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Файл:TOPICAL ISSUES OF LOGISTICS. Учебное пособие для студентов-магистров направления «Экономика»
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says Gene Tyndall, executive vice president at Tompkins
International. “All of this boosts sales revenues.”
Gartner Research estimates that up to 40% of actual lead
time in supply chains is due to system lead time (SLT).
While companies have invested heavily in information
technology, SLT is still a problem due to multiple system
and IT platform integration issues. The report’s authors
recommend a single cloud-based platform that is flexible
and allows each company in the supply chain to implement
its own processes.
The report shares five technology pillars to consider when
responding to real-time demand:
1. Any-to-any, multi-echelon network-based architecture;
2. Best-of-breed application functionality and a Single
Version of the Truth;
3. Continuous and incremental recalculation of
requirements tied to execution;
4. Advanced sense and respond (real-time sense with realtime automated response); and
5. Scalable/flexible architecture that is easy to deploy.
“When the right technologies are employed on a platform,”
says Doug Kane, Industry Partner at One Network, “SLT
is eliminated and inventories are significantly reduced for
any manufacturing company.”
Text 20. Could Visual Identification Technologies
Revolutionize Logistics Operations
Tremendous progress is being made in the area of visual
identification technology (VIT) - with potential huge
implications for supply chain and logistics systems.
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The basic idea is this: increasingly, cameras and
supporting software can be used to identify products in the
same way a bar code or RFID tag might be used today.
VIT systems identify products based on their image
characteristic, and/or potentially specific markings.
So called video or photo analytics are already starting to
come to market in the supply chain. For example, at the
National Retail Federation (NRF) trade show in New
York in January, researchers
from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh displayed a
robotic system that helps manage "planogram compliance"
in retail stores.
The camera-equipment robot can move around retail
shelves and capture what the correct planogram (basically,
how the store shelves are supposed to be set with different
products) looks like, and then at whatever frequency the
merchant wants the robot re-travels the aisles looking for
variances from that plan that are then communicated to
store managers or others for correction.
"Imager" scanners, which are essentially cameras, are
increasingly making in-roads in supply chain and logistics
applications too. In high speed, in-line applications such as
a conveyor system, proponents of imaging technology say
read rates can be much higher than traditional laser
scanners, reducing problems from no reads.
There is also really no reason, for example, that existing
store cameras installed for security reasons could not also
be connected to smart software that would send out an
alert when a slot on a store shelf became empty and in
need of replenishment. There are already systems that can
tell if a specific individual, for example, interacted with a
store associate and then whether that same person went
through a POS lane for a purchase.
103
There have been great strides in facial recognition
technology generally, picking specific individuals out in
photos or video based on facial characteristics of those
individuals stored in a database. That sure sounds a lot
harder than distinguishing between various SKUs in a
distribution center.
So consider something like this, for example: What if
technology similar to "smart glasses" such as Google was
worn workers in a DC and connected to a mobile wireless
terminal. Rather than perhaps scanning each object as it is
selected and placed in a shipping carton or tote, is it
possible that workers could simply look at the object and
the system identifies and verifies what is being picked
without any scanning at all? While smart glasses today are
really about projecting web and other images to a person's
eyes, we assume a sort of reverse model could be made,
where images are captured and sent back to a device.
In fact, the web site of a company called Vuzix, a maker of
smart glasses, notes on its web site an application where a
person is "out shopping and spots an interesting item on
the shelf. A quick snapshot of the barcode and your smart
glasses enhanced app goes off to the Cloud, finds the
product and competitive product and displays the data" so that kind of image capture technology in glasses is here.
The beauty of that approach versus say RFID is that it
would not require each product to have a still somewhat
expensive tag on it.
Such a system could even work in conjunction with regular
bar codes. The worker could simply look at the bar code, a
much faster process than needing to scan it. That approach
could be combined with a voice headset to allow the
worker to correct any mistakes, such as "looking" at an
extra bar code.
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Text 21. Larger ships could be deployed
on Asia-Australia trade
Ultra large container vessels (ULCV) being deployed in
increasing numbers on the Asia-Europe trades are making
large container ships available for smaller trade routes,
such as intra-Asia feeders and the Asia-Australia trade.
Drewry Maritime Research has shown that the average
size of vessel deployed between Asia and North
Europe now exceeds 10,000 TEU for the first time. Orders
for ULCV have been quiet recently, but the pace of growth
in vessel sizes will continue to outstrip cargo growth for
the foreseeable future.
K Line has confirmed recently an order for 5 x 14,000
TEU. The ships are scheduled for delivery in 2015.
