The adoption of cold chain telematics solutions for refrigerated trucks and containers in the food and beverage industry is set to grow extensively over the coming years. Regulatory compliance and food waste reduction are the biggest drivers of solutions implementation in this space.
ABI Research forecasts food cold chain track and trace revenues are expected to surpass US$7 billion worldwide in 2032. These revenues will consist of hardware sales and recurring monthly Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) revenues.
Software services can enable real-time monitoring of metrics such as temperature and humidity of ambient temperature of refrigerated trucks and food items during transit.
“Retailers are taking numerous initiatives such as streamlining last-mile delivery processes, employing cold chain telematics solutions in refrigerated trucks and containers, and adopting traceability solutions like Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and Ambient Internet of Things (IoT),” explains Adhish Luitel, supply chain management & logistics principal analyst at ABI Research.
He adds that the ability to track temperature, humidity, and location throughout the supply chain not only helps retailers adhere to regulatory requirements but also boosts customer confidence in product quality.
Reshoring and nearshoring have been on the rise across different regions across the world and this has also been a major enabler in the adoption of monitoring solutions. Retailers in the US and Canada for example, are increasingly relying on produce farming in Mexico and Central America due to the favourable climate and proximity. Some key solution providers in this space include Avery Dennison, Motive, Samsara, Blue Yonder, Wiliot, and Powerfleet.
Luitel says the outlook for deployment of cold chain monitoring solutions looks encouraging among food and beverage supply chains. He adds that continuous advancements are expected to further precision and efficiency, enabling more use cases.
“As more data points get leveraged, we can anticipate a much wider integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications as well. This can build more proactive food procurement and distribution systems that could address potential issues,” concludes Luitel.
