Loxxess Prepares for Increased Demand in Hazardous Goods Logistics
Mar 6, 2021 at 5:23 PMTwo-Phase Model for the German Logistics Congress of BVL
Mar 6, 2021 at 6:01 PMThe digital platform developed in the research project Smile enables the networking of e-commerce merchants, micro-depot operators, and package deliverers. Shoppers are increasingly having goods delivered to their homes, presenting merchants and deliverers with logistical challenges, especially on the last mile. This allows for innovative services, such as delivery within the customers’ desired time window, to be offered on the last mile.
(Cologne) With the research project Smile – short for “Smart Last Mile Logistics” – the consortium partners GoodsTag, GS1 Germany, the Hasso Plattner Institute at the University of Potsdam, Pickshare, and the University of Leipzig pursued the approach of cooperative networking in urban and rural areas. They developed a solution with a digital platform that brings together senders, micro-depots, package deliverers, and recipients. This is intended to encourage smaller delivery services and startups to digitize last-mile delivery with innovative solutions and to participate in the market potential of network solutions and the constantly growing volumes in the package market.
Background: According to the Federal Association of Package & Express Logistics (Biek), 435 million packages were transported in Germany alone in November and December 2020, which is 80 million more than the previous year. Last-mile logistics has gained significant importance due to the booming e-commerce in recent years. The cost-intensive end of the supply chain increasingly poses major challenges for delivery services, as recipients are often not available and travel distances in rural areas are long. Additionally, individual IT systems and closed delivery solutions often exclude cooperation on the last mile, which has caused numerous city logistics projects to fail in the past.
Desired Time Window for Better Delivery Rate
The project, funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi), has been researching the delivery of goods to the end customer at the desired time and location since 2018. The digital Smart Services platform ensures a simple, reliable, and resource-efficient process. Packages can be delivered via crowd logistics, for example, by taking packages for neighbors or courier deliveries through micro-depots. The goal: to significantly increase the rate of successful first deliveries. The central challenge of the project was to clearly identify senders, transport companies, and micro-depots across all stages of the supply chain and to enable unrestricted collaboration.
Specifically, this means that service provider A takes a package from service provider B, organizes the transport over most of the distance to the destination area, and then hands the shipment over to service provider C, who collects this and other shipments to deliver them to the recipient during the desired time window. The intended effect: The number of unsuccessful delivery attempts and the number of delivery vehicles on the last mile are significantly reduced. In addition to crowd logistics concepts, sensors, identification, and authentication methods such as GS1 standards come into play. For example, shipment identification is based entirely on the standardized GS1 identification number for transport units SSCC/NVE.
Pilot Project Confirms Economic Viability
A pilot project in Berlin last summer proved that this solution is economically viable and practical for operators, service providers, and end customers: Online-ordered items were not delivered directly to homes by DHL, Hermes, UPS, and others, but to a collection point. The last mile of package delivery was then handled by the “Kiezboten”, ideally by cargo bike or handcart. The recipient provided their Kiezboten delivery address, i.e., the service ID of the collection point, with each order in the online shop. Through the app “Pickshare” from the eponymous provider, they were informed when the package arrived at the Kiezboten and could send a desired date for home delivery.
The concept developed in the Smile project will be rolled out in the market by the Dortmund company Pickshare in the future.
Photo: © Pickshare / Image Caption: Package delivery in the desired time window at the recipient’s desired location
