Effective logistics requires new technologies and good cooperation

The efficiency of logistics processes is more and more linked to the deployment of advanced technologies as automation and robotics. These technologies allow overcoming logistics constraints, upgrading existing systems and creating completely new Logistics 4.0 logistics processes in line with Industry 4.0. The combination of 21st-century technology with the appropriate organization and process linking must be completed with good relations between all participants in the logistics chain to achieve maximum efficiency.

According to DHL’s current study “Logistics Trend Radar”, the Internet is one of the trends that will significantly affect the world of logistics in the coming five years. The Internet of Things can increase the transparency, traceability, and reliability of logistics activities. Almost anything will be possible to connect to this worldwide network.

As Jan Klička, Director of Logistics at Alza.cz e-shop, says, everything starts with the producer or distributor who supplies the goods. “Alza is one of the largest online shops in the Czech Republic and uses EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) elements for successful and fast processing to create automated or semi-automated product orders for specific warehouses, delivery notes, invoices, confirmation reports or credit memos,” says Jan Klička.

Also, Mall.cz, as an important Internet e-shop in the Czech Republic, sees the base of effective functioning in good relations with both suppliers and customers. “On the one hand, e-commerce has a significantly wider offer compared to brick-and-mortar shops, but on the other hand, the business is mostly concentrated in one distribution centre, which must deliver shipments to customers in the very short time throughout the Czech Republic. The whole process is very complex and any disruption always has consequences,” says Jitka Dvořáková, Business Director at Mall.cz.

Extraordinary care is required by procedures in the logistics of pharmaceutical products. Transport and distribution of sensitive goods such as medicines is a challenge for real professionals. “Human health is at the top spot,” says Lenka Křivancová, Marketing Manager at Kühne + Nagel ČR, a Czech branch of a global logistics and transport operator. “That’s why logistics in the pharmaceutical industry is about the whole end-to-end complex logistics solution in line with GXP quality requirements.”

Pavel Toman