The people versus technology Impression of the Midterm Conference NWO Logistics Community (4-12-2017) by Amanda Verdonk Innovation journalist
Autonomous shipping, truck platooning and blockchain technology may be driving change in logistics. Ultimately, however, the real challenge will be how to deal with changes on the work floor. When inland barges or trucks are controlled by a computer instead of a human, what will become of the human who used to perform this task? It is one of the key issues addressed at the Midterm Conference of the NWO Logistics Community. About 150 people gathered in Utrecht on December 4 to present the progress in their research programmes, discuss the results and find common ground for collaboration. In the plenary session in the morning, Evangelia Demerouti, a professor in organisational behaviour and human decision processes at Eindhoven University of Technology warned the logistics community for developing all
Amanda Verdonk at the Midterm Conference on 4-12-2017
kinds of decision support systems and planning systems without taking the entire workforce into account. Inland shipping In the case of inland barges on the river Rhine, legislation prevents the introduction of autonomous shipping for now, as the obligatory number of manning is determined by the size of the vessel. However, ‘getting rid of people’ is not a driving force in inland shipping, says Jorrit Harmsen (TNO) during an afternoon session. In this industry, it is hard to find qualified people. And many barges are typically operated by a married couple, so getting one out of a job would seem useless. At present, the personnel needed for mooring, unmooring and maintenance are often non-native and have no long term commitment to the barge. For these tasks, automation like an autopilot, automated systems for mooring and unmooring and predictive maintenance could be a solution. Truck tindering For the automation of truck driving, the business case is somewhat different. Here, savings on labour costs, fuel consumption and CO2-emissions are the main drivers. TNO is working on a system for matchmaking, or ‘truck tindering’, to connect trucks. If a connection is made, the second driver can initiate an autopilot and take a break. TNO calculated that about 6% of all kilometres could be driven as a platoon. In theory, a total of fifty trucks could be connected, but in practice no more than three connected trucks are likely, because of the dense road network in the Netherlands. Retraining What would happen to redundant shippers and truck drivers? Could they be retrained to work in ‘shore control centres’ or ‘control towers’? As shown by research from Erasmus University, many innovations in logistics are created each year, but very few are successfully implemented. Developing an playing serious games is seen as one of the means to develop an inclusive innovation process, in which all employees are stimulated to think creatively about new ways to improve their business. However, if that means putting them out of work, it seems like playtime is over and serious retraining programmes will be needed.