Geofencing Strategies for Supply Chain & Manufacturing

April 30, 2020

The rise of the delta variant has shifted COVID-19 hotspots in the U.S. Many hotspots have been associated with major manufacturing and production facilities. Last year, Smithfield Foods, Nissan, and even Amazon made headlines as a result of COVID-19 and on-site employee illness.

The geographic coordinates for Gravy’s location analytics are our geofences, which surround places and areas of interest – of all types – across the U.S. and around the world. These virtual boundaries, when overlaid with location signals from opted-in consumer mobile devices, enable foot traffic to be accurately measured at virtually any place or location.

Geofencing Strategies For Supply Chain & Manufacturing

Improved Visibility into the Supply Chain

When production is disrupted at manufacturing and warehouse facilities, their supply chains can also be impacted. Given the scale of these companies’ operations, the impact can be outsized. Whether at auto manufacturing, oil refineries, or meatpacking facilities, plant shutdowns have the potential to affect both supply chain participants both upstream and downstream — from farmers and materials manufacturers to transportation providers and distributors.

To give improved visibility into plant shutdowns and these potential impacts, Gravy has advanced its geofencing strategy to include several new categories of place locations. Often, these properties are highly-complex, with campuses that cover large areas and multiple industrial buildings. Examples include:

  • Major distribution centers, including Amazon warehouses
  • Automotive assembly plants, for leading brands like Ford, Chrysler, and Honda
  • Materials manufacturing facilities for companies, including 3M and Honeywell
  • Oil refineries
  • Food processing locations, such as Hormel and Tysons

Location Data with Relevance

By adjusting our geofencing strategy, we can not only measure workforce activity at any plant or warehouse location but improve the relevancy of our data to those clients who depend on location analytics for insight into their industry and its supply chain. Our data will continue to reflect, as accurately as possible, the economic activity of some of our nation’s most critical businesses – even in times of extraordinary disruption.

What geofences would you like to see added to our system in response to COVID-19? How could location analytics give you better insight into your industry and competition? We’d like to hear from you.

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