Supply Chain Visibility real-world experiment @ Ride Joburg 947 Cycle Challenge
This past weekend was one of the highlights of the cycling
calendar in Johannesburg, South Africa. The Virgin Active Ride Joburg 947 Cycling
Race (https://ridejoburg.co.za/) took place on Sunday 20 November 2022.
Some quick facts:
- Ride Joburg 947 cycling race is the world's second-largest timed cycle race (after the Cape Argus which is the biggest of its type)
- The Ride Joburg 947 race typically draws between 20 000-30 000 competitors, but this year the ridership might have been slightly lower - we have not yet been able to confirm the accurate number of participants for 2022
- This year’s route distance was extended from the traditional 94.7 km to a somewhat more challenging 97 km (60.27 miles) and took place at an altitude ranging between 1400 to ± 1740 meters above sea level.
- Sunny Highveld summer conditions prevailed with temperatures exceeding 30°C (86° F) in places
Data from Strava - an app for sports people (for comparative purposes)
Real-time tracking
Cogniplex decided to put Tive’s Solo 5G™ tracker to the test, under real-world conditions - during the Ride Joburg 947 Cycle Race.
- 1x Tive Solo 5G tracker was discretely slipped into a Cogniplex Ride Joburg mountain bike rider’s backpack, safely nestled between energy bars and energy drinks for the ride.
- Weight 100 grams
- Accuracy:
- Cellular 500 m
- WiFi geolocation 50 m
- GPS 5 m
·
Real-time
location
Driving to the event we were redirected twice due to misunderstanding road closures, but still arrived well in advance at FNB Soccer City for our batch starting time.
- Note that the Tive Unit is not a navigational tool directing you where to drive, but rather a reporting tool recording where the unit travelled.
The platform offers:
- geo-fencing,
- clickable and zoomable maps down to street level,
- data at each measuring point along the route.
- While we only used 1 tracking unit for this experiment, the platform has the capability of tracking multiple tracking units simultaneously.
Each of the readings below can
be tied back to a specific date, time and GPS location. This means a detailed audit trail
is recorded onto a cloud for each trip, recording at any given moment:
·
Real-time
temperature
Note that the temperatures
were recorded inside a backpack, meaning external/ambient temperatures could
have been higher
Temperature readings
·
Humidity
Again, recording inside a backpack. The higher readings around 2 pm were recorded when the rider stood under a water hose to cool down
Temperature readings
·
Real-time
acceleration
Acceleration is measured in G-force (a measurement of the type of force per unit mass) and not in km/h.
These measurements in the context of logistics could
indicate rough handling (e.g. dropping, knocking, bumping or throwing of items), or bad road
conditions (traffic or other accidents, sudden stops or extreme braking). For our rider, this meant uneven road surfaces and speeds of up to 55 km/h, and dropping the backpack once or twice.
Tracking your precious - Supply Chain applications
This platform offers real-time visibility across the different functions and geo-locations in your supply chain. Adding a Tive Solo 5G unit or more than one unit to your cargo, whether stored in a warehouse, or carried by your own trucks, or third-party/outsourced transporters (3PL, 4PL etc) offers the following benefits:
- The units are easy to activate and easy to use, with a battery life of up to 90 days (depending on reporting period setting selected).
- Tracking units can be individually charged with a cell phone charger.
- The tracking unit can measure local conditions in time units ranging from 2 min to 5 min. This means every 2-5 minutes you can monitor in real-time the following conditions:
- Location – monitoring the actual location to detect delays, possible unauthorised stops, or deviations from approved routes
- Temperature – monitoring temperature-sensitive cargo, cold chain products, and perishable products e.g. to monitor SLA compliance, product or health & safety standards, etc
- Humidity – monitoring humidity-sensitive cargo, electronics, cold chain, and perishable products e.g. to monitor SLA compliance, product or health & safety standards, etc
- Light – confirming whether the truck/packaging has been compromised or opened along the way
- Acceleration – detecting bumps, knocks, and heavy handling will enable you to pinpoint damages and prove negligence for breakage
Benefits of Visibility on your Supply Chain
The benefit of having full and real-time supply chain visibility provides bonafide fleet operators/transporters as well as cargo owners/importers / exporters with the peace of mind to:
- Drive accountability
- Monitor transporter performance
- Monitor safe handling of goods
- Enforce SLAs and penalties
- Prove damages and reduce claims
- Reduce unnecessary stops, route deviations, and unexplained delays
- Track late cargo
We are happy to report that both our Tive Solo 5G tracker and our rider (eventually!) completed the journey and got back home safely.
Should
you need more information or wish to have a confidential discussion about your specific
requirements, please contact Benjamin@cogniplex.co.za
- All trademarks and IP is the property of their respective owners.
Need more information? Want to start a pilot project? Please contact us
