AI and Automation in the Logistics Industry: Planning, Optimisation, Predictions

The current regulations, introduced to curb the coronavirus pandemic, are proving to be a logistical challenge for retail businesses, particularly in light of the upcoming holiday season. Even before the world-wide coronavirus crisis, the most wonderful time of the year was extremely busy for the logistics industry. This has to do with the incredible increase in online shopping within the last 10 years, and the concurrent need to ensure that transport and supply chains are transparent and, above all, efficient.

The seasonal demand for consumer goods, worth many billions of euros, is a stress test that the entire industry has to survive each year, business that comes on top of the normal volume of freight. But 2020 will be like nothing we have ever seen before: unprecedented logistics challenges, global lockdowns, personnel shortages caused by economic constraints or short-term quarantines, as well as new work-safety measures, reveal the importance of intelligent solutions that meet the needs of commercial companies, freight forwarders and road hauliers alike.

Improved planning and other benefits

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automated solutions improve planning and offer options for speeding up processes and reducing costs, both in normal times and during a crisis. One such option involves smart use of GPS data, which can help to optimise routes but also to solve the loading dock problems experienced by many companies. After all, according to market observation carried out by the German Federal Office for Goods Transport, loading dock waiting times have lengthened considerably over the last five years. Everyone is looking for a solution: drivers want better organised processes, loading dock operators want more accurate information.

Use of artificial intelligence, such as that which TIMOCOM in cooperation with Cargoclix offers, can help. If a loading dock operator knows the ETAs for incoming vehicles, they can adjust the sequence of trucks to be loaded and unloaded at short notice in the event of any delays. Interfaces can be used to easily transfer data from telematics providers to be used for real-time optimisation of loading dock management. This makes it easier to plan steps in the process and quicker to implement them.

Optimal route calculation and automated transport orders

Optimal and dynamic route suggestions help you avoid traffic jams, which in turn increases fuel efficiency, as well as reducing delivery times, protecting the environment and reducing truck driver’s working hours. Digital order acceptance and assignation, available directly from common TMS applications with help from our interfaces, allows you to send automated transport orders in the local language of the recipient. You and your business partner benefit from transparent, error free transfer of information, saving you time and reducing potential sources of error.

Right now, TIMOCOM’s Research & Development department is working on developing an intelligent route-finding algorithm. The goal is to calculate routes that allow you to pick up multiple freight offers listed in the System and combine them into a single transport. This will make it even easier for our users to avoid empty runs in the future, and provide an uncomplicated source of additional revenue.

Other links in the supply chain can also profit from increasing automation and digitalisation. Autonomous Guided Vehicles (AGVs) are already an essential tool in many warehouses. They are used to automatically select, package and transport goods.

Planning and predictions with smart applications

The supply chain is already undergoing a transformation. But the current crisis may be the catalyst that increases the use of both automation and smart applications. The options that these technologies provide can offer significantly more effective transport planning to all supply chain stakeholders.

We live in a world that, more and more, is connected and that now, more than ever, relies on digitalisation and optimisation of complex logistical challenges. Artificial intelligence is already being used in the logistics industry to simplify processes and avoid errors, and to improve planning for transport orders and capacity utilisation. With your help and the right data, I am positive that it will soon be possible to correctly and specifically predict freight volumes.

The only way to overcome the challenges currently facing the logistics industry is together. We have to pool our resources by networking with each other. Together, we can make sure that access to modern technology and applications is not just reserved for the biggest players in the industry, but is also available to and offers added value to small and mid-sized companies.