Today, traceability requirements apply to all economic sectors. From production to distribution, the entire journey of products needs to be accurately identified. While this demand is not new, it has significantly strengthened over the 20th century. Technological advancements have facilitated its effective implementation. RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) and IoT (Internet of Things) have improved tracking in various sectors such as food and pharmaceuticals.
UBI Solutions, a leading reference in RFID/IoT/Cloud/Mobility traceability, explores the potential of AI in this field.
Artificial Intelligence and IoT: Complementary Technologies for Optimized Traceability
Artificial intelligence refers to the set of theories and techniques that enable the creation of computer programs capable of simulating specific aspects of human intelligence. Traceability, on the other hand, involves implementing techniques and tools for monitoring and tracking a product from its manufacturing to its distribution.
Advances in Artificial Intelligence
The increased capabilities of computers, coupled with the emergence of algorithms inspired by the human brain, have led to significant advancements in artificial intelligence. Machine Learning enables software or machines to self-improve. In the industry, this can be applied in the following ways:
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Machines can quickly identify defective elements of a product on a production line, avoiding the wastage of resources by sending defective products to customers.
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Automation of data collection and processing regarding defective parts allows technical teams to improve their creation processes and fix these defects through data collection.
Deep Learning takes it further by relying on an artificial neural network to learn without human interference. As the system gains experience, its capacity to evolve increases. In the industry, AI can manage energy expenditure, improve predictive maintenance to optimize operations, and more.
Overview of AI Advances in Various Fields
Artificial intelligence is poised to revolutionize numerous fields, including:
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Agriculture: optimizing input allocation based on data collected from each plot
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Healthcare: automated recognition of pathologies
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Education: personalized learning to meet the specific needs of each student
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Real estate: investment optimization and personalized recommendations
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Commerce: analysis of current trends and corresponding supply management
Advantages and Limitations of Artificial Intelligence
Highly powerful, artificial intelligence helps solve complex problems in various sectors. However, like any powerful tool, it must be subject to strict human control to ensure its secure use in service of humanity. AI must respect the limits set by humans.
Artificial Intelligence in the Context of Traceability
Today, traceability relies on the use of RFID tags and the Internet of Things (IoT) to track the position and record the journey of parcels in real time. AI can now analyze RFID and IoT data to optimize flows. It can effectively control handling robots to position each package optimally. Every link in the supply chain benefits from this.
AI combined with traceability brings logistics into the era of predictability. In addition to precise inventory management, logistics professionals can adapt resource sizing and optimize their utilization for each mission. The installation of sensors in warehouses, loading docks, or transportation vehicles materializes the concept of machine vision. The application of AI in logistics ensures flawless traceability of goods while adapting flows to observed environmental conditions (such as traffic or weather).
AI, in addition to RFID and IoT technologies
Continuously at the forefront of innovation, UBI Solutions is working on integrating artificial intelligence into its traceability solutions. Combined with RFID, IoT, big data, and computer vision, AI is making its way into logistics warehouses. It brings significant added value in terms of stock and flow management:
📈 Storage Location Optimization:
Through the implementation of a sensor network, the artificial intelligence algorithms developed by UBI Solutions can analyze:
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Data on storage movements within the warehouse
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Order preferences
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Expiration dates
Processing this data allows for the precise optimization of the location of each product to minimize unnecessary movements. Storage space management is improved. In practical terms, the technological solutions implemented in the warehouse enable:
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Vertical and horizontal reading according to the space configuration
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Precise localization and identification of products in storage areas
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Knowledge of the exact location within the storage.
By becoming intelligent, the warehouse offers its operator significant time savings in the management of incoming, internal, and outgoing flows. Finding a product is no longer a problem, and the productivity gain obtained is substantial.
👁️ Object Recognition with AI Camera
Linked to a network of cameras installed in the warehouse, AI transforms automated palletizing. Powered by their autonomous thinking capability, robots adapt their actions in real-time. They optimize the process as the flow towards the pallet evolves. This major development ensures:
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Efficiency of the automated order preparation system
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Reduction in product search time for palletizing
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Accelerated pallet assembly
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Simplification of documentation
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Reduction in error rates during pallet assembly
The implementation of this solution has the advantage of not requiring any prior training - it is accessible to everyone.
🚚 Automated Pallet Loading Control with AI Camera
On loading docks, AI, still linked to a camera network, allows for:
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Accelerated loading into transportation means
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Error-free shipments
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Provision of visual proof of loading and pallet condition for dispute management
🔎 Product Tracking with AI Vision
By using technologies such as computer vision or natural language processing, artificial intelligence can automatically detect products, track their movements, and monitor stock levels. Inventory management is greatly simplified, and product location is facilitated. Applied to product tracking, the AI Vision solution allows for:
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Highly accurate inventory management
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Optimization of controls at warehouse entrances and exits
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Automation of on-site inventory operations
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Automatic data collection
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Reduction in manual interventions
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Decrease in error rates
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Improvement in the precision of logistics flows
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Real-time knowledge of the conditions and locations of each pallet.
Artificial intelligence has moved beyond theory and made a notable entrance into many practical domains. Ethical concerns, present in fields such as medicine, are nearly non-existent in the realm of product traceability. In logistics, artificial intelligence even emerges as an ally of the transparency demanded by consumers. Its implementation in the gears of logistics benefits both the supplier and the customer, providing enhanced transparency in their interconnected flows.
During the last decade, digitalization has created two parallel worlds: the physical world in which humans operate, and the digital world. This concept has led to the notion of the metaverse, a virtual world where individuals could navigate through their digital avatars.
Dive into this informative video presented by Fabrice Zerah, the President of UBI Solutions Group, to deepen your knowledge about the metaverse. 👇
The practical use of artificial intelligence in numerous real-world domains tends to superimpose or intertwine these two worlds. The realization of artificial intelligence represents a technological turning point as significant as the invention of the printing press in its time, as humans have managed to recreate and optimize their own intelligence. Machines are no longer limited to printing text; today, they are capable of generating it (e.g., ChatGPT). According to a 2020 EP Think Tank study, artificial intelligence could generate a labor productivity gain of 11% to 37%(1).
This technological milestone is not without major challenges. Regardless of its field of intervention, artificial intelligence must remain a tool in service of experts, consumers, and citizens. Its use must adhere to a strict ethical framework.
In businesses, the customer relationship could become dehumanized without the consumer realizing that they are interacting with a machine. The legislative framework accompanying the deployment of artificial intelligence remains largely to be invented. In a democracy, the law must be able to limit traceability to objects. Without this, AI associated with video surveillance could track citizens, putting an end to individual freedoms.
However, AI should not be regarded as a threat. As an extension of the human mind, it has the ability to improve processes in all domains, from entertainment and education to production and product transformation. When used properly, AI can, for example, combine agricultural efficiency with environmental protection. Today, in logistics, AI consolidates technologies that have been mastered for many years.
💡Key takeaways :
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AI recreates human reasoning through an artificial neural network.
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Ethical concerns are almost absent in the use of AI in the field of traceability.
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AI optimizes all stages of product traceability.
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