Technologies and Innovations in Logistics

New technological developments are both the cause of and pave the way for innovations in logistics. Technologies and innovations are also important levers for creating competitive advantages for logistics service providers. Against this background, this study deals with two main topics: Future technologies in logistics and innovation management at logistics service providers. The study focuses primarily on contract logistics service providers. But the results of the study can also serve as an orientation aid for their customers from industry and trade in the design of their logistics systems and their innovation management. The study uses an online survey to analyse how innovative logistics technologies are handled by logistics service providers and their customers from industry and trade. The top performers among the participants generally attribute a higher strategic importance to the individual technologies than the other study participants and more frequently pursue knowledge building and investment strategies. Following on from these results, a technology-oriented picture of the future of contract logistics was developed that illustrates 16 concrete application scenarios of technologies. In a Group-Delphi-Study, these application scenarios were discussed with twelve experts from the field and their probability of occurrence at different points in time was assessed. By 2015, the experts consider widespread implementation to be probable for only three scenarios; the majority will only become established by 2020 or later. For innovation management at logistics service providers, the first step was to examine the status quo of key design fields with the help of an online survey. Subsequently, specific challenges and concrete design recommendations for successful innovation management at logistics service providers were derived in a workshop with twelve practical experts. Innovation management should establish a culture of openness and change, whereby all key stakeholders must be integrated and at the same time a methodological foundation must be created that meets the requirements.