Supply chain tracking spending to grow 184 percent: Juniper

Global spend on supply chain asset tracking will soar 184 percent in 2027 to US$45 billion according to new research from Juniper.

Since the pandemic, supply chains have become fragile which means organisations need to ensure their cargo and products are protected. 

The management and security of high-value assets are becoming of increasingly significant importance for many stakeholders, and demand for technologies that provide real-time monitoring within the supply chain is ever more demanded.

Asset tracking in this context refers to systems that leverage wireless connectivity to remotely monitor assets’ locations, based on real-time data with the aim of better managing asset conditions.

The report, Fleet Tracking & Logistics: Key Trends, Vendor Strategies and Market Forecasts 2022-2027 predicts that the growing availability and affordability of asset-tracking solutions will drive adoption of managed services amongst the largest enterprises that operate their own supply chains for high-value assets.

It envisages that the most sought-after solutions will be those which can demonstrate a return on investment by minimising theft and loss of assets during transit.

The report forecasts that the number of assets tracked will reach 24 billion by 2027; increasing from only 8 billion in 2022. It urges asset-tracking platform providers to include real-time monitoring solutions that can leverage multiple technologies, including 4G, 5G and GPS.

Widely used today, GPS is a cost-effective technology, however, the comprehensive network capabilities of 4G and 5G must be implemented to monitor assets with the highest values.

According to the report, the increasing reliance on 5G will present significant opportunities for hardware vendors over the next five years. It anticipates that the growing demand for ‘always connected’ supply chain solutions will drive the interest in 5G-enabled asset-tracking hardware.

In turn, supply chain hardware vendors must focus development on sensors that leverage the data-intensive nature of 5G to provide features such as real-time anti-tampering notifications.