The end consumer who has ever-changing needs and will be the ultimate driver of all activities of the logistics industry, said Dr Detleft Trefzger, Chief Executive Officer of global freight forwarding and logistics giant Kuehne + Nagel International AG.
Demand for delivery on the same or next day, increased access to products from across the world as well as a greater need for transparency of a product’s source, have led to fundamental changes in the design and execution of supply chains – from production to consumption.
Dr Detleft was addressing the annual Singapore Maritime Lecture, with 400 senior maritime representatives gleaning insights into the key drivers of today’s logistics industry.
As with many other industries, the logistics industry is influenced by technology, data and predictive analytics, which increases capacity and productivity, without additional inefficiency. Success will be dependent on the mastery of these, as information based on real-time data enables customers, partners and logistics providers to make the right decisions.
With technological adoption in the logistics industry and a greater emphasis on knowledge-based activities, manpower would have to keep pace and become increasingly upskilled as “eWarders” equipped with the know-how and experience in predictive analytics and expertise in data-driven supply chain management.
The final factor that Dr Trefzger spoke was on consolidation. While this has brought about fundamental changes in the carrier landscape, there remains expectations and opportunities for transformation.
This can be achieved through synchronisation among all players in the logistics industry such as in improving data quality, demand-driven and visibility enabled planning, collaboration, as well as complementary value chains of carriers and forwarders.