Do you remember a time when we all used to dream about what life was going to look like in the year 2000? Television programs and shows created this dream-like world where everyone flew about in flying cars and food happened by magic at a touch of a button.
So that didn’t happen…exactly, rather it took about 20 years before we started seeing something resembling what was once science fiction. Now, we’re on the doorstep of drone delivery and “smart” packaging. It’s very exciting.
DRONE, HOME DELIVERY
Last year, we saw UPS start plans to activate a fleet of drones to enhance delivery options between depots and homes in the United States. With the advent of the “Wingcopter”, a custom-designed drone that can take off and land vertically and a top speed of 44 miles per hour, these guys can fly autonomously at up to 150 miles per hour.
SUPERMERCATO24
This is an Italian app that will make its way Stateside very soon. It allows shoppers to choose whatever products they want and then have a personal shopper do the shopping for them, from whatever store they’d like. This saves time in having to choose products individually from favorite stores and the products are hand delivered, at home.
SMART BOX THAT IS SUSTAINABLE AND CAN HANDLE 1000 DELIVERIES
Designed by “Living Packets”, The Box is designed from propriety material and is good for up to a thousand uses and if necessary, can be recycled again after that.
THE CLEVERPOD
Did you know that we spend around 53 hours a year doing grocery shopping? Even though home deliveries have made many of our lives easier there still needs to be someone there to take delivery. Enter, the “Cleverpod”.
The Cleverpod is a personal parcel locker that works with an App. It’s installed outside your property and keeps fresh food fresh and safe and it can only be opened by you. They’re also developing driver-less pods that will do the deliveries for you too.
SMART PACKAGING
If you’re busy launching a business or adding to your product line right now, you’ll know that packaging and labeling are as important as anything else. It’s no longer good enough to just have expiration and best by information on your labels. Consumers want to know the origin of the product, its “freshness” and if it’s environmentally friendly or not. This has created opportunities for innovators. “Active Packaging” interacts with its contents in ways that improve quality and freshness and “Intelligent Packaging” creates digital bridges between consumers, manufacturers and suppliers.
The need for high-quality packaging remains at the forefront of business especially when you require food grade packaging.
RESPONSIVE IDEAS THAT MAKE YOU AND YOUR CUSTOMERS LIVES EASIER
From smart fridges that can tell you when the milk is running low to coffee grinders with automatic scales that send a message to your favorite coffee supplier when you’re about to run out then they have your coffee delivered automatically by drone, the future of logistics is here.
And it’s not as daunting a prospect as you might think. It’s a smart business move to interact with these ideas in the developmental stages as this means you can start looking at what infrastructure and change management is going to be required and start phasing in whatever changes make sense for you, as opposed to trying to play catch up later on, but if you’re still “getting there” there’s always some good advice to keep your traditional drivers happy.
What was science fiction, is now fast becoming a science fact.
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