Although their destination has yet to be defined, they will
most probably join the CKYH alliance’s other ULCV
operating between Asia and North Europe, where 38
vessels averaging 10,543 TEU are already deployed in four
weekly strings. Yang Ming will add another four 14,000
TEU vessels in 2015, and has an option for a further five.
The message is that no one should be under any illusion
that the current lull in ULCV orders indicates that ocean
carriers’ appetite for bigger ships is over. They just don’t
have the necessary finances at present to speed up the
process. Most ocean carriers lost money again last year,
and the prospects for this year are not bright either.
However, it takes a crisis to bring out the cost cutting best
of ocean carriers, and the near triple-dip recession since
2008 is no exception. The worse Asia-North Europe
westbound cargo growth has got, the faster the drive for
bigger ships has become. The 37% increase in average
vessel size between 1Q08 and 1Q13, from 7,517 TEU to
10,279 TEU, bears no relation to the paltry 6% growth in
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cargo between the whole of 2008 and the volume forecast
for this year.
The 10,000 TEU average barrier was broken this year and
that was achieved with Maersk’s 18,000 TEU ships yet to
be delivered.
So, although only 325,680 TEU of vessel capacity
provided by ships over 10,000 were on order for delivery
in 2015 one month ago, compared to 674,318 TEU due out
this year, and 577,677 TEU in 2014 (ignoring the
possibility of postponements), much more can be expected.
Order slippage will continue, such as three of Hapag-
Lloyd’s remaining 6 x 13,200 TEU vessels (out of an order
for 10) from the second half of this year to the first half of
next year, and even that period may not be the last of the
delay.
There could even be some cancellations, despite the high
cost, such is the parlous state of ocean carrier finances at
present. For example, Zim Line cancelled 5 x 12,600 TEU
ships last week, and has an option to cancel the remaining
4 x 12,600 TEU subject to shipyard approval, if it can
afford the stated cost. The remaining vessels are currently
due to be delivered in 2016.
Interestingly, the chase to keep up with Maersk appears to
have abated, although 8 x 16,000 TEU vessels have
allegedly been ordered by MSC, and CMA CGM already
has three 16,000 TEU vessels from a hastily converted
order. Otherwise, the order book currently includes 15 x
14,000 TEU vessels, 10 x 13,800 TEU vessels, 34 units
between 13,000 TEU and 13,500 TEU, nine units between
12,000 TEU and 13,000 TEU and 10 units of 10,000 TEU.
This means that the average vessel size deployed between
Asia and North Europe is set to continue increasing well
ahead of cargo growth. The remaining 41 vessels over
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10,000 TEU due for delivery this year will certainly see to
that in the short-term. In the medium-to-longer term, it is
possible that a number of 13,000 TEU vessels could be
deployed in Panama Canal services after the middle of
2015, when its new locks are opened.
The game is also far from over, as at least two carriers are
understood to be examining orders for 18,000 TEU ships.
In conclusion, many more ships are likely to be cascaded
out of the Asia/Europe trade lane during the next couple of
years, and their size won’t stop at 8,000 TEU.
The speed of change has been remarkable so far, with over
30 ships averaging 9,000 TEU already having been taken
out of the Asia/Europe trade lane since October through
the withdrawal of the CKYH’s Loop 4, the G6’s third
loop, and Maersk’s AE9 string, all of which are not being
re-instated after the winter season.
Conclusion
Unless cargo growth takes off between Asia and Europe by
2015, which seems unlikely, it won’t just be 8,000 TEU
vessels cascaded down into other trade lanes, such as the
route between the Far East and ECNA via Suez. Ships of
10,000 TEU will be next, so potential ports of call need to
gear themselves up accordingly – both in terms of
equipment and draught.
Text 22. Designers find more space
in shipping container
A new container design is set to change the economics of
shipping palletised cargo, allowing cargo owners and
consolidators to increase significantly the volume of cargo
shipped at any one time.
107
UK-based container design company Container Group
Technology (CGT) Ltd has released the 20-20 SeaCell
Container. From the outside the patented ‘20-20’ looks
little different from a conventional ISO 20ft shipping
container, however, subtle innovations on the outside and
inside of the container enable the unit to provide for 36%
greater pallet space.
In practical terms, this means that for each tier, 15 Europallets (1200mm x 800mm) can be loaded into the
container instead just 11 Euro-pallets in a standard ISO
20ft dry container. With standard ISO pallets (1200mm x
1000mm), the 20-20 can load 12 units, two more than in a
conventional 20ft container (see graphic).
And by using 100% of the floor area, pallets fit snugly
together inside the container making the 20-20 ideal for
using lightweight slip-sheets or paper pallets, thereby
reducing costs and increasing useable volume and payload
at the same time.
