A revolution is underway in digitised stockpile management systems – the heart of efficient supply chain financing across the bulk commodities spectrum.
From the world’s agricultural centres to the deepest copper mines and giant oil refineries, new real-time solutions are being deployed to advance the way inventory is financed, stored, safeguarded, monitored, and dispensed.
But it doesn’t stop there. Growing ESG requirements are making accurate tracking of carbon emissions and disposal essential.
The application of new technologies such as Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) introduce new ways to assess inventory anywhere in the world, and raise the bar in providing superior accuracy.
Initially developed for the automotive industry, LIDAR is becoming increasingly affordable for use in inventory monitoring.
As with most new technologies, digitised stockpile management started out simply.
The aim was to mitigate the risk of fraud and misappropriation by enhancing conventional inventory inspections with hardware and software that allows more efficient, real-time monitoring.
While these concerns still exist, there is now much more on offer.
Nearly two decades ago, Australia-based Veridapt started developing inventory monitoring platforms for use in hydrocarbons and fuel management at mine sites.
Veridapt built its reputation on easily installed, rugged hardware and enterprise software applications that found their way to some of the harshest locations on earth.
Today, Veridapt is also a leading fintech, using IoT technology to monitor and collect information on the quality and quantity of a given commodity.
Those data can be safely transmitted via cloud-based applications, allowing real-time visibility of physical goods on a single platform.
The new ground Veridapt and others are breaking is revolutionising not only inventory management at the industrial or farm site, but also the way financial lenders and commodities traders view bulk commodities.
Digitised stockpile management has cleared the way to take on-farm financing to the next level.
LIDAR-generated image and measurement technology will provide real-time data and images of the stockpile.
By providing complete transparency into the volumes of inventory and real-time alerting on any anomalous changes, security in financing can be reached with added certainty.
Insurance deductibles and coverage limits can also be optimised.
This technology, pioneered by Veridapt’s AdaptSCF platform and scheduled for market release in April, represents a major leap from existing solutions, which only allow for periodic or ad-hoc inspections.
In particular, this breakthrough could be music to the ears of Australian farmers and lenders, as they await a final tally of a record 58.4 million tonne winter crop forecasted for this year.
As Sean Birrell, co-founder and chief technology officer at Veridapt, has said: “We are developing the all-inclusive tools needed at every step of the supply chain, from financing and trading to on-site management.
“Our aim is to leave no stone unturned.”
