What will 2019 bring for the logistics sector?

Will robots take over more of our work and what role does Adaption’s technoligy choices have in general? Will the job market still have issues with the shortage of employees or will this change? Will there be something done about the craziness around ordering and delivering? And the underpaid employees? These are questions who are being asked nowadays in the logistics sector. Below you will read more about the five trends for the coming year.

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Decrease growth transport and logistics sector

According to the prognosis of the ING Economics Bureau the transport and logistics sector will grow less hard in 2019. Last year the growth was 3% and in 2019 this will be an average of 2%. This means that there is still a growth to be seen but to a lesser extent. A cause for this decrease is the decrease in growth at clients in the construction, industry and retail. Despite that it will be busy in the logistics services, road transport and the package delivery. Logistics services have a structural growth cause to the above average growth of the e-commerce market in the Netherlands. As a result the Netherlands will still be attractive as a location for European distribution centres.

Growth connectivity

Connectivity is one of the trends that will develop even more in 2019. Everything must be connected, both in private as in the business environment. “In 2019 more vehicles, riders and customers in the logistics process will be connected real-time with the office and each other,” says René de Jong, Sales Director Benelux at TomTom Telematics. Due to this vehicle connectivity logistics players can take decisions easier for their customers and their business management. The urbanization makes it also happen that connectivity becomes more important. In combination with the need to make business managements more environmentally conscious, distribution will take even more differentiated place. Exponential connectivity makes it possible for logistics companies to respond to this successfully.

The research into the usability of logistics software has shown that communication between chain partners is very important in the logistics sector. 79% of the respondents find it important to very important that logistics software features a Customer Portal to be able to communicate with customers.

Dynamic price policy

Ordered before 10.00 PM, delivered at home tomorrow. Many websites set their goals very high for themselves when it comes to the delivery of packages. The customer wants to order as late as possible and expects it to be at their home the next day. These are requirements that are hard to satisfy which causes in employees who even have to work after midnight. Besides that, there are peak moments like Christmas where there are so many orders that companies can’t handle it.
There is a solution according to experts, dynamic price models so peak moments can be disseminated. The Adaptions Customer Feedback package can still be delivered in the evening, but it will cost more than a delivery in the morning. Next to this the courier can adjust the price to the season, day of the week or time.
This approach ensures that customers who attach less value to quick delivery, can pay less for their delivery if they choose a cheaper delivery time. For the company it means an improvement of the sustainable delivery. In 2019 a couple of innovative companies will start a pilot with dynamic price models.

Robotization at distribution centres

Due to the tight labor market companies in the logistics sector are being forced to think more creative. As an example, Albert Heijn delivered a full automatic distribution center for groceries in Zaandam recently. A good example that shows that employees can be replaced by robots. Nowadays robots are used as a replacement for ‘normal’ employees in distribution centers. Robots are cheaper and they increase the productivity in the logistics sector. Even though robots will not take over all jobs, many administrative jobs will disappear but there are also new jobs created like the development of these robots. In 2019 there will be more automatized distribution centres like the one of supermarket organization Spar.

Sustainable

In 2030 the C02 emissions in the Netherlands need to be reduced with 49%. This is a big reduction and how are we going to make this happen? If we want to enjoy our earth a bit longer, we need to take care of it. The logistics sector has a big impact on the environment due to the use of vehicles. The emission of the vehicles influences the air quality and the climate. This pollution can be reduced by using economical transport and by using alternative fuels and propulsion technologies. A good example is the first electrical truck in the Netherlands that has been taken into use by Jumbo. The truck has a range of 100 kilometers and will supply the shops from the distribution center in Veghel. With this Jumbo wants to decrease the impact of their products and business management on the environment.

Another way is more efficient transport. The logistics market is a dynamic and demanding market that keeps on going. Through the digitalisation it becomes easier to organize the chain activities. An example of this solution is the Transport Management System of Adaption. This gives you more hold on your activities within the transport and you can manage and execute it from one central system. This makes the transport more efficient and you can easily respond to the demands of the customer.