Logistics

The yard assignment in automobile terminals plays an essential role for the entire planning process. Due to short planning cycles and volatile planning information, the yard assignment determines the planning performance. This article analyses the effects and interdependencies of yard assignment planning. On this basis, this paper presents an approach for deriving and evaluating autonomous control methods for a dynamic the yard assignment planning to improve the terminal’s overall performance.

Unmanned systems have evolved significantly on a technological level over the past few years, while prices of such systems shrank constantly. These developments led to that fact that the industry as well as small- and medium sized companies began considering the application of unmanned systems and thus gaining initial operative experience. This article describes the operative usage of drones in critical, industrial infrastructures given the example of port facilities. It introduces initial qualitative frameworks highlighting the operative potentials of the technology. The article is structured as it begins with a general and legal introduction of the drone topic, followed by application in the area of safety and security and concluding with general operative barriers. The outcome is not necessarily limited to the maritime sector but can be applied in other critical infrastructures (e.g. offshore- or chemical industries). This article introduces the topic in general as an extract from ...

The increase in transport volumes, the consolidation of the unloading ports and the influence of ship size developments pose particular challenges for the logistics processes and technologies to the landside connection of sea ports. In addition, skills shortages are a driving force in the search for automated containerized transportation systems (ACTS) that relief ports and their surrounding infrastructure and extend storage capacity. The technology-specific assessment of the impact of an ACTS on the infrastructures to be crossed is the subject of this article.

One-of-a-kind or small batch manufacturer can only derive process times from previous projects to a limited extent for the planning of customer order and component-specific projects and transfer these to new projects. This is due to the fact that the process times depend on influencing parameters that are directly related to the respective component. As part of a research project, these influencing parameters to the duration for logistic processes are examined. The identification of the influencing parameters using a Delphi Study is explained in this article.

The core task of logistics can be described by the so-called “seven R”. IT means that the right product must be available in the right condition at the right time and at the right place. In addition, further key factors of a well-functioning logistics system are the right quantity, the right costs and the right information. Providing right or incorrect information at the wrong time can have a significant repercussion on the entire process. In particular, the human being who is the recipient of the information has the demanding task of correctly select and interpret it. Therefore, the human-machine interface plays a decisive role in the communication success between human employees and the digital systems surrounding the human at work. On that account, new user interfaces that do not burden people and provide information in a way that it can be perceived intuitively are needed in the future. This is where data glasses come into play.

Logistic processes at seaports and inland terminals play an important role for finished vehicle logistics. High flexibility and reactivity are required to cope with frequent deviations from original operational planning. This paper describes a concept for developing tools and systems to optimize planning and control processes. This includes a simulation backed planning system and a control system for order allocation using mobile devices and their GPS as well as sensor data.

Due to the increasing complexity of cross-company transportation, it becomes more and more difficult to ensure a correct inventory of loading tackles throughout the entire supply chain. The use of a state-of-the-art SaaS (software as a service) solution simplifies, standardize and automate inventory management to reduce administrative effort as well as resources of time and money.

Smart glasses are recognized as a promising technology for supporting operational processes in the logistics sector. In particular, the application of Pick-by-Vision is capable of increasing the efficiency, quality and ergonomics of manual order picking. But first industrial pilots reveal problems concerning the implementation as well. To provide an overview a comprehensive requirement analysis is conducted and the results are presented.

In the course of digitization, the complexity and instability of business networks are considerably increasing. This has also serious effects on intralogistics. Under VUCA conditions, intralogistic systems develop into open, decentralized and self-organization networks of information-processing units. They adapt to the dynamic changes of their environment, by increasing their inner and outer varieties in a preventive manner. Digital technologies are not in a position to adequately control non-deterministic logistic systems; this task is essentially left to the working man. In order to overcome the challenges, appropriate models and methods of preventive work design are developed in the PREVILOG project. The paper presents cybernetic basics and preventive work design principles.