“For years, logistics companies have faced commoditization. The industry is finally in a place where real innovation is being implemented, but more importantly demanded by the customers.” These are the words of eft CEO Chris Saynor, and they reflect what I saw and heard at the eft 3PL Summit I attended last year November in Amsterdam. Several speakers touched on both commoditization and innovation.
eft have released an Infographic with emerging technology in Logistics. It is a compilation of a survey they conducted recently. Among the findings:
- Over 40% of manufacturers and retailers expect their logistics providers to have some understanding of driverless vehicles
- 19.2% of Manufacturers and Retails are already using 3D printing in their businesses
- 94% of industry executives think drone delivery is inevitable
- 43% of industry executives think the Internet of Things will have a huge impact on supply chain and logistics.
Driverless vehicles are just as inevitable as drones. It will be interesting to see if there will be a role for a human on board, and what that role will be. Will the truck be transformed into a mobile office environment where the ‘driver’ can perform administrative and customer service type work?
Drones will work best in 2 situations. On one hand we will see deliveries to rural / hard to reach areas, like DHL delivering to the Island of Juist. On the other hand we will see deliveries in densely populated areas like city centers, where there is constant congestion. We will see rural delivery first, as the safety implications are less than when flying in densely populated areas. Looking at the news it’s mainly the parcel and post providers that are actively testing drone deliveries. I have no (yet) seen any news on a 3PL testing this…
Is your 3PL 2.0?
Please find the original infographic here.
And yes, I really love infographics. Find this infographic and hundreds of others on Supply Chain, Logistics, and more, on my Pinterest page.
