Curse or Blessing? Risk factors of digitalization technologies in smart factories and supply chains

Logistics and Industry 4.0 - Virtual Tour at BIBA and LogDynamics Lab

In the virtual tour in the BIBA Shop Floor Lab and in the LogDynamics Lab we show selected research results and demonstrators. Be curious about an autonomous assistance system for supporting human-machine collaboration in assembly processes as well as for unloading containers. Learn how sensor technology can support the loading of components, how it brings transparency to your supply chain processes, and many more. We look forward to your visit!

Logistics on the last mile: New technologies, new delivery concepts, and new optimization problem

In the wake of e-commerce and its successful diffusion in most commercial activities, last-mile distribution causes more and more trouble in urban areas all around the globe. Growing parcel volumes to be delivered toward customer homes increase the number of delivery vans entering the city centers and thus add to congestion, pollution, and negative health impact. Therefore, it is anything but surprising that in recent years many novel delivery concepts on the last mile have been innovated. Among the most prominent are unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) and autonomous delivery robots taking over parcel delivery.

This talk presents a systematic classification scheme to record established and novel last-mile concepts. Based on this scheme, we consider different innovative delivery concepts of the farther future and elaborate some important optimization problems when setting up and operating these concepts.

Supply Chain Resilience and Ecosystem Viability at the Times of Extremal Shocks

In this talk, we discuss fundamental theoretical constructs and practical applications to engineer and manage disruption-resistant supply chain networks to mitigate the ripple effects in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. We collate and review the existing knowledge in modelling the ripple effect in supply chains at different pandemic stages. Subsequently, we debate about extensions of the existing theories and practices of supply chain resilience towards viability. We present the Viable Supply Chain model and associated concepts of ecosystem viability, intertwined supply networks, and reconfigurable supply chains. Finally, we discuss the role of digital supply chain twins and platforms in managing resilience and viability at the times of super disruptions, and project the lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic on possible future stressors to supply chains and ecosystems.