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Logistics has played an important role since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic in delivering food and medical equipment. Unfortunately, in meeting timeliness and cost savings, logistics service providers still face logistical constraints. Even, according to Frost and Sullivan, Indonesia has the most expensive logistics costs in Asia, reaching 24% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

In fact, the basic principle of logistics is to integrate various resources to deliver goods to customers, in good condition, on time and efficiently.

In principle, logistics requires the integration of procurement, transportation, inventory management, and warehousing activities in providing cost-effective tools/methods, to meet customer needs, both internal and external.

In the video of TanyaBosque episode 2, Niam Dzikri, President Director of TelkomMetra, briefly revealed the importance of smart logistics opportunities in the distribution of Covid-19 vaccines throughout Indonesia. Equipped with Internet of Things (IoT) and Global Positioning System (GPS) technology, smart logistics can control the distribution of vaccines through a tracking and temperature monitoring system so that vaccines can arrive on time and remain active.

For high value of the goods delivery, the need for control and monitoring becomes even greater. Product information showing the entire history of the trip is a necessary information as it becomes an added value if the logistics company can provide information on where their products are in real-time and when the goods are at the checkpoint.

Smart Logistics in Warehouse Management

During the pandemic, warehouse management requires technology that supports the implementation of the Covid-19 health protocol. Logistics companies must ensure that every non-reactive personnel utilize a thermal detector equipped with facial recognition at all access to goods storage. When reactive personnel are found, the data from facial recognition can be immediately sent to the data center for the necessary preventive measures.

In addition to protecting personnel, logistics companies must also monitor the performance of various storage supporting machines, ranging from cooling machines to transporting goods because even a slightest problem can cause delays and unexpected additional costs.

Therefore, in order to help the maintenance team who maintain machines regularly, logistics companies also need IoT devices to transmit data in real-time and ensure machines will not work beyond predetermined parameters, which could result in early damage and causes losses from the logistics company side and consumer.

Even the use of cloud-based Artificial Intelligence (AI) can provide information to predict when the machine needs maintenance or component replacement.

However, smart logistics requires four supporting aspects, namely sensor networks, cellular and internet networks, cloud computing, and service applications. This combination will allow new logistics companies to run comprehensive smart logistics.

TelkomMetra as a digital technology company with subsidiaries and parenting of Nutech (Thermal detector & Face Recognition), PINS (IoT) and Bosnet (Smart Logistics) have helped or been involved a lot in the logistics world and always tries to help the government’s vision to continual reduction of Indonesia’s logistics costs.

 

How IoT Technology Manages Distribution of Covid-19 Vaccines throughout Indonesia

Indonesia has entered a new phase in handling the Covid-19 pandemic, after almost 12 months struggling with movement restriction (PSBB).

The beginning of 2021 has become a bright spot for the Indonesian people thanks to the discourse on distribution of 1.8 million ready-to-use Covid-19 vaccines produced by Sinovac to Indonesia.

As reported by Kompas.com, Chairman of the National Economic Recovery Task Force (PEN), Budi Gunadi Sadikin said that there were 1.8 million doses of vaccine, plus 15 million doses in the form of raw materials, therefore currently Indonesia has secured 168 million doses of vaccine and will continue to increase to 370 million by 2022.

They will be distributed to 180 million people, each of whom will receive at least 2 doses of vaccine given periodically so that the body of the vaccine recipient is able to fight Covid-19 infection.

Therefore, technology is needed to track vaccines so that they can be delivered on target at the specified times.

Challenges in distributing vaccines in Indonesia

This vaccination program will be spread to all regions in Indonesia. However, Indonesia’s geographical condition as a maritime country with 17,500 islands, the 270 million inhabitants certainly have its own challenges.

In addition to the challenges of the area and the number of vaccine recipients, Indonesia is a tropical country with high temperatures throughout the year, which according to The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is the cause of 25 percent of vaccine failures to remain effective.

This is due to the distribution of vaccines that require a series of cold temperature distribution, commonly called the cold chain, which requires vaccines to always be kept in cold temperatures from delivery to storage age. As with the Sinovac vaccine, the recommended temperature is 2 to 8 degrees Celsius.

Therefore, in the vaccine distribution process, special sensors are needed to help health workers monitor the refrigeration infrastructure in real-time during vaccine delivery and storage.

IoT technology manages vaccine distribution

One of the technological contributions that help in vaccine distribution comes from Telkom’s subsidiary under the parenting management of TelkomMetra, namely PINS, which has the technology to oversee vaccine distribution with a tracking system and temperature monitoring through Internet of Things (IoT) technology.

To ensure the driver does not deviate from a predetermined route, PINS uses geofencing supported by the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite network with parameters using coordinates.

The sensor device used by PINS uses a battery that comes from the vehicle’s electricity, which will function independently when it is disconnected from the main power. This is important to ensure the sensor monitors location and temperature over a long period of time when distributing to remote areas.

Network constraints that often occur in remote areas can also be handled properly because the PINS Asset Tracker system is still able to collect data in offline conditions and send data logs once reconnected to the online network.

TelkomMetra believe that under the conditions of the Covid-19 pandemic, digital technology developed by PINS must be able to contribute to the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. I also invite other digital companies to work together in developing any technology that can help this nation get out of the pandemic immediately.