Technology Opportunities in Transportation

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The purpose of this paper is to illustrate three technology opportunities associated with the transportation and logistics industry. With today’s constantly evolving business environment, consumers are placing demand on businesses of all industries, and they want products and services faster, with more added value, and delivered immediately. Nevertheless, customers are smarter by requiring more quality, innovation, and choice, and at the same time wanting to spend less money and effort. Consequently, every transportation business has to remain highly competitive in researching and developing innovative cost-cutting techniques in order to save money.

Radio Frequency Identification, or RFID for short, is a relatively old technology that has generated enormous amount of interest in the logistics arena and it continues to evolve as a major technology for tracking goods and assets around the globe (Curtin). The use of RFID technology is impacting distribution and supply chain by having effective, real-time and reliable, accurate information. This technology essentially replaces barcodes with electronic tags that can identify individual items which can be automatically tracked as they move through the supply chain.

By assisting companies witness and understand the maneuvering of inventory in real-time, Radio Frequency Identification helps reduce occurrences of products being out of stock, reduces product loss/theft, and helps abate the cost associated with transferring and monitoring inventory. Furthermore, RFID tags are roughly the size of a grain of rice- making them ideally suitable for use in transportation as they take virtually no space to store.

Another critical link in our transportation system is over-the-road t...

... middle of paper ...

...have them installed. Also, who would be responsible for putting up the capital, the trucking companies or the rest stop/ gas stations? It seems rather ironic that a gas station, which is in business primarily to sell their various gasoline products, would finance a major project that potentially reduces the amount of gasoline someone would need to purchase. Electrified parking spaces seem to be the most viable technological opportunity that is available, yet the least feasible. The capital required for this type of program would plausibly be too much.

Although all three technologies could have a profound influence in transportation, the most viable opportunity is ATDynamics’ TrailerTail®. They are inexpensive, widely available, and can be installed in a very short time-period. Also, the benefits will be recognized immediately in the form of fuel savings.

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