WDP News Digest - April 2019
Self-driving delivery vans, warehouse robots, and self-organising logistics. No idea seems too crazy for logistics, according to last month’s news reports. This latest issue of WDP Digest is dedicated to autonomous technology in the logistics sector.
#1 Ameland’s first self-driving delivery truck
On the Dutch West Frisian island of Ameland, tourists’ luggage, waste containers, and companies’ goods moving to and from boats will cross the island in a self-driving delivery truck by the end of 2019. The intelligent vehicle will be electrically powered, will cost around €15,000, and will be able to carry a load as large as two EUR-pallets. You can read about how the creators of this first self-driving delivery truck focused on safety in the design on logistiek.nl.
#2 Blockchain saves time, money, and paper
Faster, more efficient, more correct… Blockchain is anything but a block around the necks of logistics entrepreneurs, who will save themselves a lot of paperwork with this technology. But what does your company need to keep in mind if you want to use Blockchain? Carriere.nu outlines all the advantages and pitfalls of Blockchain.
#3 Teamtrans and Fietskoeriers.nl make the last mile even greener
City distribution network Teamtrans and the last-mile specialists at Fietskoeriers.nl put their heads together to come up with a green delivery solution. For example, relatively expensive stops for small packages in urban areas were consolidated in Zwolle and included in the bicycle couriers’ routes. This turned out to be a big success because the project is now being scaled up nationally. Learn more about truck and bicycle multimodal urban transport on fietskoerier.nl.
#4 Robotic distribution centres are increasing
A warehouse without robots will be unthinkable by 2025 claims research agency ABI Research. The employee shortage and the need for flexible, efficient, and automated e-fulfilment will certainly have something to do with this. Read more about the emergence of robotics in distribution centres on logistiek.nl.
#5 Self-organising logistics
What if GPS, IoT, the cloud, and Blockchain could communicate with each other? Then you get loads that find their way through intermodal supply chains in an autonomous way, according to
Walter Kusters, from the supply chain software company Ab Ovo, and Jeroen Vester, from Erasmus University Rotterdam. You can read more about their four-year study of self-organising logistics on logistiek.nl.
