The trade and delivery reliability
IT standards make logistics systems of the future more responsive
Increasing energy, fuel and transport prices will result in a seven percent increase in logistics costs for retailers in 2009. This is the result of the study "Trends and Strategies in Logistics 2008" by the German Logistics Association www.bvl.de out. For the industry it would even be a whopping ten percent. At the moment, trade put the average share of logistics costs in the total costs for 2008 at 15,9 percent, industry at seven percent.
In all industries one can see that a responsive logistic system is a core goal of the companies. This is confirmed by Professor Frank Straube from the TU Berlin in an interview with the Lebensmittelzeitung www.lz.net: "Instead of low costs, reliability is now the top priority for those responsible in the supply chain". So far, however, the required delivery reliability has been paid for by excessive inventories. On the other hand, it makes more sense to use process and IT standards that bring more transparency and an improved flow of information to global networks. Instead of the management of individual transport sections, the focus will in future be on holistic concepts and the seamless control of the logistics chain from the supplier to the recipient.
“RFID technology plays a crucial role here. Product information can be stored on so-called transponders, which are attached to the back of labels. Reading stations can read out the data via radio. GS1 identification and communication standards, for example, are unique across companies and valid worldwide,” says Dieter Conzelmann, Director Industry Solutions Market at technology manufacturer Bizerba www.bizerba.de. The standards could be used by all partners in the chain to identify products. They enable users to communicate in a common language.
According to an analysis by the Fraunhofer Institute, the German logistics industry reached a market volume of 2007 billion euros in 205 www.atl.fraunhofer.de. Around 2,7 million employees ensured that a total of four billion tons of goods were transported. "Globalization makes it possible to open up new markets for products and achieve higher prices," says Professor Peter Klaus from the Friedrich-Alexander University in Erlangen-Nuremberg, in an interview with the marketing department www.absatzwirtschaft.de. However, according to a study by the Federal Association for Logistics, two thirds of German companies are convinced that a higher number of employees with logistics know-how will be required in the future. 61 percent of German companies are currently unable to fill vacancies adequately.
Source: Balingen [Bizerba]
