外文翻译原文-移动通信系统是最后一公里物流应用的机会

Opportunities of mobile communication systems for applications in last-mile logistics Otto Petrovic Institute of Information Science and Information Systems University of Graz Graz, Austria otto.petrovicuni-graz.at Michael J. Harnisch / Thomas Puchleitner Institute of Information Science and Information Systems University of Graz / evolaris next level GmbH Graz, Austria michael.harnischthomas.puchleitneruni-graz.atAbstractSocial and technological change introduce major challenges that logistics providers need to face in last-mile logistics. The integration of an end-to-end information flow by utilizing mobile communication systems of the customers within the logistics process, promises to entail a competitive advantage for businesses. The establishment of an interactive communication channel to senders and recipients by utilizing mobile applications is one solution for the realization of an enhanced information flow. Additionally, the integration of innovative delivery solutions at the point of delivery and customer information via systems, which the customers are already accustomed to, also inherits benefits for the logistics provider. Keywordslast-mile logistics; mobile communication system; information flow; delivery solution; I. INTRODUCTION For businesses, the area of shipments significantly gained importance throughout the last years. This rise in relevance can be highlighted by depicting the yearly quantities of shipments. In Germany, the annually conducted KEP-study 1 identified an increase in deliveries from 1.69 billion in the year 2000 to approximately 2.50 billion in the year 2011. This quantitative increase of more than 4% per year, can be explained mainly by the emergence of e-Commerce, which is still on the rise with estimated revenues of 963 billion US-Dollars in 2013 2. Additionally, it is important, that between 13% and 75% of all costs related to logistics are attributable to the last-mile 3-4. Hence, special attention has to be paid on emerging opportunities in the management of last-mile logistics. A second area experiences significant changes in the last years. The advances in mobile communication technology changed the way people communicate dramatically 5. Mobile devices symbolize the latest evolution in human communication as they allow a time- and location-independent interaction with the option to add a specific usage context. These developments inherit the possibility to change various business models and are hence worth to be analyzed regarding their opportunities for last-mile logistics. By combining these two streams of developments in logistics and mobile communication, one can imagine the opportunities of mobile communication data for last-mile logistics applications. By integrating the customer into the information flow of the involved parties, a paradigm shift can occur. What has been the change of calling a place to calling a person through mobile communication in telephony is also conceivable in logistics. The process of shipments will change from a shipment to a certain address to shipments, which are delivered to persons based on their individual data provided by mobile communication systems. This contribution aims on depicting the opportunities that arise in last-mile logistics through changes in the society and technology by utilizing mobile communication systems. Emerging challenges in last-mile logistics are analyzed descriptively. Subsequently, opportunities for last-mile logistics providers are described and possible approaches to integrate enhanced information flows into the logistics process are depicted by four examples. These case studies highlight how mobile communication systems enable businesses to improve their last-mile logistics management and processes. The article is divided into six sections. The first section gives a short introduction into the topic. The second and third sections highlight the corner stones of the developments in last-mile logistics and mobile communication technology. In the fourth section, opportunities for last-mile logistics by integrating the customers into the information flow by utilizing mobile communication systems are described. Subsequently, case studies highlight how emerging challenges in last-mile logistics can be successfully managed by integrating mobile communication systems. A conclusion completes this contribution. II. DEVELOPMENTS IN MOBILE COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY The way people communicate has changed dramatically, starting with smoke signals to paintings and printings on various kinds of objects to the letterpress, mass media and finally communication via the Internet. Additionally, time- and location-independence has been achieved by utilizing mobile devices. Mobile communication hence initiated an important paradigm shift: from calling a place to calling a person. New communication possibilities are built on the availability of technical infrastructure and the devices which utilize this infrastructure. In both areas tremendous developments took place, which led to the changed communication behavior we are currently experiencing. 