Data-Driven Supply Chain Operations—The Pilot Case of Postal Logistics and the Cross-Border Optimization Potential

Abstract

According to the defined challenge of cross-border delivery, a pilot experiment based on the integration of new digital technologies to assess process optimization potential in the postal sector was designed. The specifics were investigated with events processing based on digital representation. Different events were simulated with scenario analysis with the integration of the Cognitive Advisor and supported by the monitoring of KPIs. The business environment is forcing logistics companies to optimize their delivery processes, integrate new technologies, improve their performance metrics, and move towards Logistics 4.0. Their main goals are to simultaneously reduce costs, environmental impact, delivery times, and route length, as well as to increase customer satisfaction. This pilot experiment demonstrates the integration of new digital technologies for process optimization in real time to manage intraday changes. Postal operators can increase flexibility, introduce new services, improve utilization by up to 50%, and reduce costs and route length by 12.21%. The Cognitive Advisor has shown great potential for the future of logistics by enabling a dynamic approach to managing supply chain disruptions using sophisticated data analytics for process optimization based on the existing delivery infrastructure and improving business processes. Research originality is identified with a novel approach of real-time simulation based on the integration of the Cognitive Advisor in postal delivery.