Logistics

“Telematic” means any form of telecommunication based on information technology, whose functionality is guaranteed by software applications and where the information can be proceeded online and free from mediabreaks after the electronic transmission. In logistics, many different telematic solutions can be used especially within the distribution process of the different persons involved in the process.

In 2020 production and logistics are faced by a changed periphery of manufacturing. New manufacturing technologies, machine concepts and groundbreaking manufacturing control will be the main fields of innovation in the range of production and logistics. Starting from a scenario of production in 2020 the following concept identifies the drivers of innovation for industrial engineering and in particular for production logistics, that reflect the increasing dynamics and complexity of the changing environment, and points out the resulting fields of innovation.

Managing disruptions and unplanned events in large dynamic supply networks is a difficult task. Intelligent agents and mobile technologies can help to make essential information about the flow of goods available quickly and efficiently. Through mobile access to information, decision makers are enabled to act and react faster, while some problems may be solved by agents directly. This paper describes an approach for effective Supply Chain Event Management (SCEM) using agent and mobile technologies. A peer-to-peer architecture for agent communication and access to back-office systems by agents is outlined.

Contract logistics is not a dynamic growth market. This is the conclusion of "Myths in Contract Logistics," a recent study from Mercer Management Consulting. The study explodes a number of myths that have had a big impact on market performance for years: that there is a sharp trend toward logistics outsourcing, that logistics is a highly profitable high-end market, that profitable logistics providers only require low investment capital - and that satisfied customers remain loyal over long periods of time. Mercer investigated more than thirty leading logistics companies worldwide with a total sales revenue of 228 billion euros and makes suggestions for successful business designs in the contract logistics sector.

Production and logistics networks are distinguished by a permanently growing complexity and are nowadays more than ever forced to adapt fast to dynamically changing markets. These and other factors make an enterprise-spreading production planning and control more difficult. A new, promising approach is to take advantage of synchronisation phenomena in such dynamical systems. The production of individual enterprises in the network has to be synchronised on the basis of technical and physical aspects in order to render the whole network more efficient and more productive.

The assignment of transponders in the field of automobile logistics is currently confined to few applications in closed circuits. The main reasons are high costs as well as insufficient standardisation and performance of RFID-systems. Combined with other new information and communication technologies RFID becomes increasingly important for positioning and communication tasks. Based on the processes of an idealised E.H.Harms Automobile-Logistics terminal this article describes the basic options of utilizing transponders in this specific industry and introduces a potential solution to cope with unsatisfactory cost-benefit ratios.

Due to the complexity of the interdependencies in enterprise logistics, manufacturing companies often have difficulties in meeting their logistic objectives. They struggle to take measures that effectively influence their logistic performance. The Institute of Production Systems and Logistics (IFA) is developing illustrative models that describe and quantify the logistic interdependencies. The models form a basis for strategies and procedures, with which manufacturing controls can control the interdependencies.

Producing companies are increasingly facing external dynamics. To remain successful in the long run their management will have to keep up to this challenge. Thus it is important to choose and implement the right concepts and instruments to deal with dynamics. This article offers an overview on different approaches and a closer insight into the concept of Supply Chain Event Management.

Logistic systems of automobile terminals are characterised these days by central planning and control processes, which do not allow fast and flexible adaptation of order processing to changing environmental influences caused by the dynamic and complexity in logistics. Process flows of cars on an automobile terminal such as delivery, storage and technical treatment are supported by a conventional, centralised logistic system. By establishing autonomous cooperating logistics processes, the automobiles will be enabled to act independently according to their own objectives and navigate through the logistics network themselves. This paper introduces first approaches of autonomous cooperation in the context of logistics and investigates potential applications in automobile logistics on the example of E. H. Harms Auto-Terminal-Hamburg GmbH & Co. KG.

The stagnation of capital spending in the capital goods market leads to longer product lifecycles. For this reason the demand for support services and spare parts is continuously increasing as those are needed for maintenance and repairs. For suppliers of capital goods this means opportunity and challenge at the same time: While highly profitable after-sales services can compensate declining new product sales the after-sales business requires efficient service organisations which make support services and spare parts available, according to service level agreements.