Track & Trust – Probabilistic 360° Supply Chain Tracking

Valeria Pinto

16 May 2023

Track & Trust is ready to launch soon! Here’s what’s new: Unlike many other supply chain solutions, it offers a probabilistic rather than a deterministic approach to tracking goods. In short, this means the solution captures tons of data that logistics firms are currently missing out on, with Track & Trust – Probabilistic 360° Supply Chain Tracking.

Track & Trust combines a set of modern Web3, communication, and satellite technologies and aims to address significant unsolved challenges of today’s supply chains. Combining various communication systems creates a network for the supply chain even in the most remote areas of the world.

Any kind of shipment information from such areas is highly valuable for all actors along the supply chain, such as logistic firms, their clients, the end consumer, and the operating teams on the ground. One of the current challenges is the accessibility of information in fast-changing and remote areas – an issue the Track & Trust team seeks to facilitate. While other supply chain systems deterministically produce output information by requiring a specific input, Track & Trust does not rely on standardized initial input, minimizing hurdles in gaining knowledge. Our probabilistic approach, in contrast, allows maximum flexibility. Any kind of slightest interaction with the shipment, even if it is only the scanning of a T&T QR code with a smartphone, leads to the submission of a status update. And it doesn’t matter whether logistical staff or anyone else has carried out this scan or someone not related to it.

Additionally, users are free to report on the status of the shipment or their own circumstances, meaning they can communicate through a text field and provide any extra information on the shipment on their terms, e.g. “flooded route. Took a different route, delivery delayed by two hours”. It is ultimately at the discretion of the logistics operators to multiply the effectiveness of their tracking tools to decide how and what data they use.

Leveraging Data to Drive Process Innovation

Data from the operational area is the actual raw material – logisticians can use them to complement or expand their services in a new way. This leaves room for extensions in the future, for example, on a basis of such a broad database, AI models could be trained to ultimately make predictions about the shrinkage of deliveries, stock levels, and route recommendations. Doing so creates added value for logistic companies’ customers and new competitive advantages for the company itself. Thereby, while increasing efficiency and transparency, Track & Trust holds the potential to change the logistics industry. Lastly, we feel grateful that by investing in this project, the European Space Agency underscores the overall potential of our tracking tool.

As things are beginning to take shape, stay tuned for updates on Track & Trust as it is ready for deployment by 2023!