Traffic & Transport

More than ever, the transportation market must confront the highest demands of the target group as well as hot topics of any kind. While express services are on the rise, considerably accelerating the delivery of goods, green logistics is a hot topic in itself.   Sustainability and environmental consciousness are considered fashionable and there are growing demands for them in the field of logistics as well. Transportation enterprises are faced with major challenges as a result.

In most cases, it is precisely the large-sized vehicles that still have a poor environmental record and are hardly compatible with the demand for better sustainability. Even though this issue should mainly be addressed by the automotive industry, the responsibility is increasingly passed on to transport companies. Especially when it comes to short distances, companies are increasingly banking on alternative and likewise sustainable driving mechanisms that are in line with green logistics.

Topics such as quality, punctuality and cleanness are as relevant for the survival of a transport company as its innovative capacity. Many trends are dominated by the rising costs in the logistics industry. More than ever, companies are required to combine transports and hence to minimize the costs. Until 2015, innovative vehicle designs as well as industrial selling are considered to be two of the most important business trends.

In addition, a growing number of enterprises are intensively studying the optimisation of their processes in an attempt to advance them further.

In recent years, the logistics sector enjoyed a surprisingly favourable development. In 2011, the logistics industry was again able to increase its sales volume considerably to nearly 222 billion euros. As a result, the German logistics market grew by six percent.

Almost no industry other than logistics is as closely tied to the overall economic development. Only if positive developments prevail in the overall economy will the logistics sector be able to keep pace and likewise boost the employment, sales and order volume. Due to the high demand, industry associations are predicting a further increase in the employment figure.

When it comes to logistics, the signs are indeed pointing to continued growth, albeit on shaky ground. Like in other industries, the lack of skilled workers might become a problem in the medium term. Nearly three quarters of companies active in logistics are already struggling now to fill their vacancies with adequately qualified employees. With respect to the future, surveys indicate that companies are expecting losses as a result of the lack of skilled workers.

Aside from the required innovative capacity, a solid workforce might turn out to be the greatest challenge in the coming years. It is all the more important that processes are already designed optimally now, so that they can be realized with low expenses.

The continuous further development and improvement of traffic concepts is necessary, both in Germany and on an international level. The population is increasingly concentrated in cities and urban centres. In contrast, the distances continue to increase in rural areas. The continuous enhancement of regional as well as general traffic concepts is necessary to address this development.

The demands passengers and drivers are placing both on the quality and reliability as well as the attractiveness and efficiency are constantly rising. The permanent optimisation of basic processes is therefore required. Passenger cars continue to be the dominating means of transportation. But appropriate alternatives are required as well. The ridership numbers recorded in public transit and public commuter passenger transport (ÖPNV) are expected to rise, especially in urban centres. Yet, the number of passengers on roads connecting major cities is growing as well. In addition, there is a noticeable increase in air traffic.

Today’s economy is based on a global transportation and road network, without which it would no longer be feasible. Although the industry has enjoyed dynamic growth for years, the fluctuations are enormous. This affects the functioning processes of a company, which may need to be adjusted as necessary. As a result, a stable traffic infrastructure is ultimately required. Road, air as well as shipping traffic are equally dependent on it. It must be functional and meet the needs. Changes are among the greatest challenges associated with it. They must be addressed promptly and deviations accounted for in a timely manner. Solid communication and collaboration processes between the infrastructure operators as well as the transportation and logistics companies are required for this purpose.

Yet not only logistics companies will be put to the test in the near future, but vehicle manufacturers as well. Producers of any kinds of vehicles are faced with immense challenges. This is mainly due to

• changes in the mobility behaviour of the population,
• the scarcity of raw material resources,
• the adaptation of different innovations from the fields of material research, chemistry, software, electronics, etc.

In order to keep pace with the development, the rising demands of riders and vehicle owners must be addressed. They relate to quality, attractiveness, reliability and efficiency. As a result of the growing demands, companies are under pressure to constantly optimize the respective product.

The consolidation of know-how, experiences and product information represents the basis for innovations, new solutions and products in one of the most complex branches of industry: air and space travel. Whether it concerns adjustments aimed at saving weight, conserving fuel or conducting research projects for the development of viable aircraft models, all corporate and business sectors benefit from a global consolidation of available knowledge.

The loss of know-how and knowledge, e.g. as a result of job changes within or leaving of the company, early retirement, annuity or parental leave, are typical knowledge management scenarios. Other framework conditions to be considered in this environment include the knowledge distribution across countries and continents. Long-term planning and use of knowledge management methods and tools can help decelerate the complete loss of knowledge and safeguard the conservation or systematic transfer and development.

Shorten the period of transfer and vocational adjustment of the workforce to new responsibilities through a supervised knowledge transfer. Experiences help prevent errors. If individual experiences or experiences from teams and networks are archived and available within the company, they can be used as reference. Find out now how you can share lessons learned or best practices with other teams and networks.

Detailed product and process information must be available for the provision of services, including over several decades. Skilled workers, networks and experts can quickly provide practice-based information about their products. Expert databases can reduce the pathway to the respective contact or network.

Individually developed and designed PLM software applications are required for the integration and reconciliation of development and manufacturing processes between companies, suppliers and partners. Accurate data models and role concepts as well as the design and implementation of user functions determine the quality, innovation and economic success. Learn more about global project and quality management that accounts for the entire process life cycle.