The United Parcel Service (UPS) plans to launch a new IoT-enabled technology called UPS Premier in the first quarter of 2020. UPS Premier will launch as a service for health care customers to prioritize shipments such as personalized medicines, lab specimens, gene therapies, and other sensitive health care products.
UPS Premier will include newly installed sensors that are attached to priority shipments; tech within the sensors will include Bluetooth, cellular, and Wi-Fi. UPS employees can then track these packages with increased precision and create a more streamlined supply chain for health care shipments.
David Abney, CEO and chairman of UPS, stated:
“We’re giving customers an exceptional amount of visibility and security for their most critical health care and life sciences shipments. With these technologies and processing plans, we will have greater flexibility to protect these urgent packages along the ‘chain of custody,’ provide contingency solutions, and ensure best-in-class service reliability.”
FedEx seems to be ahead of the game when it comes to medical shipment tracking. By 2023, all medical shipments will require tracking due to the FDA's new serialization regulations. As a result, we should expect more advanced shipment tracking in the next few years.
UPS is beginning to introduce more technology partnerships into its supply chain. Alongside UPS Premier, the company announced a few other technology-enabled services and partnerships just last month; one such partnership was another supply chain-focused solution called the UPS Digital Access Program.
Under the program, UPS announced a collaboration with Stamps.com to offer discounted shipping rates to its e-commerce customers. Stamps.com offers a portfolio of internet shipping software such as ShipStation, ShippingEasy, ShipWorks, Stamps.com, and Endicia.
By partnering with a major shipping software provider, UPS is enhancing its network and services to enable faster deliveries, enhanced visibility, and a broader range of delivery options.
UPS seems to be staying ahead of the curve by introducing its own technology alongside maximizing the supply chain software that is in the market.
However, UPS is not the only supply chain company that is utilizing emerging technology. FedEx has its own health care-focused logistics service called SenseAware that customers can use to monitor location of shipments, as well as precise temperature, light exposure, and barometric pressure.
As more and more logistics and supply chain companies begin operating on a global scale, supply chain visibility will become even more crucial. At G2, we expect more supply chain companies to find innovative ways to leverage the technology and software in the market and streamline the supply chain.
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