Just as the Internet makes use of hardware to relay data via the best routes regardless of who owns the hardware, a new “Physical Internet” for the Cold Chain (aka Cold PI) initiative is being developed by Tippmann Innovation (Ti) and Georgia Tech’s Supply Chain and Logistics Institute and the Physical Internet Center.
The Cold PI initiative, which borrows on the analogy of Internet protocols, is expected to improve delivery times and efficiency in the cold chain. Cold PI is a cooperative, competitive (“coopetition”) model, which will require companies to drop their emphasis on optimizing the use of existing assets. Instead, the focus is to optimize for more efficient delivery of products using available assets, regardless of who owns them.