The logistics provider of the future will support its customers across a broad spectrum stretching all the way from requirements planning, storage and supply, to disposal. It will also invest in innovations and develop sustainable corporate processes. These are the key results of the future study entitled "The Future of Food Service Logistics 2020+," which HAVI Logistics published in January. Together with the Center for Future Studies and Knowledge Management at the EBS Business School, the Europe-wide logistics company headquartered in the German city of Duisburg surveyed 88 experts from 15 countries along with 57 representatives of HAVI Logistics.
How can increasing customer expectations be satisfied and competitiveness be enhanced? What transport routes will be the most popular in 2020? How will modern technologies continue to affect business workflows in food services? The 76-page study provides answers to these questions. The interviews with experts are used to derive 18 theses concerning future trends in the sector. Furthermore, the study covers the most frequently discussed strategies and concepts relevant to the future, and arranges them on an "Opportunity Radar." "This 'radar' provides travelers into the future with the ideal springboard for the main resource they will need to face the future, namely innovation," said Dr. Heiko von der Gracht, Director of the Center for Future Studies at the EBS Business School. In simulated extreme scenarios the study also examines the effects of a range of unforeseen events on food service logistical service providers and their customers.
The future of the food service logistics industry will also be determined by factors such as even closer, long-term cooperation between service providers and customers, and a greater range of services on offer. For example, the majority of respondents assume that both the customer's requirements planning and the disposal and recycling of waste will be included in the portfolios of logistics firms in 2020 and beyond. "Everything should come from a single provider" is the motto here, a trend also confirmed by the increasing demand for one-stop shopping concepts like the ones that HAVI Logistics has provided for many years.
Sustainability is another megatrend in the logistics industry. "The looming lack of resources, and the duty to continue decreasing CO2 output, demand innovative concepts in the food service logistics industry as well as other areas, for instance in relation to new transport routes," stressed Haluk Ilkdemirci, President HAVI Logistics Europe. The relevant topics here include sustainability, he said, not only in terms of environmental protection, but also social responsibility. In a society characterized by demographic changes, where the average age of employees is rising steadily, various initiatives had to be developed, he pointed out, for example in workplace ergonomics. This will enable the industry to cope with the approaching shortage of specialists, the study said.
HAVI Logistics and the EBS view the results of the investigation as important indicators of the direction the future will take. "The future study offers us and the industry in general the great opportunity of taking a proactive approach to the megatrends in the logistics sector," Haluk Ilkdemirci said with conviction. "If we as Lead Logistics Provider know which areas we have to concentrate on, we can support our customers in establishing and maintaining their competitive advantages. This will be the best possible preparation for all conceivable future developments in the food service industry."
Media contact
Jasmin Schürgers
HAVI Global Logistics GmbH
Geitlingstrasse 20
47228 Duisburg, Germany
Tel.: +49 (0) 2065 695541
Fax: +49 (0) 2065 695252
Internet: www.havi-logistics.com
