According to the StartUs Insights report (May 2020), which analysed over 900 start-ups in the logistics sector, these enterprises are innovating and developing in 10 broad areas. Most aren’t new: internet of things, artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, last-mile deliveries, warehouse automation, blockchain, autonomous vehicles, etc. We have been discussing most of these trends and how they apply to logistics on our blog. However, there is one term which caught our attention: elastic logistics. Even though at Nordlogway we advocate for logistics to be made more flexible as a way to increase efficiency while also being more competitive thanks to cost variability, we have never used the concept of ‘elastic logistics’. This is not about reducing inventories but making them adapt to demand. The concepts of just-in-time or lean manufacturing are no longer enough.

We all know that logistics has formed part of society since ancient times, as we explained in a previous article, and that technological advances have allowed us to perfect administration techniques and efficiency.

Now, however, a new challenge has presented itself. There is a shortage of HGV drivers, principally on international roads and now extending to port complexes, resulting in a failure to meet market demand. This is damaging to both present and future clients as well as the logistics companies themselves.

The COVID-19 outbreak has prompted businesses to step-up their online sales and home deliveries. In order to provide an immediate response to the new demand for client deliveries, businesses, restaurants and even small producers have begun to make ‘last-mile’ deliveries through their own means. Home deliveries have certain associated issues that go unnoticed in these times of lockdown:

Normally, when we think about a company and the sectors involved in running it, logistics is not one of the first that comes to mind. However, this gradually seems to be changing, as the international market is increasingly more interactive with a public that is growing in terms of demand.

What is logistics exactly? Simply put, logistics is the process which consists of coordinating and moving the resources a company has produced or possesses to the desired location. This situation mainly arises when the products or raw materials need to be transported from the warehouse to stores, points of sale or distributors.

The current situation has definitely called for a rethinking of strategies that have been the “norm” for many years and which have largely centred around the “just in time” philosophy: reduction of stocks in the supply chain, lowering the cost of assets for production and sales, containment of financial costs, and so on. In short, lower costs all round. To achieve these benefits, companies have sought agility in their supply chains by reducing the time products (component, raw material, etc.) are available at each stage, from when they are purchased from the supplier to the delivery to factories or assembly lines and, ultimately, even to when they reach the consumer centres.

New technologies are playing an increasingly important role in the day-to-day lives of humans and the world of transport and logistics is no exception.

Just a few weeks ago, at the Munich Transport and Logistics Trade Fair, one of the sector’s leading European companies presented a self-driving electric lorry. This driverless vehicle can travel up to 200 kilometres, has a load capacity of more than 20 tonnes and, moreover, can be driven remotely in certain situations.