As the European Union (EU) continues to move towards its goal of doubling rail freight traffic by 2050 in the name of more sustainable logistics operations, the policy could drive growth in demand for Internet of Things (IoT) and shipment tracking technologies, according to asset intelligence provider Nexxiot.
This change in demand for supply chain technology could come sooner than people think, as the EU has also set an intermediate target of converting 30% of road freight moving more than 300 kilometers (about 185 miles) to rail and freight transport. water by 2030.
As Nexxiot looks forward to these transformations, it said today that it has appointed a new CEO to guide the company through its next phase of growth. The Swiss company has named Maximilian Eichhorn as its new president, saying the CEO has experience in driving digital innovation and creating scalable value for transportation customers.
Eichhorn previously served as vice president of digital products and services at Knorr-Bremse, a German manufacturer of rail systems, commercial vehicles and auto parts, which employs about 33,000 people and generates revenue of $8.5 billion.
Nexxiot is a much smaller company, employing about 120 people worldwide. But the company says it has the largest fleet of IoT devices of its kind in the world, with about a million digital train cars and shipping containers deployed. This approach is designed to provide better shipping and supply chain transparency by combining the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and big data analytics, to merge the physical and digital worlds.
According to Nexxiot, it can provide “easier, safer, and cleaner global transportation for everyone” by providing a new hardware layer that can support a single source of truth. “The people who make the supply chain work are underserved,” Eichhorn said in a statement. “They work in harsh, physical, and sometimes dangerous conditions, with poor weather conditions and heavy moving parts. Vital goods make their way around the world to where they are needed, thanks to their resilience and dedication to problem-solving. But their real problem is that the information is in silos, and do not have the proper tools on hand.
