Michael Hülsmann – författare

One of the great challenges in flexible production and supply chains is the availability of necessary information at any time and any place. As a result of increasing dynamical and structural complexity of structures and processes in production it is often impossible to make all necessary information available to a central instance in real time and to perform appropriate measures of control in terms of a defined target system. A fast and flexible adaptation to changing basic conditions ought to be achieved by establishing autonomous logistics processes.

In this context several fundamental questions concerning autonomous cooperating logistics processes were investigated:

The identification problem: What are autonomous logistics processes and how do they differ from conventionally managed processes?

The description problem: Which changes will autonomy cause in order processing?

One of the first results is a definition for the term autonomy for applications in engineering science. The constituent characteristics of this definition were considered within the development of the catalogue of criteria in order to describe autonomous logistic processes. Regarding the modelling of autonomous processes, first requirements for modelling methods were specified. To validate the research results, a production-logistic shop-floor scenario and a practical scenario based on the real business processes of an automobile terminal were developed. Simulation studies concerning autonomously controlled allocation of parking areas document comprehensive opportunities for improvement.

Many new technologies – like RFID, GPS, and sensor networks – that dominate innovative developments in logistics are based on the idea of autonomous cooperation and control. This self-organisational concept describes „...processes of decentralized decision-making in heterarchical structures. It presumes interacting elements in non-deterministic systems, which possess the capability and possibility to render decisions. The objective of autonomous cooperation and control is the achievement of increased robustness and positive emergence of the total system due to distributed and flexible coping with dynamics and complexity“ (Hülsmann & Windt, 2007). In order to underlie these technology-driven developments with a fundamental theoretical foundation this edited volume asks for contributions and limitations of applying the principles of autonomous cooperation and control to logistics processes and systems. It intends to identify, describe, and explain – in the context of production and distribution logistics – the effects on performance and robustness, the enablers and impediments for the feasibility, the essential cause-effect-relations, etc. of concepts, methods, technologies, and routines of autonomous cooperation and control in logistics. Therefore, the analyses collected in this edited volume aim to develop a framework for finding the optimal degree as well as the upper and lower boundaries of autonomous cooperation and control of logistics processes from the different perspectives of production technology, electronics and communication engineering, informatics and mathematics, as well as management sciences and economics.

Companies face a variety of risks resulting from cost reduction strategies, rationalization measures, global sourcing, and outsourcing activities. Due to the large number of actors involved, extremely close ties emerge, which significantly increase supply chains’ vulnerability to disruptions – this has been shown again and again in the past few years. Against this background, the aspect of supply continuity is of increasing importance for all activities that relate to procurement, logistics, and supply chain management. Its objective is to ensure the continuous operation of supply chains, i.e., the uninterrupted flow of material, information, and coordination from the initial supplier to the end customer. Therefore, it is necessary to adopt adequate measures that take into consideration not only potential losses but also potential gains (so-called speculative risks).

With this book, the concept of Supply Chain Safety Management is introduced. The concept itself is embedded in a comprehensive and dynamic management process. Depending on a supply chain’s individual objectives, a set of courses of action is offered for any risk factors – whether they are identifiable and quantifiable or not. The practicability of Supply Chain Safety Management is highlighted by various case studies.

The book “Supply Chain Safety Management: Achieving Security and Robustness in Logistics” targets both the areas of science and of practice. First, the state of the art in research is reflected and valuable impulses for new and respectively for further research fields are provided by taking into consideration the points of view of scientists and practitioners in the business environment. Next, theoretically well‐substantiated, modern approaches and tools applicable to the business world are offered, an impetus for new ideas and fields of positioning is given and best practice examples are presented allowing a fruitful exchange of experiences betweenpractitioners.