France: Danone trials IoT sensors to optimise rail freight transport activities

27.11.2016

France: Danone trials IoT sensors to optimise rail freight transport activities
Silicon - France, 27 Nov 2016, online:-
Danone Waters, part of French food products company Danone is testing out the use of sensors on rail freight cars order to optimise the transport of its products, especially given that it uses trains to transport over 60% of its production volumes. As these freight trains are not always on time and this has an effect on the group's logistics chain, IDEO (ID Logistics), the steering unit in charge of the company's logistics flows, has partnered with global supply chain traceability and optimisation solutions start-up Everysens. Together, they have developed a pilot optimisation solution for the overall management of the company's rail freight logistics flows and have equipped over 150 cars with sensors capable of recording real-time and continuous information on factors such as temperature, speed, incidents and geolocation using the Internet of things (IoT). This data is analysed by the platform set up by Everysens, then information and alerts are sent to the client via SMS message or by e-mail. The sensors, manufactured by Alliansys, are autonomous, function without a power supply and have a life span of three to eight years, depending on the volume of data they transmit. Connectivity is provided by the Sigfox network. The data provided by the sensors enables IDEO to work on anticipating delays and the consequences for customer platforms and warehouses. It can also monitor the maintenance of the freight cars and other applications are being considered, in particular the optimisation of backhauling in order to pool transport costs.
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