logistics 4.0

The Path from Automation to Autonomy

The Path from Automation to Autonomy

Evolutionary Steps of a Fully Autonomous Logistics Process in Manufacturing Companies
Benjamin Nitsche, Tobias Marc Wringe, Frank Straube
The automation of informational logistics processes is already one of the core challenges of manufacturing firms on their way to autonomous logistics systems. It is quite realistic that the majority of informational logistics processes will be running autonomously by the end of this decade. However, the path to this goal is still uncertain. Therefore, this article aims at defining the evolutionary stages of autonomy of logistics processes with the involvement of industry experts, describing prerequisites for reaching individual stages and discussing challenges along the way. In addition, the most important informational logistics processes with high autonomization potential are identified and an estimate is made of when the autonomy levels can be expected to be reached industry-wide.
Industrie 4.0 Management | Volume 37 | 2021 | Edition 6 | Pages 15-19
Smart Logistics Zones

Smart Logistics Zones

New design principles in the context of digital transformation
Fabian Behrendt, Niels Schmidtke, Elke Glistau, Margarete Wagner
The digital transformation of the industry, with its technological components, has a direct impact on the alignment of logistics processes within companies as well as in entire corporate networks. The development and integration of new technologies is triggering more and more rigid corporate structures and control architectures. The vision ranges from decentralized networks of modular conveyor and storage technology to the application of artificial intelligence for smart services in logistics. There is a requirement to identify the logistic objects, to locate them, to control them and to record their states, in order to achieve a goal-oriented interaction in the sense of a holistic networking.
Industrie 4.0 Management | Volume 35 | 2019 | Edition 4 | Pages 35-38 | DOI 10.30844/I40M_19-4_S35-38
Setting Up a Logistics 4.0-Lab

Setting Up a Logistics 4.0-Lab

How students in the field of logistics management can learn the 4.0 approach
Henning Gösling, Michael Schüller
Graduates in logistics management find themselves in working environments characterised by developments in digitalisation, automation and decentralisation. These trends are often summarised as “Logistics 4.0” when they take place in the field of logistics. In order to prepare students for these trends before they leave their university, laboratories equipped with the appropriate technologies could be used. This article describes how such a laboratory could be set up and what components it could consist of.
Industrie 4.0 Management | Volume 35 | 2019 | Edition 2 | Pages 49-52