Establishment and Networking of Small Telematics Platforms
in Freight Villages (GVZ)
- Summary of the Final Report -
Orderer:
(leader of the consortium)
Senator for Economics and Ports
Zweite Schlachtpforte 3, 28195 Bremen
Herr Hünecke, phone 0421/361-8715, e-mail:
Contractor:
Deutsche GVZ-Gesellschaft mbH
Universitätsallee GW 1 Block A, 28359 Bremen
Herr Nobel phone 0421/2209612, e-mail:
Herr Nestler phone 0351/8143148, e-mail:
Subcontractor:
Logistic Network Consultants GmbH
Lister Straße 15, 30163 Hannover
June 2001
1 Introduction
One of the main findings of the final report of the joint working group " telematics applications for transport chains“[1] is " that the missing of telematics support for Freight Villages (GVZ) as intermodal interfaces has to be considered as serious problem“. Furthermore the working group comes to the conclusion that comparatively few small and medium size enterprises (SME’s) - which can in particular be found in GVZ - participate in the rapid development of the electronic business. On the other hand, larger transport and logistics operators are in most cases reluctant to open their systems to additional users. Therefore the working group recommends to provide public support for the establishment of open telematics platforms in GVZ in order to improve the competitiveness of SME’s in terms of E-business and to promote telematics solutions in intermodal transport chains.
The objective of this study is to provide recommendations for those companies, e.g. GVZ developers and operators, planning to establish multi-user solutions in telematics respectively e-business/e-logistics (terms to be used synonymously). Specific consideration has been given to SME-oriented schemes feasible for GVZ.
This study has been focussed on GVZ in Lower Saxony, Bremen and Saxonia. In addition activities and experiences of other German GVZ as well as Freight Villages in Europe (Italy, Denmark) were included in the surveys.
GVZ Bremen as the first and most developed GVZ took an exposed position for the investigations. The experiences from project " Virtual GVZ " (started in 2001) are an important input for the study. One subject of the investigation was to identify opportunities to transfer experiences and expertise from the Bremen project to other GVZ locations.
In Lower Saxony and Saxony the structure of the GVZ is strongly influenced by the logistics processes of the automotive industry. A high proportion of the companies located in the GVZ are involved either in the production and supply process or in adjacent logistics operations. Therefore a high IT affinity could be assumed. But not exclusively in the automotive sector a solid IT competence becomes more and more important for the providers of logistic services in increasingly competitive markets. Therefore in particular SME‘s should be supported in their telematics and e-business efforts. The selected pilot projects take this into consideration. In Lower Saxony the investigations were focused on the locations Wolfsburg and Salzgitter, in Saxonia on the GVZ Southwest Saxonia with the core location Glauchau. The GVZ Southwest Saxonia has been also selected for its characteristic as multi-site GVZ.
2 Survey on relevant telematics solutions
The investigation in relevant telematics solutions was carried out in the internet and literature as well as by interviews. It covered both products already available on the relevant markets and solutions still under development. Furthermore the UGFFM[2]-Server was used to survey results of national and EU research projects. The results of the EU-project CODE[3] was another source of information. The survey covered the following categories:
· single-user platform solutions
· open platform solutions
· telematics applications in intermodal transport (road, rail, inland waterway)
· communication network solutions relevant for GVZ
For each category representative solutions were selected. It should be pointed out that especially in the category " open platform solutions " many applications were analyzed, but a complete survey could not be performed in the context of the study. The relevant pilot applications were specified with support of selected telematics service providers.
The benchmark in design and performance for telematics platforms is dominated by single-user solutions of large logistics service providers. Due to the ongoing trend of outsourcing of complete supply chains instead of single transport and warehousing processes, large logistics operators have invested in the development of sophisticated systems for the complex control and processing of Supply Chain Management (SCM). In most cases, these systems are dedicated to the specific requirements of these logistics operators respectiveley those of their clients. Options for sharing these ressources are very rare. The two figures on the following page show a representative example of a single-user SCM solution.
figure 1: architecture of a SCM system (source: www.kuehne-nagel.com)
figure 2: functionality of a SCM system (source: www.kuehne-nagel.com)
Using the opportunities of improving internet and PC performance, also open access respectively multi-user schemes have been established on the IT market. These systems are designed for the requirements of companies not able to feed the capacity of a single-user solution. The range starts at tracking and tracing solutions based on GSM mobile telecommunication combined with an internet application (see figure 3) and reaches to more complex solutions based on Application Service Providing (ASP). ASP is earmarked to reduce the total cost of ownership for the user as the logistics software and databases are located on central servers and are accessed by the users through the internet (see figure 4). Due to the improving performance and reliability of the internet (wide band communication) ASP is expected to get a significant market potential in the near future.
figure 3: screenshot of internet-based tracking and tracing system ZEBRAXX (source: ZEBRAXX AG)
figure 4: architecture of a ASP solution „letsmoveit“ (source: SALT AG)
Another finding of the survey is that telematics solutions for intermodal transport are still in a rather weak position. Whereas internet based market places and online auctions for road haulage are quite common, the presence of railfreight and inland waterway transport is very rare in the „virtual world“. Nevertheless, some solutions were identified which are sufficiently developed and also relevant for the integration in telematics platforms for GVZ. One example is CESAR[4] , a system developed for road/rail combined transport (CT) by European CT operators. The main objective of CESAR (Co-operative European System for Advanced Information Redistribution) is to make intermodal transport more attractive by reducing technical barriers performing a harmonisation of information exchange between CT operators and between operators and customers. The status information is provided to the customers on-demand through a web-based interface. A direct integration between CESAR and customer's internal systems is planned in a further step.
