Logistics – Interviews with Experts

Darkow: Every stage in the value-creation chain has achieved a high degree of optimization, but the interfaces are a major problem. Companies that skillfully network their systems, and manage to motivate their employees at the same time, create an enormous competitive advantage for themselves because they are faster, more flexible and less expensive than their competitors.

Darkow: A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Congested communications produce backlogs, waste resources and result in higher transport costs – for companies and for the economy. In many logistics chains, though, there are still buffers that can compensate for the delays created by backlogs, which as a rule can be measured in hours. In chains where time is a critical factor, however, such as in the delivery of fresh food products or spare parts or in high-speed e-commerce, hours can make or break a company's ability to compete. This factor – and also the debate on the introduction of a truck toll system on German highways – is why companies are becoming increasingly sensitized to the transportation issue, even though transportation costs represent only a few percent of total costs on average.

Darkow: No, because even 50 years from now we still will not have perfect networking of IT systems. And when different systems communicate, translation errors sometimes occur. In responding to these instances, human input simply has to play a role. Human beings will always be indispensable.