To ensure the quality of its products, Mondelez India, the maker of Cadbury Dairy Milk, BournVita, and Oreo is leveraging technology to get real-time updates on its transportation and distribution network.

The company which installed IoT devices in trucks used to transport its products started a pilot before coronavirus is now using the technology across its network in the country.

Monitoring temperature

IoT devices are placed in the trucks monitor, and tracks the movement through GPS and other network. The devices can also monitor the temperature inside the vehicles.

“Cold transportation is rare and cost-driven. To ensure that the products travel in a closed truck with a controlled temperature we started using IoTs. We can ensure the product is kept at the right temperature inside the trucks. To save costs, people may take shortcuts; with this technology, we have avoided those shortcuts. We get notified instantly if a truck is fizzed off or the VC cooler is switched off. We started adapting the technology before coronavirus and COVID enabled it to become necessary as we could track the stuck trucks. Today, there is a 100 per cent traceability across our cold chain completely,” said Venkat Venepally, Vice President - Supply Chain at Mondelez India to businessline.

Distribution centre

Apart from tracking transportation, the company is also able to monitor its distribution center live enabling a stronger supply chain.

“We are using the technology to leverage the asset utilisation to the maximum possible extent. We can see the turnaround of a truck if the truck is waiting for a long time at a distribution centre to get unloaded or the truck is not traveling as per the desired hours and how we can maximize the truck utilization. We are also able to leverage the technology to drive the cost down enabling the consumers to enjoy our products at a better cost,” said Venkat Venepally

The company has been able to bring down the technology expense by 30 per cent after the pilot phase, “During the pilot phase, it was more expensive but we leaned in as we wanted to try the technology. We scaled it up and we have seen that scaling helps one to leverage the technology Secondly, over some time, every technology continues to get more economical. After implementing it and continuously evolving in developing the cost, the return on investment starts getting better,” added Venepally.

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