During his 4GWE keynote speech this morning in Austin, Matt Groppe, director of global business development for DHL SAMEDAY, said that the shipping market is changing as customers are demanding more visibility into their deliverables.

“In transportation, there’s a black hole, and we had to innovate to [where] we can’t see,” said Groppe at the 4GWE event, which is co-located with ITEXPO (News - Alert) this week.

To address that, he said, DHL leverages an M2M-enabled full sensor suite. The sensors are placed with shipments to enable DHL and its customers to track the whereabouts and condition of package contents. Knowing the location and condition of a package is always good, but when it comes to highly sensitive or urgently needed shipments it’s mandatory, indicated Groppe, who is in charge of the SAMEDAY operation within DHL that handles high-profile and emergency shipments.

“Try misplacing a radioactive drill built in the Middle East,” he said.

Groppe talked about the helplessness and anticipation regular airline passengers sometimes feel when waiting for their luggage to appear on the carousel at their destination airport. Imagine, he said, how anxious a plant manufacturer who’s losing $10,000 an hour waiting for a part to arrive or a surgeon who’s awaiting materials for an urgent medical procedure must feel. Armed with M2M and sensors, he said, DHL can let them know when to expect what they’re waiting for.

He added that there are tremendous opportunities for M2M to “plug other holes in the supply chain.”

For more about M2M and how it’s being used in transportation and logistics, see the TMCnet article here. The article talks about how companies like OnAsset are leveraging M2M technology to enable customers to look at a variety of factors including information on humidity, temperature, pressure and light relative to a shipment.

The M2M Evolution Conference will be collocated with ITEXPO West, the world’s premier IP communications event, HAPPENING NOW  at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, TX.  M2M Evolution will include a series of analyst insight, case studies, and roundtable discussions and will show attendees how to exploit this technology to minimize destruction, fraud and theft across all vertical markets.  Don’t wait. Register now. 

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