The 20-20 SeaCell Container achieves this feat by being
exactly 20ft (6096mm) in length and 2426mm wide
internally. Standard 20ft containers are, in fact, 19ft 10?
ins (6058mm) long x 7ft 7? ins (2330mm) wide internally.
Thus the internal length of the 20-20 allows it to
accommodate the additional four Euro-pallets or two ISO
pallets per tier. The door opening width is 2408mm which
allows fork-lift trucks to load pallets two or three at a time.
Twin-lift container
In addition, two of the 20-20 containers can be easily
locked together from the outside with no special tools to
make a 40ft container, but again with significantly greater
internal volume than standard. Two 20-20 containers will
carry six more pallets than one standard 40ft container. It
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is also possible to mix Euro & Standard pallets in the same
20-20 and still have 100% pallet utilisation.
The 20-20 is fitted with larger corner castings of the type
typically used in flatrack containers, enabling them to be
lifted by standard 20ft or 40ft spreaders, loaded singly or
as a pair into a containership’s 40ft cells, or onto any
current road chassis and rail wagon.
An integral locking mechanism in the corner casting is
activated from the outside of the container. In just a few
minutes, the two 20-20 containers can be securely locked
together and lifted as a single ‘40ft’ unit. In the standard
configuration, two 20-20s are joined at the front ends, ie,
with the doors accessible at each end of the combined
containers. However, if requested CGT can also position
the locking mechanism at the door-end corner castings so
that the two 20-20 units are effectively sealed until
reaching their final destination. This is an important
feature for high-value or sensitive cargoes.
Lifting two 20ft containers together has been made
possible in the past decade by innovations in container
lifting technology, and it has become increasingly popular
with shipping lines and container port terminals as a way
of loading and discharging ships faster and more
efficiently.
However, it is only now, with the introduction of the 20-20
SeaCell Container, that the ability to lock and lift two 20ft
containers and handle them as a single 34 ton maximum
gross weight (MGW) unit has been made possible.
Prototypes of the 20-20 container have been built and fully
tested in China, and the new design is being made
available for sale or lease.
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Text 23. The right mix of technologies can help with the
layout of a warehouse as well as the efficient flow of its
people and products
Inefficient or poorly-managed logistics operations increase
overhead and reduce customer satisfaction, posing a
significant threat to a manufacturer's profitability.
Technologies can lend an almost scientific approach to
logistics operations planning. With that in mind, let's look
at just one area in which technology is making an
impact—inventory tracking and handling.
The Fully Automated Warehouse
Full warehouse automation is the most comprehensive
example of technology use in retail warehouses. The
biggest manufacturers can find that success creates its own
particular challenge when it comes to order fulfilment—a
gigantic customer base, demanding swift delivery of a
huge range of products, to innumerable locations ranging
from retail stores to the very homes of the consumers
themselves.
To create the operational fluidity necessary to satisfy their
millions of customers, leading companies will often invest
heavily in completely automating their warehouse
facilities. Such facilities tend to have a completely
integrated system where specialized warehouse
management software interacts with specially designed
automated racks, cranes, and stackers to ensure that
inbound items are loaded, and outbound items located,
retrieved and passed along a network of conveyor belts to
the appropriate loading bay—with high accuracy rates.
IKEA, Walmart and Zappos are just some of the retail
giants that currently employ these advanced systems as an
integral part of their low cost/large scale operations.
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Warehouse Management Systems
The previous examples symbolize the most sophisticated
level of WMS deployment. However, even if the
requirement for such advanced systems is lacking, WMS
still has a critical part to play in the daily running of a
warehouse.
In a more standard setting, this software acts as a data
repository that provides management with the real time
information needed to manage daily activities. Using
WMS, managers can optimize the movement of
inventory—from loading and unloading, to storage and
retrieval. In addition, it enables them to manage the
resources associated with inventory handling, such as
employees, cranes, trucks and loading bays.
Solutions range from open source software aimed at very
small businesses, through highly sophisticated systems
used in warehouses by major retailers such as Nike, whose
European distribution center handles more than 43 million
items annually. Given the scale of many global retailers, a
top-end WMS must be adept at handling and analyzing
incredible amounts of data to allow them to account for the
location and movement of each and every individual
product on the premises.
Voice Activated Picking
Voice leverages the interaction between RFID (Radio
Frequency Identification Devices) and WMS and is a
relatively recent development in material handling.
Historically, retrieving inventory from racks for outbound
transportation was a time-consuming manual practice in
which staff worked from paper lists. As such, inventory
picking was one of the main areas susceptible to human
error and a significant drain on resources.
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