Study “Concepts of Future Automotive Logistics” Published

The consortium study “Concepts of Future Automotive Logistics” examines the changes and trends affecting the automotive industry and its inbound logistics, as well as their impact on logistics processes and structures. Taking these influencing factors into account, the logistics concepts of the automotive industry are critically assessed in order to develop future logistics concepts based on this analysis. The study was conducted under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Stölzle and Leon Zacharias from the Institute for Supply Chain Management at the University of St. Gallen.

(St. Gallen) The automotive industry is one of the most important industries in the European Union, measured by the number of employees and its value-added share of the economy. For years, the produced vehicles, existing concepts, and processes have been considered best practices in the international market. Driven by efficiency and innovation, increasingly powerful logistics solutions have been implemented over the past decades to supply the plants. Other players in inbound logistics (suppliers and logistics service providers) also contribute to this success alongside the manufacturers.

Identifying relevant and influential trends forms the starting point for the verifiable adaptation and redesign of processes for inbound logistics in this study.

Numerous Interviews with Experts from Various Industries

Through numerous interviews with experts from various industries and closely coordinated collaboration, not only technological but also societal and economic trends, as well as their critical mass for the industry, can be contextualized. These trends are assigned to the six change drivers Digitalization and Transparency, Raw Materials and Production, Business Relationships between Actors, Shipment Structures and Hazardous Goods, Flexible Logistics Processes and Agility, and Ecological Sustainability. Based on the trends, two scenarios can be derived using scenario techniques, which depict possible future images of the automotive industry and its inbound logistics. The six change drivers operate in each scenario, sometimes in significantly different manifestations.

Scenario A: “The Automotive Location Europe Utilizes Its Potential”

In the present future horizon (five to eight years), there is extensive data transparency along the logistics processes to ensure the necessary requirements for resilience and supply security. The OEMs will no longer be pure automobile manufacturers but will also act as mobility providers and adapt their business models accordingly. The software in the vehicles forms an important complement to the hardware and partially expands it, with consequences for shipment structures and transport volumes, for example. Ecological sustainability is an important target for the partners in the automotive network. This includes the use of alternative drives even in long-distance transport as well as circular economy approaches along the entire supply chain.

Scenario B: “The European Automotive Industry Loses in the International Benchmark”

Scenario B is significantly more pessimistic, as new players revolutionize the industry and overshadow the European industry. Supply chains will continue to be managed with low inventory levels, leading to new bottlenecks, delivery difficulties, and temporary production shutdowns. Logistics service providers will take on significantly more tasks than before. Sustainability concepts (Ecological Sustainability) will only be promoted and realized if regulatory frameworks require it. Uniform standards for hazardous goods are lacking, as are standards for the exchange of data and information along the supply chains.

Where is the European automotive industry heading in the future?

Future Concepts for the Automotive Industry

The change drivers and the two scenarios form the basis for adapted or newly developed concepts.

• Car Chain Visibility forms a comprehensive concept for more transparency, data exchange, and more robust supply chains.
• FutureWOW revolutionizes vehicle- or transport container-related inventory management and creates added value for OEMs, logistics service providers, and suppliers.
• In the future concept OFTO, only fully loaded cargo units will be received at the OEM, based on a sustainability-oriented objective.
• The Pizza Run enables fully loaded tours to the supplier and OEM while achieving a high delivery frequency without additional inventory.
• Trailer Drive offers emission-free transport logistics through the electronic support of a conventional tractor or through the feeding/supply of the electric motors of the electric tractor.
• Urban Future can in the future supply OEMs and other recipients in urban areas silently and with low CO2 emissions through the air while also transporting people.
• Green Industry Cluster is a far-reaching redesign of traditional industrial parks and can set new standards in social, ecological, and economic matters.
• The future concept FlexJIS combines the established Just-in-Sequence concept with flexible inventory management to cushion short-term delivery difficulties and disruptions in the supply chains.
• Energy Hubs will likely enable long-distance transports, emission-free, despite the limited range of electric trucks in the future.

Diverse Factors Influence the Future Concepts

For the implementation of the future concepts, special enablers must be considered that influence the effectiveness of the concepts: actively attracting and retaining skilled workers, creating a modern and intelligent parking management, and adjusting tender management. Thus, the thread of tomorrow’s automotive inbound logistics concepts stretches from relevant trends as drivers of change to enablers for the implementation of the concepts.

Download the Study

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