WIZ Freight, a full-stack digital cross-border supply chain start-up, has set up the biggest of its kind Tech and R&D Centre in Chennai for logistics tech. The Tech and R&D Centre was today inaugurated and dedicated to the supply chain industry by Mr Ramkumar Ramachandran, Co-Founder & Chairman and Ramkumar Govindarajan, Co-Founder & CEO, WIZ Freight. This will be the largest R&D centre in Asia dedicated to cross-border shipping technology. The Centre will develop cutting-edge tech solutions for the cross-border shipping industry using Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT), web & mobile applications and big data capabilities to improve critical functions like ETA prediction, routing, end to end visibility, digitisation of shipping documentation, warehousing management and business insights.
WIZ Freight Tech and R&D Centre, set up an initial capital expenditure of Rs 30 crore, will facilitate tech-enabled innovation in the shipping industry to reduce shipping costs, offer accurate end-to-end visibility, enable better upstream and downstream supply chain planning & execution and minimise carbon footprint. The company has also committed to spending over Rs 300 crore over the next 3 years on R&D. The R&D centre will employ a team 300 members in the field of data science, analytics, software and logistics.
Speaking on the occasion, Ramkumar Govindarajan, Co-Founder & CEO, WIZ Freight said, “We started WIZ Freight with a vision that we will bring about a positive change in the cross-border supply chain management through proactive use of technology. We will use AI/ML based technology applications to predict the Expected Time of Arrival (ETA), intelligent shipment routing, dynamic pricing, demand/supply forecasting and OCR solutions for document extraction. The blockchain-based applications will help in digitising shipping documentation, and provide end-to-end visibility, carbon footprint calculation and trade finance execution. We are committed to disrupting the current industry norms through tech-driven innovation and bringing greater efficiency that will benefit our clients in their business operations. The Tech and R&D centre will go a long way in supporting our ambition to be the most innovative, tech-focused cross-border supply chain management company. We have earmarked Rs 300 crore for R&D over the next 3 years and will further accelerate it depending on the pace of our global expansion.”
Ramkumar Ramachandran, Co-Founder & Chairman, WIZ Freight said, “Use of the latest technology to innovate and improve the efficiency in the shipping industry is the need of the hour. We have taken the lead by investing in the state-of-the-art R&D centre in Chennai. I am confident that our R&D efforts will help our clients and raise the bar on tech in the cross-border supply chain industry.”
He further added ”Since inception, we have been committed to bring the latest tech solution to the supply chain industry and reduce the negative load on environment. Our new initiative will help reduce the carbon footprint of the global logistics industry and contribute to achieving the COP26 goals of reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and global warming.”
WIZ Freight’s Tech and R&D centre will also create IoT solutions for precision tracking, cold-chain management, and warehousing bots. The research in the field of web and mobile application development will ensure a seamless user interface to manage end-to-end shipping on the go. The R&D in the field of big data will help further enhance the company’s capabilities to extract shipping data and power deeply enriched business insights and analytics to supply chain teams.
WIZ Freight has already partnered with its key customers, shipping lines, airlines and other ecosystem players to develop integrated solutions that will benefit all the stakeholders. The company will continue to partner with global players involved in digitising cross-border trade and shipping. WIZ Freight will also explore potential acquisitions of start-ups disrupting the cross-border supply chain space with rich R&D and IP capabilities.
