About the customer

Contguard’s customer is a large chemicals company, shipping millions of dollars worth of chemicals around the world every month. Our customer uses Contguard’s IoT and AI-based solutions to help ensure quality, security, and that goods arrive on time, in full.

The challenge

Quality is a major issue when shipping chemical products, and quality assurance along the supply chain often proves to be a significant challenge. Without Contguard’s tracking and monitoring solutions, identifying a specific point along the supply chain where things go wrong can prove to be almost impossible.

Monitoring the goods

We began working with our customer to monitor and track their shipments, and our IoT devices were installed at the loading warehouse.

Our devices began relaying a constant stream of real-time data to our analytics system. Temperature, humidity, and other data related to quality assurance showed that from loading warehouse to destination, the chemicals were handled and shipped in accordance with quality regulations and SOP (standard operating procedure).

However our customer was experiencing issues. Upon arrival at destination, some of the shipped chemicals were found to be found to be spoiled.

Contguard reviewed the data from our IoT devices (which are built specifically for reefer (refrigerated) containers. Upon further review, we confirmed that the real-time data relayed by the IoT devices to our system was correct – from loading warehouse to destination, all indications showed that the chemicals were properly handled and shipped.

Identifying the real issue

After reviewing the full route plan from source to destination, we discovered that the goods were shipped to the main loading warehouse from 5 separate pickup locations, several days before the goods were loaded into the containers.

We recommended monitoring the goods from each supplier, and installed IoT devices specifically for pallets. We found several quality incidents were occurring regularly on 2 of the 5 pickup location.

Further investigation revealed that one of our customer’s TPLs (third party logistics company) was transporting the goods from the 2 of the suppliers’ warehouses in trucks with faulty refrigeration.

The solution

Our customer implemented Contguard’s monitoring solution from the supplier’s warehouse to the final destination.

In addition, our customer revised their SOP with their TPLS, ensuring that all cargo would be shipped from the supplier’s warehouse to the main loading warehouse in refrigerated containers.

Benefits

Our customer was able to stop a container full of spoiled goods from being shipped, saving massive shipping costs.

In addition, our customer was able to replace the spoiled goods in time, ensuring the entire shipment was made on time and in full to their own customer.

Further, by revising their SOP and installing IoT devices at the suppliers’ warehouses, our customer was able to prevent similar quality issues in the future, saving them thousands of dollars worth in time and money.