Can global supply chains survive legacy GPS tracking?

From procurement through to sorting, packing and delivery to end users, customers and suppliers need to be able to track where their orders are at any given moment and anticipate where potential problems could emerge.

The huge increase in e-commerce orders, staff working remotely and the challenges of coping with supply chain interruptions, such as the ongoing semiconductor shortage, have all combined to shine a spotlight on the efficiencies of the supply chain. Companies that are still using old-fashioned spreadsheets or disconnected legacy software systems will struggle to stay competitive. Put simply, what you can’t see or measure, you can’t track, trace and improve.

However, the supply chain is also about to come face to face with a technology issue in many markets – the end of 3G cellular connectivity.

The end of 3G

Across the globe, operators are now beginning to close down 3G networks, to free up spectrum to expand 4G and 5G connectivity. Vodafone in the UK, for example, announced that it plans to close its 3G network next year. Today less than 4% of the data used by Vodafone customers is on its 3G network, and at BT-owned EE it is just 2%, compared with about 30% as recently as 2016. In the US market, all major mobile operators – Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile – will be shutting down their 3G networks this year.

While this may not affect the majority of smartphone users, who primarily rely on 4G connectivity, there are applications that this will disrupt. Many security systems, electric water meters, and tracking/telematics technology, all rely on 3G connectivity; the latter of which is crucial to successful supply chain management. These devices have not always been upgraded to 4G as the higher speeds are not required to run them effectively so the end of 3G will cause these devices to stop working.

Keeping things moving and tracked

The most basic use of 3G GPS vehicle tracking software is to keep a record of a vehicle’s location in real time – where it is, if it is in motion and which direction it is travelling in. But more sophisticated telematics sensors can also monitor vehicle routes, engine start-up and shut down and idling; sensors can also read temperature, weight plus dozens of other monitoring parameters for multi-faceted analytics.

Sector-specific tasks include controlling crop rotations, engineering maintenance management, monitoring fuel levels, controlling field operations and mobile staff performance and even eco driving. All of these useful functions could be affected by the 3G sunset.

An evolution in tracking technology

That doesn’t leave long to make sure that companies that utilise vehicle tracking technology, such as haulage, postal delivery services and oil transport vehicles, don’t have any 3G GPS tracking devices left in their fleets.                             

Companies cannot continue to use GPS tracking systems that they had installed 20 years ago and should upgrade as soon as possible. Although the semi-conductor chip shortage in the electronics industry, as well as other electronics components, may mean delays for installing some devices.

If a business delays the switch from 3G until the last possible moment, it will cause them to fall behind competitively and risk damaging the supply chain even further. Through upgrades, benefits can also be realised by end users – new efficiencies from better connectivity could even drive down total cost of ownership (TCO) as more hardware begins to transfer from 2G and 3G to 4G networks.

Lower power usage, improved data speed and the fact that 4G is predicted to cover 95 percent of the world by 2027, are also major reasons for logistics and fleet management companies to consider upgrades as soon as possible. The early bird catches the worm and, in telematics, it’s the early implementers of technology that will always stand most to gain.