cities. Therefore, in order to fulfil such high demand, timely picking solutions are of high importance. India is a relatively young nation with a large slice of the population being sub 35 years in age. They like to try new experiences …

Hellmann Worldwide Logistics has announced the launch of SamrtAir! for the real-time tracking of air cargo shipment. Together with the Bonn-based start-up BlueBox Systems, Hellmann developed a web-based platform, which aims to provide customers with information about their air freight shipments, regardless of airline, route or type of shipment. Based on GPS coordinates, SmartAir! will be providing information on all stopovers and loading times for live tracking of shipments. The system offers numerous analysis options for the performance of individual airlines, routes and airports, aiming towards the optimisation of supply chain management. The company also offers tracking for sea freight and the generally applicable smart visibility tracker. These can record, in addition to tracking data, information on humidity, temperature, incidence of light, vibration and door opening, thus enabling detailed transport control of shipments. “SmartAir! is a real game-changer in the tracking of airfreight shipments, which has not been available in the market in this way before. In times of digitalisation and ever smaller time windows for decisions, quickly available real-time data within global supply chains are becoming increasingly important. This will also be of particular relevance in the upcoming distribution of COVID-19 vaccines,” says Henning Pottharst, Product Manager – Smart Visibility, Hellmann Worldwide Logistics.

IBS Software has partnered with CargoAi, to extend their presence in new and existing markets by leveraging on digital sales and distribution services. IBS Software is offering its iCargo customers the opportunity to increase their reach to the market and thereby scale their cargo revenues through a new partnership with CargoAi. IBS Software has been working with CargoAi since July 2020 to build a rich integration between iCargo and CargoAi using a scalable, API-based architecture. “Through this partnership, CargoAi and IBS Software have invested in creating platform-level integration to give our customers more choices on channels to digitally connect with their clients, faster time-to-market for such capabilities, and to do so with very little effort,” said Ashok Rajan, SVP & Head of Cargo & Logistics, IBS Software. “We believe that innovation can be fast-tracked by partnering with companies like CargoAi bringing in new and improved ways of doing business like in sales and distribution, which is still very antiquated and legacy-based in the air cargo industry,” he adds. Keen to offer a ‘digital ecosystem’ to its customers, IBS Software is making its motto of ‘Partnering for Innovation” a reality. With this API-based integration between platforms, airlines only have to turn on the switch for e-bookings from all over the world to reach their system. The process could not be easier for airlines – only a few days of tests are required between the platforms to get on board with CargoAi and no expensive bespoke IT development or complex system integration projects is required to deliver this capability. All the work has been done ahead of time by the two partners. “The integration currently covers real-time e-booking and e-quoting, flight availability …