354978-1-4799-0313-9/13/$31.00 2013 IEEEA. Recent Developments in Communication Technologies Beside the availability of networks to transport the spoken word, new infrastructure to allow mobile access to the Internet emerged. In Austria for example, the number of mobile broadband Internet access devices (including smartphones and mobile data cards) increased from approximately 100,000 connections at the beginning of 2009 to more than 2 million in 2012 6-7. People are not limited in their Internet usage while on the move, since the speed of mobile broadband connectivity is comparable to land line connectivity due to technologies like HSDPA or LTE 8. Concurrently, prices for mobile Internet are dropping constantly which leads to even more demand and therefore more users 6-7. Changes in the area of mobile infrastructure have also an impact on the market for mobile devices. Ordinary cellphones are becoming more and more displaced by smartphones with Internet access and the capability to run additional applications which enhance the functionality of the phone. Additionally, mobile computers in various forms like Tablet-PCs or Ultrabooks have entered the market. B. The Shift in Communication Behaviour Current studies show an increased reliance on mobile communication in human interaction. While only 43% of 1,000 asked youths and young adults aged between 14 and 29 value their partner as indispensable, 86% of them could not give up on using the Internet 9. Almost every participant (97%) was quoted as not being able to live without a mobile phone anymore. Communication is now experienced as time- and location-independent and significant part of the everyday life. Mobile applications as an extension of the functionality of smartphones build the basis for the implementation of location- and time-independent business models. The installation of these applications reached tremendous popularity within just a few years. Apples Appstore was introduced in 2008 and started with a couple of hundreds of app downloads per day. This number has increased steadily and reached a daily amount of more than 60 million downloads in December 2012 as well as a total amount of 40 billion downloads until the end of 2012 10. The range of potential users for mobile apps is increasing which will lead to gained relevance, also for logistics service providers. III. DEVELOPMENTS IN LAST-MILE LOGISTICS The scientific discipline of logistics is already more than 50 years old and addresses solutions for questions in various fields of economics and business 11-13. The “last-mile” in logistics can be defined as “the last stretch of a business-to-consumer (B2C) parcel delivery to the final consignee who has to take reception of the goods at home or at a cluster/collection point.” 4 After World War II the physical distribution of products gained importance for marketers, as the production of scare goods was no longer a success factor in a world of increasingly diverse offerings in distributed markets. Research aims focused on the optimization of routes for logistics providers and included for example the theoretical modeling and classification of delivery. Despite all the different approaches to the issue of optimization, the main focus lied in optimizing to increase efficiency of the shipment process. Later in the 1990s, logistics research started to shift towards the field of Supply Chain Management with a focus on cross-functionality and inter-organization between connected businesses within product processing stages. Research focused on the integration of systems as well as on the management and optimization of logistic planning aspects. Important research streams worked continuously on the development of intelligent and dynamic information systems, which are able to react on external factors like weather or traffic information 14-15. In this phase, the communication infrastructure of the logistics provider was used to enhance efficiency. Soon, also physical innovations at the place of delivery took place. When it comes to delivery problems like the absence of the recipient, individual package delivery boxes (reception boxes) 16 were developed as a potential physical delivery solution to overcome inefficiency. Finally, also some ideas about how to utilize the mobile communication infrastructure of individuals respectively recipients in last-mile logistics problem sets were published 17. Nevertheless, research on the opportunities of mobile communication systems of the recipients for the utilization in last-mile logistics issues is limited, although the last-mile is considered to be the most expensive part of logistics 3-4 and mobile communication technology is the enabler for various new business models. A. Future Challenges in Last-Mile Logistics The increased importance of last-mile logistics will lead to various challenges. Social changes, caused by time- and location-flexible work, will lead to increased requests for arranged delivery times with delivery windows. Additionally, planned delivery attempts need to be adapted flexibly, even if the shipment is already loaded and ready for delivery. Especially in cases where signatures for security reasons are required, deliverers then need to find ways for personal contact. The increase of e-Commerce will also raise the desire for innovative delivery options. Alternative delivery solution concepts like reception boxes could possibly satisfy these rising requests but are neither fully developed nor available all-around. Inefficiency in deliveries due to the lack of a critical mass in rural areas is another challenge for last-mile logistics providers especially with rising transportation costs. The shipment of packages containing only one product, leads to the separation of deliveries and therefore more but smaller packages. Last-mile logistics providers will additionally have to react to the increasing request for environmental friendly transportation. The research field of green logistics deals with the impacts of logistics from an ecological point of view. IV. OPPORTUNITIES FOR LAST-MILE LOGISTICS The advances in mobile communication systems provide various opportunities for companies in the logistics business. The shift from location-oriented to person-oriented services, which took already place in telephone communication, will also be one of the major opportunities for last-mile logistics 355within the next years. Businesses will be enabled to take advantage of these developments and provide customers the possibility to react on planned shipment deliveries, independently from location or time. A. Bits are Gaining Importance in Last-Mile Logistics The analogy of bits and atoms 18 is often used to describe the enhancement of the value of physical services (atoms) by