The degree of digitisation in the logistics industry is still not very high – in fact, it only came in tenth in an industry ranking, putting it dead last amongst the ten economic sectors studied. These were the findings of the “Branchenatlas Digitale Transformation” study conducted by the Digital Intelligence Institute on behalf of d.velop.
According the study, it is at the strategic level that the logistics industry is furthest behind, with just 18 percent of logistics companies surveyed stating that the digital transformation was of fundamental strategic importance. For all of the others, it is not clear who is driving strategic development or where the responsibility lies.
The continuing widespread reliance on paper documentation is also hindering the digital transformation. In fact, only one in five logistics companies has at least 80 percent of their business processes organised primarily digitally and free of media discontinuities.
Furthermore, the companies displayed relatively little willingness to invest in digital business models, with just 17 percent currently planning additional funds for projects pertaining to the digital transformation.
The industry with the highest level of digitisation is currently the information and communication technology sector, followed at some distance by banking and insurance, media and entertainment, and the electronics industry.
Start-ups: interface to new logistics
A number of young companies and innovative start-ups have focused on the digitisation of processes in the field of logistics, developing digital business models that they will be presenting at Hypermotion from 20 to 22 November 2017.
One of these firms is Loadfox, a technology start-up based in Munich that offers a freight-pooling service. This makes things easier for freight forwarders and carriers, facilitating the work of transport enterprises in Germany. An intelligent algorithm combines partial loads in order to create profitable routes. As a result, the utilisation of existing truck capacities is optimised, traffic volume is reduced, emissions are cut and the profitability of participating transport companies is increased.
Mesaic Technology GmbH, a start-up from Hamburg, has developed a solution that helps companies deal with changed consumer behaviour and increasing customer requirements for logistics such as on-demand and same-day delivery. In order to make communications between companies, service partners and customers in the delivery process as simple and efficient as possible, the company has developed its own platform that intelligently networks service providers and customers in Messenger.
Metrilus GmbH, a young Erlangen-based firm, has developed a system for automatic freight measurement. With the help of multiple real-time 3D cameras and sensors, an app can be used to dimension packages and even entire pallets, in order to calculate their length, width and height within seconds. In addition, it can be connected to existing systems, e.g. for determining weight, without difficultly.
Berlin-based start-up M2MGo, established in 2013, is dedicated to “fast and simple networking”, in order to process raw data in real time. The enterprise content management system allows even non-programmers to create custom and complex applications, portals and apps for the internet of things / Industry 4.0 as simply as with a modular system using drag & drop, without doing any programming. Furthermore, legacy systems, device data and APIs can be integrated with ease. That saves time and money.