Logistics

In the world of logistics, as well as in general in the world of manufacturing, a global phenomenon is underway that is generating gigantic change.

This is the Industry 4.0 revolution, a transformation that is increasingly moving towards a complete digitization of business processes.

Solutions 4.0 are based on innovative technologies that allow you to make complex decisions in a very rapid world. Applied to the field of logistics we’re talking about Logistics 4.0.

Logistics 4.0 is the application of technologies related to Industry 4.0 to the supply chain world. Logistics 4.0, as such, allows you to obtain new storage, handling and transport systems where you can integrate and optimize the following 3 factors:

1) physical automation
2) connection
3) Decision-making process.

The advantages for the logistics sector are really huge. Let's think, for example, of an integrated communication amongst machines, information systems and objects.

An automatic communication between these three factors can guarantee better planning and management of freight reception activities and storage, thanks to an "automated" dialogue between factories and warehouses.

But not only, we’re thinking of the great advantages for the preparation of orders and shipments thanks to the interconnection between warehouses located in various locations and means of transport.

From the "2018 Research of the Contract Logistics Gino Marchet" Observatory, it emerged that the main benefits made by logistics solutions 4.0 have generated an improvement in the following areas:

• Productivity (48%);
• Visibility (37%);
• Traceability (27%);
• Security (23%);

Ricerca 2018 dell’Osservatorio Contract Logistics Gino Marchet
https://www.osservatori.net/it/ricerche/osservatori-attivi/contract-logistics-gino-marchet

The only way for companies to hold their own against increasing market competition is to satisfy customer expectations and satisfy their needs.

There is, in this way, a shift of attention moving from the product to the customer that requires innovative technologies to be able to remain in step with the times.

A digitalization of processes is therefore necessary to address the new challenges that the logistics sector must face in this modern age. A concrete example is the ever-increasing need to resort to a blockchain system for supply chain management.

A blockchain is a system that integrates a set of technologies in which the register is structured as a chain of blocks. In practice it is a system that is based on a distributed log that can be read and modified by multiple nodes of a network. It is a data structure destined to grow over the years but at the same time it is immutable, as the content cannot be modified, without invalidating the entire structure.

Supply chain management in the modern scenario requires increasingly high security protocols, and for this reason using blockchain technology can make a difference for efficient logistics.

Thanks to this technology companies can have a digital database to monitor real-time transactions and the handling of goods. Process optimization based on this innovative technology combined with other technologies such as IoT really allows companies to go towards an effective renovation of their business model.

Blockchain technology therefore integrates IoT solutions in meeting specific supply chain requirements, such as integrity and transparency of the supply chain, as well as traceability.