information flows (bits) in business fields, where traditionally atoms are the main focus of interest. This is especially true for last-mile logistics. On the one hand, atoms describe the traditional way of conducting business, which is represented in last-mile logistics by the transportation of the physical product (shipment) from a sender to a recipient by the logistics provider. Naturally, the number of atoms (shipments) which we interact with is fixed. On the other hand, the term “bit” represents information that can be collected or created during the interaction between sender, logistics provider, recipient and the respective shipment. But contrary to atoms, the number of bits is not fixed. Businesses are able to create new bits and introduce new information for the application in the real world. While bits are being created, the number of opportunities for business models to be realized increases as well. Various application opportunities emerge, especially by utilizing the information created during the interaction between the logistics provider, the recipient and the shipment. B. Development of Digital Information in Logistics Communication technology has already exerted strong influence in the development of last-mile logistics. These past developments as well as ongoing changes can be divided into three successive phases (see Figure 1). Figure 1: Utilization of information in logistics In the first phase of information system utilization, the main focus of information processing was set on the integration of computer systems between the sender and the logistics provider to automate processes. In the following second phase, the focus shifted to the optimization of the physical transportation by the usage of information systems like route navigation. Additionally, upcoming personal computers allowed recipients to inquire information regarding their shipments. Logistics providers put their efforts into increasing delivery efficiency by offering delivery windows to schedule the reception or the installation of reception boxes. The upcoming third phase of information systems utilization in last-mile logistics should focus on the end-to-end integration between all involved parties regardless of time and location. Smartphones allow recipients to open a communication channel to logistics providers as well as to senders and therefore support further transportation optimization. This seamless interactive end-to-end communication also opens new potentials for other business areas since new data is generated with every transaction between recipient and the last-mile logistics provider. The generated data becomes important by setting it in context for the specific purpose of enabling new business models. Of course, a data-based business requires privacy policies as basic instrument to ensure the trust in all relationships 19. C. Implications for Business Models The end-to-end information flow generates information about the customers, which could e.g. include knowledge about the daily life of the recipient or transaction habits. This information is of course subject to privacy regulations, but can allow the emergence of certain logistics services and systems build thereupon and thus enhance the physical service of shipment delivery. Due to the reason that these services and systems are traditionally beneficial for the customer, certain lock-in-effects can emerge, which range from financial switching costs 20, to imposed search costs 21-23, and finally to cognitive costs of switching 24. Additionally, such lock-in-effects lead towards a reinforcing feedback loop 25-27, where the involved parties create stronger usage interests due to the gaining pool of participants and their interaction possibilities. After the system and its reinforcing feedback loop are in place and the lock-in-effects by extended delivery offerings for the customer emerge, the logistics provider is able to develop services, which are individualized for senders. Competitors are not able to provide similar offerings to senders, because the logistics provider builds the individualized sender services on the superior number of locked-in recipients. The reinforcing feedback loop of the system is thus not only affecting the recipient but also the senders. V. APPROACHES FOR LAST-MILE LOGISTICS Various challenges and opportunities can be identified, when analyzing last-mile logistics 4 28. There are for example changes in society that decrease the ratio of successful home deliveries. Due to the reason that more people are active in the labor market, more and more people are not available at home during the day. This decreases the delivery efficiency due to notifications and the increase of delivery attempts. Additionally, e-Commerce is rising quickly. Shipments with low value are increasing and also the shipment volume is growing steadily. Especially for logistics providers which are bound to operate in rural areas, the lack of a critical mass for deliveries in these areas is a major problem for their profitability. 356A. Approaches Beside an Enhanced Information Flow There have been several attempts to handle the mentioned challenges and to raise and optimize the shipment delivery in last-mile logistics. Approaches that do not rely on an enhanced interactive information flow between sender, recipient and logistics provider are for example written forwarding assignments, which have to be filled out at a branch of the logistics provider. Also pre-arranged delivery-windows, which are static and thus vulnerable to short-term modifications, are one solution, which logistics providers apply, to raise efficiency for shipment delivery. Another pre-arrangement covers the agreement on a secure delivery spot on the location of the recipient. Ready-to-send labels for returns, which are shipped with the initial package are another possibility, how logistics providers and senders are reducing their costs. By providing a differentiated range of