Event report: The future of e-fulfilment

After the opening remarks by HIDC CEO Remco Buurman and CSCMP Benelux Roundtable President, Dr. Chrisoula Papadopoulou, Ewoud Moolenburgh, Senior lecturer international supply chain management at the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences (RUAS) kicked off the seminar by sharing his experience, insights and key learnings from a Living Lab project about City Logistics, that he has been working on with colleagues and students. With a view to zero emission zones coming into force in many cities in the coming years, the team looked at ways to reduce the emissions of the university’s incoming deliveries of products used on campus, such as office supplies, hygiene products and coffee. Next to route optimisation and shifting to EV vehicles, the team also looked at options for bundling of streams through the use of hubs outside the city and the role the purchase contract with the suppliers could play in enforcing these changes.  

Next, George Ninikas Global Industry Leader Retail & Wholesale at Ortec, spoke about how technology solutions can support companies to optimize last mile deliveries. While consumers increasingly look for faster and more convenient services, companies need to look for ways to optimise deliveries in order to minimise operational costs. The last mile distribution for e-groceries account for up to 53% of the total shipping costs, making it an obvious first place to implement new technologies to drive process improvements. George went on to share some insights into how optimisation software can support better timeslot booking and route planning and gave us a look into the future by discussing how machine learning and AI will further support the optimisation drive.  

Last but not least, Jurrie-Jan Tap, Chief Business Development Officer for Bleckmann, spoke about one of the key trends in fashion and lifestyle supply chains, the shift to omnichannel distribution, and the role the logistics services provider can play in this. As a result of the huge supply chains disruptions in the past years, companies were confronted with the risks of relying too much on single source manufacturing and on a single sales channel. Using an omnichannel strategy, makes companies more resilient to disruptions, but also offers better customer data and can help mitigate extreme seasonality during the year. Logistics services providers such as Bleckmann can offer the logistics support to be able to execute an omnichannel strategy, offer economies of scale e.g. in the use of transport contracts and optimisation software, but also increasingly play a role in returns and repair management. 

After the presentations, attendees were taken on a tour through the new warehouse where Bleckmann currently handles impressive operations for Amazon and Karl Lagerfeld.

A copy of the presentations are available for the participants in the NDL app. Please bear in mind, that these presentations are not for further distribution. 

About CSCMP Benelux Roundtable

The Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP), with over 8,500 members,  is the worldwide professional association dedicated to the advancement and dissemination of research and knowledge on supply chain management. CSCMP Benelux Roundtable aims to provide a global perspective, an end-to-end supply chain scope and great networking to profile Benelux as a leading European region for supply chain management and logistics.