3 IT requirements in GVZ
3.1 Survey and workshop
Parallel to the research in relevant telematics applications respectively complete platform solutions, GVZ developers and operators as well as selected logistics service providers in GVZ in Lower Saxony and Saxonia were informed about project objectives. They were interviewed about the use of electronic media for business processing as well as on requirements for so-called Small Telematics Platforms (STP) for GVZ. This was carried out both in writing and in telephone and personal discussions according to a guide-line coordinated between the project partners. In addition to this, available results of the ongoing project „virtual GVZ“ in Bremen were analysed.
Another element of the survey was an one day workshop held in Hanover on March 29th, 2001. The objective was to bring represenatives of GVZ companies together with suppliers and developers of telematics solutions for the logistics sector. These providers (ALS, Deutsche Telekom AG, glts cotech, SALT AG) presented their approaches to the platform applications. The discussion was focussed on general functionality aspects as well as on the economic performance and viability of STP. As a result of the workshop further steps for the continuation of the investigation including the definition of pilot projects were agreed.
3.2 Requirement Profile
Based on the results of the product research, the results of the workshop in Hanover as well as the investigations in GVZ Bremen conclusions regarding the technical and functional requirements for the STP were drawn. Consequently, platform solutions or specific (individual) solutions for GVZ companies should fulfill the following requirements:
Technical:
· open architecture, access through generic interfaces
· integration ability of exisiting software and hardware of the users
· high level of data security (transfer and administration) and system availability (in particular with ASP solutions)
· solutions tested and established on the market
Functional:
· economic and qualitative benefit for the users
· reflection of business processes (not only info pool)
· consideration of site-specific conditions (companies, industry-mix, client structure, etc.)
· check of exiting systems for extension or integration feasibility
· integration of existing telematics / e-business solutions in the GVZ
· applications should be usable both for private companies and for GVZ cooperations .
4 Concept " STP - Small Telematics Platforms "
The requirement profile has been transferred into a concept for STP. The basic structure of this STP concept (see figure 5) contains three functions and development levels, which in general follow the approach of the „Virtual GVZ“ concept in Bremen and were extended by the requirements of the other considered GVZ. On the first level information services are offered, which apart from the information contents on the GVZ, provide the option of direct contacts to companies located in the GVZ through a web-based information portal with a GVZ corporate identity.
Another substantial component of the STP is the so-called " interaction level " (second level). Due to the open system architecture, the GVZ companies will have the possibility of selecting from a bundle of software applications (e.g. own applications of the platform operator or ASP applications run by third-party providers) at comparatively lower costs and higher performance. The technical compatibility and contractual backup for the applications will be guaranteed by the STP provider. For example, it is considered to set up framework contracts between the national GVZ roof organisation DGG and applications providers. Within these frameworks with their economic and performance advantages, GVZ companies contract the services with the application providers individually.
The overall target of this STP level is to support IT activities of individual GVZ companies as well as cooperative logistics activities in the GVZ (e.g. disposition and factoring for city logistics) including intermodal transport chains. This shall bring the STP users in a postion capable to offer service standards (e.g. tracking and tracing) comparable to those of large logistics service providers with stand alone IT solutions.
The third level is to be seen as a vision which can become reality in a stage, when a substantial number of GVZ will be fully operational and STP’s will be succesfully established. The core functionality of this STP level will be focussed on virtual marketplaces for logistics services. The main challenge will be the attraction of sufficient demand for logistics services. Following a step-by-step strategy, the GVZ marketplaces therefore should start as components of existing or planned regional virtual marketplaces with a wide spectrum of information and market activities. This will help to vitalise the awareness of the service spectrum represented by the GVZ companies. The marketplace concept will also support the opportunities of virtual enterprises to be established by GVZ companies. Compared to other virtual enterprises, the participating companies are not only virtually linked but als physically concentrated which can generate synergies leading to economic and service quality advantages.
At a later stage, when e-business linked to GVZ will be further established, virtual marketplaces dedicated to GVZ only – either at a national, regional or even at a local level – can be established. The cost for development and establishment can be estimated between 25.000 to 50.000 €. On the other hand, annual operating cost of about 250.000 € (staff, hardware, software, communication) have to be justified. As the commission for providers of virtual marketplaces very rarely exceeds the 2-percent-level, an annual turnover of about 12.5 million € will be necessary to break even.
figure 5: structure of the STP concept
5 STP pilot projects
5.1 GVZ Internet Portal / LogSolutions
For the realisiation of the STP concept, the product „LogSolutions“ of Deutsche Telekom AG (DT AG) has been selected. One the main reasons apart from the short time to market – planned to be operational by the end of 2001 - was the opportunitiy to combine open platform solutions with high-level performance communication structures. The main characteristics of „LogSolutions“ based STP solution can be summarised as follows:
· combination of logistics-oriented applications with telecommunicattion services
· internet-based service portal with tailor-made solutions (e.g. for individual GVZ locations)
· ASP with a high availability level (99,99 percent) and high-performance server
· internal applications on offer (e.g. fleet management, customs clearance, warehousing)
· integration of external applications dedicated to individual GVZ and/or companies
· networking of several locations through a Virtual Private Network (VPN) (local GVZ intranet, multi-site GVZ, branches of one individual company)
· safe internet and e-mail access (code, closed user groups)
· cost reduction compared to individual contracts for ASP and communication networks (fees as flat rates or depending on use, coaching, measures for data safety)
· centralised service functions (e.g. call center dedicated to logistics services)
Figure 6 shows the structure and the functional opportunities of STP based on LogSolutions.