Supply Chain Event 2019: 3 takeaways for last mile

diciembre 5, 2019

The French supply chain event of the year brought together industry leaders, retailers and the best of innovation. URBANTZ was also named the second most innovative solution in the Digital Supply Chain Award 2019.

During the two days event in Paris, URBANTZ showcased its solutions to hundreds of stand visitors, participated in the event awards and looked for the industry’s tendencies. These are some of our main takeaways:

1. The industry’s response to consumer expectations

The salon served as a stage to discuss how to meet the expectations online, but also brick and mortar customers have for their delivery. Agediss showcased their solutions to give customers a delivery time window at the moment of purchase, decreasing the amount of failed deliveries. Addressing this issue also allows both customers and deliverers to have visibility on the delivery, encouraging transparency.

AI was also a major topic on the trade show, touching on technology that works to better predict last mile logistics needs and enhance the delivery experience. AI and machine learning are also looked at to solve other common last mile issues like traffic prediction.

2. Common integrated urban logistics solutions are on the way

21% of delivery truck’s space is not used, believes Urby. This results in wasted space and needing to resort for more trucks to deliver and increased environmental impact. One of the possible solutions might be viewing urban logistics as a mutualised activity. Aggregating several operators under the same hub gives the opportunity to share and reduce resources.

Brussels is already part of a similar project to be deployed in 2021. The Brussels Construction Consolidation Centre (BCCC) plans to aggregate and consolidate in a hub outside city limits construction materials to deliver into the city, shipping them with better efficiency in terms of time and truck space allocation. URBANTZ is part of the BCCC project as the solution used to manage the urban delivery operations.

3. Sustainable approaches are key

Growing regulatory impositions concerning pollution and traffic at the city level can raise big challenges to the last mile industry: forbidden zones, taxes on the entrance and even on deliveries. The industry needs to work together to provide viable sustainable solutions and help reduce the impact of deliveries on city life. Solutions like the above can certainly have an impact, but their implementation can take too long for cities to wait. An interesting trend is the increased use of alternative and eco-friendly methods of transport.

The fourth edition of the Digital Supply Chain Awards 2019 took place during the event. This year, the Awards that recognize the most innovative solutions in the supply chain sector presented a new format of pitches.

URBANTZ’s co-founder Michael Darchambeau, guided the jury panel of executives from retail companies through our complete last mile solution, and our vision to connect urban logistics under the same integrated network, taking home the second place for most innovative solution.