Early Learnings from a Logistics Testbed
1 INTRODUCTION
The cooperative use of data confronts companies with a variety of challenges . Companies , for instance , accumulate their data stocks in internal data silos or private clouds 1 , 2 . These data collaborations are called data ecosystems 3 , 4 and are gaining more and more relevance in science and practice . The enormous economic potential of the collaborative use of data is highlighted by the European Commission ' s estimate of the value of the data economy in Europe from the end of the year 2019 . In this study , the value is estimated to be around € 324.86 billion . For 2025 , it is expected to grow about € 432 billion . 5
One example of such a data ecosystem from the automotive sector is the Mobility Data Space , other data ecosystems are also currently being established . 6 , 7 We are currently observing that IoT , digital twins and thus data ecosystems are increasingly gaining relevance in intralogistics as well . Intralogistics offer great potential because many tasks and processes are still manually performed and poorly optimized . Our research aims to help companies explore the opportunities to conceptualize the complex interactions in such a data ecosystem focusing on intralogistics . 8
This article presents our preliminary findings from a data ecosystem in intralogistics . We identified three main service types , including two sub-types each that emerge when building such a data ecosystem . We put our findings in the context of the three-tier architecture showing that the nature of providable services varies corresponding to the tier .
2 TESTBED DESCRIPTION
To explore and exploit the potentials of data ecosystems in logistics , a manufacturer of wheeled excavators , an industrial service provider , an industrial sensor manufacturer and the Ferdinand Steinbeis Institute ( German Regional Team of the Industrial IoT Consortium ) started a joint testbed about two years ago . The three companies , coordinated by the Ferdinand Steinbeis Institute , set the aim to optimize intralogistics using digital twins that enable new ways of orchestrating internal logistics processes ( tracking of goods and controlling of forklifts ).
This orchestration combined the strengths of the three companies in a novel intercompany development process and a collaboration happened on all levels of the organization to jointly unlock the potential which was identified in a previously transpired project . The different
1
Baars , et . al ., 2021
2
Lindner & Straub , 2023
3
Oliveira , M . I . S . & Lòscio , B . F . ( 2018 )
4
Adner , R . ( 2017 )
5
Cattaneio et al ., 2020 , pp . 43-44
6
World Economic Forum ( 2022 )
7
International Data Spaces Association ( 2022 )
8
Mörth , et al ., 2020 16
August 2023