Transport & Logistics: Key Take-Aways

Last week (17 & 18 September), I attended the Transport & Logistics tradeshow in Gent (Belgium). During the event, visitors could listen in on numerous sessions on innovation in supply chain. Here is what I learned.

"AI" Is "Hot" But Far From "Mainstream"

We saw numerous technology vendors who aim to sell their products and services to logistics companies. Among the ones who were on stage for a session were Blooloc and Zeal Robotics.

The common denominator was that all of them promise either one or a combination of the following: (1) increased efficiency, (2) improved safety, (3) reduced costs, (4) reduced amount of error, (5) increased customer satisfaction.

While I saw most of them mention numbers as regards the "ROI" of their solution, I did feel that information on the methodology to calculate that ROI was often omitted. Coming from a research background myself, I know how difficult it is to calculate "ROI" for a particular use case. It is a time-intensive exercise that requires - as a minimum - that baseline measurements are done. Next, you need to battle "confounding variables" as you go through the statistics that could back (or break) your argument. My afterthought in each of these cases: "who paid?"

No seriously, doing this requires a lot of efforts (and time): so I'm wondering which start-up can afford to do all of this work basically for free and for the sole benefit of having a better set of sales arguments afterwards (while being thrown in an arena where everyone throws numbers around without having done the same effort)? Happy to discuss this in the comments by the way.

Robots are Cool "Demo" Monsters

During the trade show, I saw multiple companies with booths that showed off the latest in conveyor technology, AS/AR systems, and mobile robots. I also got the chance to talk to a company dedicated to implementing autostore. All these technologies bring together the options to make digital twins of your warehouse, get to grips with your inventory, and improve the picking process. The potential for e-commerce focused logistics companies is HUGE. What it holds for traditional or niche 3PL is potentially less clear-cut. My conclusion is therefore that the purchase of robots (and the choice for particular systems) is highly dependent on the use case and the type of business they would need to support.

The Demise of Middleware

Logistics companies often still rely on middleware (like Lobster for example) to let applications "talk to each other." We sometimes see legacy middleware in combination with modern data lakehouses. In my view, this oftentimes is overkill. I'll explain: modern solutions like Databricks or Snowflake often come with built-in connectors, security features, RBAC (Role-Based Access Control) protocols, and real-time capabilities. This often duplicates the functionality of middleware.

Contact us if you need help on deciding which data or AI systems are right for you! Getting to know us doesn't hurt (or cost) you.