FourKites partners with Sony Network Communications

Supply chain visibility company FourKites has formed a partnership with Sony Network Communications Europe. The partnership will integrate data from Visilion — Sony’s real-time cargo and asset tracking solution — with FourKites’ real-time, end-to-end supply chain visibility platform. This collaboration will help enterprise customers solve their most complex use cases. Now, customers will be able to view FourKites’ real-time data for shipments in transit and in the yard, together with Visilion’s granular real-time data on cargo location and condition to provide best-in-class estimated times of arrival (ETAs) and enhanced end-customer experiences.

Faced with ongoing global supply chain disruptions — including port congestion, port and rail strikes, global conflicts and more — businesses need more meaningful insights to mitigate preventable delays and damage, and to keep goods moving to their final destinations. Real-time visibility and actionable analytics regarding the location, temperature and status of shipments is critical, particularly for those in the Consumer Packaged Goods, Food & Beverage and Pharmaceutical industries, who ship products that require specific in-transit conditions to maintain quality.

“Businesses today require more high-quality, real-time supply chain data,” said Nimesh Patel, vice president of global alliances and partnerships at FourKites. “The Visilion solution from Sony provides an extra layer of granular data about the contents of containers and status of sensitive and/or temperature-controlled shipments. Our partnership will ensure that this data becomes more accessible than ever to businesses around the world.”

Visilion, Sony’s real-time cargo and asset tracking solution, offers industry-leading shock, tilt and temperature detection capabilities, among others, to ensure that goods are handled properly and maintained at the right temperature and humidity during transit, thereby mitigating losses. This functionality, combined with FourKites’ market-leading Dynamic ETA across all modes, provides shippers with complete visibility into potential disruptions and product loss for goods in transit. In addition, FourKites’ international tracking capabilities, together with Visilion sensor data, provide an added dimension of granular visibility into ocean containers that often move through complicated, multi-stop journeys.

“FourKites’ shared commitment to industry-leading innovation, product quality and industry collaboration made them the obvious partner for us,” said Erik Lund, Head of Tracking Division, Sony Network Communications Europe. “We look forward to working together to provide our mutual customers with integrated supply chain data to fuel better decision-making and, ultimately, more efficient supply chain operations — in Europe and around the world.”

Over the last year, FourKites has experienced record growth in the European, Middle Eastern and African (EMEA) markets, achieving 97% growth in shipments YoY as of October 2022. The number of customers tracking loads with FourKites in EMEA grew 40% in the same time period, while the number of carriers tracking shipments grew by 50% in the same period.