inbound
You don’t have to be big to be green. That’s the message the International
Warehouse Logistics Association (IWLA) gave its members when it
announced at its 2014 Convention and Expo that its Sustainability Council
would reorganize and refocus its efforts.
The Sustainability Council was established in 2013 as a supplement to
IWLA’s Sustainable Logistics Initiative, which asked participants to track
resource use and outputs in their facilities and to measure improvements.
The council’s mission is to promote sustainable warehouse practices among
members. However, most of those who joined this subgroup were big companies with large-scale green projects.
To make its benefits more accessible to IWLA members of all sizes, the
council has reduced its membership fees and is currently revising its policies
to broaden its reach. The council will focus on promoting green practices and
helping member companies plan, implement, and budget for their sustainability initiatives. Such projects might include energy-efficient facility lighting, the use of alternative energy sources, water conservation, and increased
use of recycled materials, to name a few.
IWLA makes it easier to be green
Smartphones and tablet computers have become ubiquitous, and although
questions about their suitability for rugged applications remain, research
conducted by DHL suggests that there is a legitimate place for consumer
electronics in logistics.
“The success of smartphones and tablet PCs has created a situation in which
employees have better technology for personal use than they do for business
needs,” said Dr. Markus Kückelhaus, direc-
tor of trend research at DHL Customer
Solutions & Innovation. “But they expect
to have the same standard of technology at
work. For this reason, we think companies
have to step up and put smartphone sensors
in particular to work in logistics.”
In the report “Low-Cost Sensor
Technology,” the DHL researchers explain
how some technologies developed for con-
sumer applications, such as Microsoft’s vid-
eo-game camera Kinect and smart watches, can be used for logistics applica-
tions. This is revolutionary, they say, because in the past, new technologies
were initially applied in business and only later migrated to private uses.
Tablet PCs and smartphones contain sensors that can measure acceleration,
position, or light. These capabilities can be used to record shipments’ arrival
at parcel centers, pinpointing their locations and updating their status online.
But that’s not all they can do. DHL says it has successfully tested two
methods of measuring pallet volume that were based on sensor systems
found in Microsoft’s Kinect. In tests, this depth-sensing technology took
measurements 50 percent faster than previous technology. Other potential
uses include fill-level measurements for containers and trucks as well as the
documentation of freight damage.
Could smartphones revolutionize logistics?
In his opening remarks at the
National Defense Industry
Association (NDIA) 30th Annual
National Logistics Forum, retired
Air Force Gen. Duncan McNabb,
chairman of NDIA’s Logistics
Management Division, quoted
Alexander the Great. “My logis-
ticians are a humorless lot ... they
know if my campaign fails, they
are the first ones I will slay.”
These days, those involved in
military logistics seem to have
graduated from humorless to
downright dour. What’s soured
their mood is the continuing bud-
get squeeze at the Department
of Defense (DOD), commonly
known as the “sequester.”
Frank Kendall, the undersec-
retary of defense for acquisition,
technology, and logistics, put it
this way: “Last year was a night-
mare year.”
Within that context, Marine
Corps Lt. Gen. Bob Ruark, direc-
tor of logistics for the Joint Chiefs
of Staff, emphasized the need
for DOD to continue collabo-
rating with private industry. But
developing partnerships with the
private sector is easier said than
done, and that’s an issue DOD
must address, he said.
Nobody expressed opti-
mism about the funding situa-
tion. Referring to the sequester,
Kendall said, “It’s a 10-year law,
and it doesn’t go away unless
Congress does something to make
it go away.”
Speaking about the military’s
massive budget cuts at last year’s
NDIA event, Alan Estevez, now
the principal deputy undersec-
retary of defense for acquisition,
technology, and logistics, said,
“We’re on a slow ramp to hell.”
It seems Estevez was right.
Dark mood at NDIA
logistics forum
