While supply chain disruptions that cause damaged products are frustrating to customers, they can be highly disruptive and expensive for businesses. 

Further, substandard and spoiled goods often tarnish a brand’s reputation and cause public relations nightmares. It takes time and resources to overcome the resultant supply chain disruption. In a recent survey, 81 percent of respondents described the economic consequence of product recalls as significant or catastrophic.

Supply Chain Technology to Mitigate Supply Chain Disruptions: Impact Monitors and Temperature Recorders

Supply chains are complex, and it’s sometimes hard to trace the root cause of defects or damage to products. An extreme manufacturing environment can harm products. There’s also room for human error during packing, lifting, shipping, and delivering shipments. Let’s see how you can avoid supply chain disruptions using advanced supply chain technology.

One widespread challenge facing supply chains is physical damage to raw materials, prefabricated, and finished products. The damage can occur in many ways. Consider the following examples.

Improper handling of items during packaging, lifting, stacking, relocating, and offloading can cause significant damage. When goods are in transit, they can slide, bounce, slam, or tip over and get destroyed.

The damage may not be apparent at a glance. However, impact damage can create serious faults that can render products non-functional or dangerous. An RFID impact monitor such as ShockWatch RFID, for instance, can capture potential damages throughout the supply chain and alert handlers of issues between handoff points.

An impact monitor measures impacts, no matter how slight. When a shock reaches a preset threshold, the device sends an alert to a centralized system and logs it. The supplier can receive the information in real-time, allowing them to take corrective measures promptly. Fixing problems on time helps to prevent further product deterioration and saves money.

SpotBot Cellular is an electronic impact monitor and temperature recorder that tracks cargo from dispatch to delivery. The device relays shipping data 24/7 via cellular connectivity from any covered region and stores it in SpotSee Cloud. SpotBot also supports communication through Bluetooth and USB.

The ShockLog Satellite impact monitor tracks all impact events in real-time and maps them to GPS location. You can assess the severity of the incident and trace where it occurred. If need be, you can halt a shipment and have it inspected and rectified.

For loads weighing up to 250 tons, consider impact monitoring with ShockLog. The device by SpotSee extracts details of high impact events such as acceleration, amplitude, and duration. It can measure g-force impacts of up to 200 Gs and can even utilize cellular and satellite networks.

Shocklog is quite versatile. You can upgrade it to measure a myriad of conditions, including humidity, temperature, vibration, tilt and roll, and GPS tracking.

ShockWatch 2 is an impact indicator that changes color when there is rough handling of a package. Upon arrival, you can quickly identify materials or products that need scrutiny for damage. The impact indicator is tamper-proof, reducing the chances of stakeholders in the supply chain meddling with it.

Dedicated Temperature Recorders for Sensitive Shipments

Another challenge faced in supply chain risk mitigation is temperature fluctuations. For products like pharmaceuticals and food, temperature consideration is critical to ensure the efficacy and safety of products. Some medications lose potency while perishable food items rot when subjected to heat beyond certain levels.

Many factors can cause temperature damage. A product can sit unattended in severe conditions for extended hours, or the cooling system in a warehouse or truck could be broken.

Temperature inconsistency can cause major losses or safety concerns in the cold chain. Whether it’s during production, storage, or moving, temperature regulation is critical.

How can you confirm whether products in cold chains are safe? In addition to SpotBot and ShockLog, SpotSee has several temperature recorders to aid cold supply chain risk mitigations — and give you the data proof you need to reduce supply chain disruptions.

With LOGIC Temperature Recorders, you can program the appropriate temperature range for your products. The device alerts you when temperatures are out of the recommended thresholds. You can take action to correct the anomaly on time to prevent further damage to products.

TempU Recorder tracks refrigerated temperatures for 60 days and generates a report in PDF format. The device comes with an alarm light to warn you when temperatures are lower or above the recommended range. SpotSee’s WarmMark is an indicator that changes color when exposed to unfavorable temperatures.

Identify Accountability to Reduce Supply Chain Disruptions

Due to the complexity of supply chains, determining who to hold accountable for disruptions can be challenging. SpotSee has the technology to track and monitor triggers of supply chain disruptions and generate detailed reports. You can see when and where an event occurs and who is in charge, allowing you to solve problems quickly and save time, money — and your reputation.

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