(openPR) - Information technology is now an integral part of the logistics business – satellite navigation, radio frequency identification (RFID), wireless networking between devices and electronic delivery notes are all now firmly established in the industry. Yet this is just the beginning of an exciting new era in technology.
Lots of new trends and visions for the future will be displayed at transport logistic 2007.
Around 350 exhibitors of telematics, eBusiness and telecommunications products and services will be putting on a presentation at transport logistic 2007, the 11th International Trade Fair for Logistics, Telematics and Transport, which takes place from 12 to 15 June 2007 in Munich. Of this number over 40 exhibitors are involved in tracking and navigation systems. Satellite navigation is of great importance in logistics, as it enables processes to be organised in a more transparent and rational way. Electronic navigation systems were in fact developed at the beginning of the Second World War, for military use, but only in the last few years have they become affordable for civil applications. Today such systems are in use not only in aeronautics and shipping, but also in private cars, for hiking, cycling and even for guided tours of cities.
The most common system in use around the world is the US-American Global Positioning System (GPS), in which signals received from satellites support localisation and navigation on the ground and in the air. Satellite navigation is an attractive growth market. Experts are forecasting sales of over 70 billion euros over the next 20 years. Countries outside the US are now looking to profit from this growth. For although use of the GPS signals is free of charge, there is an enormous competitive advantage for US firms in developing and marketing the end devices. Not surprisingly, therefore, there are now efforts in Europe and China to become independent of the American GPS and the global navigation satellite system of the Russian Federation (GLONASS). The European Union and the European Space Agency (ESA) are working on their own European civil satellite navigation system called Galileo, which should be ready for use by 2011. For European logistics companies Galileo promises greater reliability, as any cessation of GPS services would result in millions of euros worth of losses. Nevertheless many logistics companies rely on GPS, for example for tracking and monitoring consignments, for locating vehicles and containers, and for use across the different modes of transport in monitoring the transport of dangerous cargo.
In addition to satellite-supported consignment tracking in real time, other information technologies are raising the transparency of logistics processes involving several companies all along the supply chain. Electronic merchandise information systems with barcodes or RFID tags and scanners can precisely track the location of each consignment, even when it´s in the warehouse. Thanks to handheld data-input devices, information on outbound deliveries can be fed into the computer system, even when the operator is not sitting at a PC workplace. The information is therefore immediately available and can be evaluated. This applies to the entire process, right down to the end consumer – electronic delivery notes can be signed on a touch-screen display.
In a forum on the subject of ‘Interoperability of positioning and navigation systems – An overview of present and future technologies and systems’, experts at transport logistic 2007 will be discussing a range of other applications that can be expected in the future from the use of satellite-supported navigation systems in combination with wireless data transfer, RFID and various telecommunication systems. The applications centre at Oberpfaffenhofen is organising the forum at transport logistic on Thursday, 14 June 2007 from 13:00 to 15:00 in Forum III, Hall C4.
About transport logistic
The 11th international trade fair for logistics, telematics and transport (12 to 15 June 2007 in Munich) presents the whole spectrum of the transport and logistics industry – telematics, in-company transport and material flow, logistics and freight transport. The fair aims to be a practical forum for information gathering and exchange in the diversely structured field of transporting freight – by road, rail, water and air. The visitor target groups of the fair are service-providers and decision-makers from the transport business, from industry, trade associations and freight logistics. In 2005 transport logistic attracted 1,333 exhibitors and around 40,000 visitors from a total of 103 countries. The statistics for the fair are independently audited on behalf of the Gesellschaft zur Freiwilligen Kontrolle von Messe- und Ausstellungszahlen (FKM), a society for the voluntary control of fair and exhibition statistics.
Messe München International (MMI)
Messe München International (MMI) is one of the world´s leading trade-fair organisations. It organises around 40 trade fairs for capital and consumer goods, and new technology. Over 30,000 exhibitors from more than 100 countries, and over two million visitors from more than 200 countries take part each year in the trade fairs in Munich. In addition, MMI organises trade fairs in Asia, Russia, the Middle East and in South America. With four subsidiaries in Europe and Asia and 66 foreign representatives covering 89 countries, MMI has a truly global network.
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