Cloud Logistics

Usually, I hate buzzwords. Particularly, I am saturated by the extensive use of the phrase “cloud computing”. However, a keynote speech by Werner Delfmann about “cloud logistics”, which was held at the 6^th International Scientific Symposium on Logistics in Hamburg, Germany, exceeded all my expectations. Delfmann’s speech is based on discussions within the BVL‘s Scientific Advisory Board and the discussion paper The Cloud – Logistics for the Future? by Delfmann and Jaekel (2012) can be downloaded on the BVL’s website. Herein, the authors transfer the cloud paradigm from computing to logistics. They argue that an “adequate answer to the challenges for logistics arising from an increasingly complex, uncertain, volatile and less predictable environment seems to be found in principle by means of adaptive, coordinated, distributed, autonomous logistics systems based on decentralized self-control mechanisms”. I believe that cloud logistics can influence our notion of logistics service providers: They might move into a “cloud operator” role.