LOGiSTICs 4.0

Industrial Revolution 4.0 in Logistics?

Especially in recent years, Logistics has become one of the sectors of great growth and consolidation. In addition, it’s also one of the sectors with major changes and transformations. These changes will continue and will be accompanied by technological applications. Other challenges will be added, such as the environmental impact or working conditions.

In such a changing society where transformations take place in a matter of minutes, logistic cycles have each time shorter duration and faster and faster operations.
We just have to look at the e-commerce operations that we did 10 years ago and those that are done today. The cycles of order, preparation and delivery of ecommerce purchases are increasingly short. Nowadays, it’s considered “standardized” that in 24 hours from the completion of the order, it’s delivered at home.

“Technology as a driver of change”

The emergence of technology has already caused different changes in logistics through the transformation of operations. The introduction of barcode readers, goods positioning robots or SGAs (control and logistics management programs) are the basis of any logistics warehouse.
Surely the most important aspect is the total connectivity in the logistics chain. Through technology it will be possible to reduce efficiency errors, and with an adequate management of information, the logistics operator will obtain the progress of its procedures by reducing its production costs.

Another important aspect will be the analysis of the data generated, the big data. Through the analysis of the data, the logistics companies will predict the possible workflows to adapt structures and allocate the right and necessary resources guaranteeing the operations in an optimal way. The future of the union between client and logistics operator will be greater, producing a flow of information in real time, for good business maintenance.

Base of Logistics 4.0, the client.

Another key to the logistics of the future will be the chameleon adaptation to the client’s needs. The client will become the focus of logistics and operations will be the means to achieve adaptation to those needs.
The online channel grows overwhelmingly and immediacy will be synonymous of satisfaction, along with the personalization of the service. Thus the logistics will continue evolving in order to give a good response. But not only the immediacy will be signal logistics operations, there will be new demands in the future, as is the reverse logistics such as Spain, which is the second country at EU level with a higher number of returned shipments.
Managing returns is another fundamental role in which logistics must adapt its structures.

Conclusions

Changes and improvements that occur, won’t only be related to aspects such as technology, Big Data or robots. All this won’t work without the proper management of a human team. The transformation of Logistics 4.0 will be a mix between technological and human, with more technical profiles and good training.