Ready for a revolution?
Impressions of IG Air Cargo Switzerland’s 8th ‘National Air Cargo Day’. Two years ago this same meeting saw people seeking ‘the new normal’. Today AI, cybersecurity and disruption dominated the get-together held at Zurich airport late in September. More than 100 visitors were offered a broad palette of inputs.
Gerry Zurmühle, who’s been president of IG Air Cargo Switzerland since 2021, once again rounded up an extremely knowledgeable group of speakers for its meeting. (See also page 8 of the ITJ’s sister publication transport.ch Magazin 09 / 10-24.)
All of the contributors provided an ingredient from their field of expertise for recipes to solve today’s challenges, including AI, the innovation backlog and agile management.
Professor Rudolf Minsch explained how vital the smooth functioning of foreign trade is for the Swiss economy and the country, and which opportunities offered by technological development really need to be pursued in the near-term future.
Professor Christoph Negri, in turn, asked how much space remains for the individual “in today’s operationally highly burdened environment?” The head of the Institute of Applied Psychology (IAP) at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences showed his audience in the auditorium both the bright and the dark sides of the ‘working world 4.0’.
Janine Lampprecht was next, asking whether “do we really need AI?” The founder of the customs consultancy Grenzlotsen, from Herrenberg (Germany) is convinced that we do.
She outlined some topics for digitalisation and advised interested parties to build up a clear vision and strategy covering a period of around three to five years.
Wakeo’s Yann Sparfel, who travelled from Paris for the conference, used a practical example to illustrate how man and machine can already be networked profitably today. His company draws on data from more than 25,000 aircraft and almost 5,600 containerships that carry massive amounts of goods in world trade.
Permanent disruption is now the new reality in logistics, according to Sparfel. Instead of being at the mercy of fate and annoyed by delays, however, he suggests that players use AI-driven analysis to take preventive action.