Page 57 - Case Study Annual 2015
P. 57
the first genuine contribution to the deployment of quality of life of the logistics workers and the world’s
interconnected logistics at the European level. This is population by improving the timely accessibility and
termed MODULUSCHA or Modular Logistics Units in mobility of physical objects.
Shared Co-Modal Network. The key enabler for this is Interconnectivity: In the world of logistics today,
the development and use of iso-modular logistics units many countries have unique standards. One supplier’s
of sizes adequate for real modal and co-modal flows of conveyor may not connect with another supplier’s
fast-moving consumer goods. conveyor. With the Physical Internet; the aim is for
universal connectivity.
A number of inherent issues face logistics today. Encapsulation: The Physical Internet won’t deal with
On a macro level these can be broadly classified into freight. It will only deal with packages of goods, much
three areas: economic, environmental and social. On like ports only deal with containers. Once outside of
the economic side, roughly 5-15% of the GDP for the ports, distribution centres and logistics providers are
most countries is spent on logistics, which means that dealing with hundreds of different kinds of boxes and
it is growing faster than world trade. Environmentally they’re not easy to handle. The Internet, on the other
speaking, logistics is one of the heaviest greenhouse hand, only deals with packets of information that are
gas generators, energy consumers, polluters and formatted very precisely. Imagine a portfolio of standard
material wasters. Lastly on a social level we are faced size containers that will be used around the globe. They
with a complete lack of fast, reliable and affordable would begin with standards for maritime containers and
accessibility of physical objects for the vast majority of truck trailers. Shipping containers and cartons would
the world population. be sized to maximise the space inside those standard
containers and trailers. Regardless of the size, they
The potential for logistics collaboration has been would be environmentally sustainable, trackable by bar
well understood for years. Anecdotally, the level of such codes or RFID, and modular.
collaboration has recently appeared to have increased, Out of the box: Now here is where the thinking goes
driven primarily by Green imperatives. But, there are really out of the box. Even for long haul moves by truck,
barriers, and the practice is still minimal. Physical the idea is that rather than a single driver and truck, the
Internet research is trying to better quantify a wide range goods would be moved by a series of short relays. When
of benefits from such collaboration, and then take the I first saw this, my initial reaction was: “The cost of all
idea further by some fairly radical concepts around how this handling and trucks will be huge.”
to better modularise and integrate the supply chain.
But perhaps not so! Given Hours of Service and
That is where the ‘Internet’ part of the thinking comes other constraints, the research found that a dedicated
in. The Internet works with amazing speed and efficiency truckload moving from Quebec to Los Angeles would
because of modularisation and standardisation. require a total transit time of 124 hours. Using the relay
Information to be transmitted is organised into small method, and an amazing 17 trucks, that time would
packets. A protocol (TCP/IP) understands those packets, be reduced to just 74 hours – two full days faster. And
and the collective network in turn understands how guess what happens as truckload freight transportation
to route those packets based on the destination (IP moves to shorter hauls? Drivers go home most nights.
address). Quality of life improves. And the permanent problem of
driver shortages in the industry is dramatically reduced.
The PI is an open global logistics system founded So how could such networks possibly transfer all that
on physical, digital and operational interconnectivity freight efficiently?
through encapsulation, interfaces and protocols. The PI
enables an efficient, sustainable, adaptable and resilient Let’s go back to the Internet parallel. The industry
logistics web. must adopt standardised containers and platforms. That
would mean carriers/3PLs could plan and optimise
The Global Logistics Sustainability Grand Challenge! handling and loads consistently, well in advance,
without worrying what was inside or how a given
Design a system to move, store, realise, supply and use shipper builds its pallets or sizes its cartons. And these
physical objects throughout the world in a manner that containers will also be smart. The containers would then
is economically, environmentally and socially efficient be routed through the networks just like Internet packets
and sustainable. are, based on their final destination. Carriers/3PLs
Environmental goal: Sustainably reduce by an order of would bid on moving those containers as a ‘black box’
magnitude the logistics-induced global greenhouse gas over the web. Put those last concepts together, and you
emission, energy consumption, pollution and materials have the physical supply chain internet.
waste. Physical encapsulation: This involves the physical
Economic goal: Sustainably reduce by an order of encapsulation of goods in π-containers: modular, eco-
magnitude the global economic burden of logistics
while unlocking gains in business productivity.
Societal goal: Sustainably and significantly increase the
the logistics news case study annual 2015 55
