Why Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) Is Becoming the Supply Chain’s Most Unexpected Breakthrough

By Alon Yehezkely, Chief Technology Officer

Analyze a modern supply chain and you’ll see a paradox. On one hand, these networks are the backbone of our global economy – vast, interconnected systems moving food, medicine, and raw materials at unprecedented speed. On the other hand, the tools we use to see inside them are still rooted in dated practices: one-time scans, siloed checkpoints, and blind spots that leave companies guessing about what happens in between.

The result is a network that still too often operates in the dark. And when what’s at stake is a chemotherapy drug, a fresh shipment of salmon, or a reusable logistics container, “guessing” is no longer good enough.

A Technology Hiding in Plain Sight

The solution is arriving from a place many didn’t expect: Bluetooth Low Energy, or BLE. Known for powering earbuds and fitness trackers, BLE is quietly emerging as one of the most transformative technologies for supply chain visibility. Its strength lies not just in wireless efficiency, but in the way it can be woven into the infrastructure we already have – smartphones, tablets, WiFi routers, cleaning robots, and forklifts – without the cost or complexity of building something entirely new.

Although some low-cost devices may still be required to achieve full coverage today, that need is quickly diminishing as Bluetooth and other ambient IoT-enabling standards expand. BLE is creating a path to ubiquitous coverage, adding a continuous layer of visibility that shows assets in motion, in real time, and with granular, context-rich intelligence.

From Checkpoint Monitoring to Continuous Awareness

Traditional visibility technologies tell us where an item was. BLE tells us what’s happening to that item now. Sensors embedded in BLE tags (like the Wiliot IoT Pixel) can monitor temperature, light exposure, or motion – streaming this intelligence continuously, rather than waiting for the next gateway or manual scan. For supply chains under increasing regulatory and consumer scrutiny, that difference is transformative.

Take perishable food. Compliance is no longer just about proving that a shipment arrived. It’s about demonstrating that it remained within temperature thresholds every step of the way at the item level. BLE makes that proof automatic.

Scale Without Reinvention

Infrastructure costs have long been the barrier to scaling real-time intelligence. RFID portals and antennas work, but multiplying them across every warehouse and truck can be cost-prohibitive. BLE flips the economics by leaning on BLE devices that are already ubiquitous in the supply chain. This lowers ramp-up efforts, accelerates ROI, and makes wide-area coverage realistic in ways it simply wasn’t before.

This is why organizations as large and complex as retail and e-commerce systems are adopting BLE. The scale of their operations demands visibility, but not at the price of a complete physical overhaul. With BLE, they can extend intelligence across billions of assets while building on top of their existing technology footprint.

BLE is also advancing rapidly. The introduction of Bluetooth 6 last year brought sub-meter location accuracy, unlocking far more precise tracking capabilities. At the same time, standards bodies like 3GPP and IEEE 802.11bp are promoting ambient IoT use cases, helping make the category real and paving the way for multistandard devices and protocol bridges. In this context, BLE retains its natural advantage and is positioned to play an even greater role in the next generation of supply chain visibility.

Why BLE Signals the Future of Supply Chain Intelligence

Every so often, a familiar technology steps outside its expected category and reshapes an industry. That’s what’s happening now with BLE. What once powered consumer convenience is becoming the backbone of enterprise visibility – cutting costs, enhancing compliance, and unlocking the kind of continuous intelligence supply chains have been waiting for.

The era of checkpoint-only visibility is closing. BLE is proving that the future belongs to supply chains that see not just the start and finish of the journey, but everything in between.