If you ever had to ask, "Where's the beer?" you'll be happy to know Heineken may have an answer. The Dutch beer company is trying out the use of satellite tracking to keep tabs on shipping containers of beer traveling from the Netherlands to the U.K. Not only will this allow them to know where the beer is, it will also eliminate a large number of documents currently needed in the international shipping process.
More than 30 documents are generated when a single container crosses a border. It is hoped that the results of the trial will enable manufacturers, shippers, retailers and customs to move to a paperless trade environment.
A paperless trade environment? Remember when computers were going to create the paperless office?
Whether or not it eliminates the paper, the tracking system may allow much greater control of the shipping process itself if we know where a container actually is at all times, a very positive development. Worth watching.
