一、Two essential conditions of logistics platform
From the rise of logistics information matching platform (platform for releasing car/goods information) more than 10 years ago until today, logistics platform has been a focus of the industry. However, due to the lack of "transparent connection of all logistics elements", the development of logistics information platform is temporarily constrained by the authenticity and real-time requirements of information and other factors, and various logistics platform ideas have not been well realized. But from today's industry environment and industry trend, logistics platform is still on the road, it will become an important part of the "network" in the "Internet + logistics".
Logistics platform is actually a place that gathers logistics service demand and logistics service resources, promotes logistics transactions, coordinates logistics activities, and improves the collaborative efficiency of logistics process.
This place is both online and offline. The online place is the infrastructure for processing logistics information, while the offline place is the logistics resource elements and logistics infrastructure such as people, vehicles, goods and warehouses involved in the actual process of logistics.
Therefore, the formation of logistics platform needs to meet two basic requirements
As it stands, there are few platforms that meet both requirements. The reason is that those who can gather logistics information do not have the dominant right to allocate logistics resources, and the authenticity, real-time and effective management of information are still weak. In addition, the actors who have the right to allocate logistics resources generally lack the means and ability to collect and gather information.
Logistics information platform (matching platform) has been developed for more than 10 years, but only a few are still active at present, because most of them can not effectively drive logistics resources, and thus become decoration. Therefore, the realization of "transparent connection of all logistics elements" and "control of logistics resources" will become the two essential conditions for the logistics platform.
As mentioned above, the realization of "transparent connectivity of all logistics elements" is a continuous long-term process, which first needs to grasp a few key elements, and then gradually expands to all elements. At the present stage, the control of logistics resources is the key condition to promote the construction of logistics platform. Under the condition of mastering logistics resources, the transparent connection of logistics elements will be gradually promoted to form a platform.
二、Types and characteristics of logistics platform
There are many names associated with "logistics platform", such as intelligent logistics platform, dedicated line alliance platform, supply trading platform, transport capacity integration platform, park platform, and so on. In the blueprint of "Internet + logistics", the types of logistics platforms are divided based on their functions and elements. The author believes that there are at least three types of logistics platforms: logistics business collaboration platform, logistics resource elements platform, and logistics vertical segmentation platform. Each type of platform has its own characteristics.
1、Logistics business collaboration platform
Logistics business collaboration platform refers to a platform that supports the normal operation of the whole logistics business process and aims to improve the collaborative efficiency of business process. This kind of platform takes "logistics business" as the center, and can be specifically divided into enterprise logistics business operation platform and cross-enterprise logistics collaboration platform.
The logistics business operation platform of an enterprise is mainly used to improve the coordination ability of various departments within the enterprise.
The logistics business operation platform of an enterprise refers to the platform formed by realizing the transparent connection of relevant logistics elements within an enterprise through its own Internetization. The logistics business operation platform of an enterprise is actually the Internetization of the logistics business operation system of an enterprise, which is commonly referred to as the realization of "moving offline business to online", realizing the mutual promotion and collaboration between "online" and "offline", so as to improve the efficiency of logistics business. This is also called O2O logistics business operation. Qualified manufacturing enterprises, trade enterprises, logistics enterprises can build a platform according to their own conditions, in order to improve the efficiency of their logistics business.
Cross-enterprise logistics cooperation platform is developed based on such a practical appeal.
The whole process of logistics business is usually cross-enterprise, which requires cross-enterprise collaboration. For cross-enterprise logistics business collaboration, the first thing is to be able to support the cross-enterprise flow of business documents, and be able to track and feedback the dynamic progress of business execution in real time. Secondly, it should be able to provide real-time and effective communication conditions for the links involving the handover of two or more parties in the whole business process; Finally, the entire platform needs a set of workable synergy mechanisms and rules.
2、Logistics resource element platform
One of the basic functions of logistics platform is to gather logistics resources, and actually some important logistics resources need a special platform to coordinate.
For example, storage resources, transportation resources, goods and so on. Logistics resource element platform is to solve the aggregation and coordination of logistics related resources. At present, typical logistics resource element platforms include at least cloud warehousing platform and cloud transport capacity platform.
Cloud storage refers to a storage business operation and management mode based on the transparent connection of storage resource elements to realize the reasonable arrangement of storage activities through "big data of storage resources". Cloud storage covers a wide range of areas, It can be divided into micro level and relatively macro level. At the micro level, cloud storage can accurately know the situation of each space and shelf, the inventory cycle of each kind of goods, and how to reasonably arrange storage plans and make full use of storage resources. From a relatively macro level, cloud warehousing can know the distribution of various types of warehouses nationwide and know how to coordinate storage resources to match the needs of goods circulation. The natural support for the operation of cloud storage is cloud storage platform, which is an important part of "network" in "Internet + logistics" and a very important logistics resource element platform. The exploration of cloud storage platform has just begun, and the development of cloud storage is the expectation of the whole industry.
Cloud transport capacity platform refers to a platform that gathers transport capacity information based on transparent connection of transport capacity elements to facilitate the pooling and sharing of transport capacity resources.
Cloud transport capacity platform can be divided into enterprise private platform and industry public platform. Enterprise private cloud transport capacity platform refers to a platform built for its own business operation and enterprise development needs, which can gather relevant information of its own transport capacity and social transport capacity related to enterprise business on the platform, so as to realize reasonable call, coordination and external sharing of transport capacity. The public cloud transport capacity platform of the industry is based on the "transparent connection of transport capacity elements". By establishing extensive docking and data sharing with the private cloud transport capacity platform of enterprises, it can realize the overall planning and sharing of transport capacity resources of the industry. The public cloud transport capacity platform of the industry is a public infrastructure of "Internet + logistics", which solves the problem of sharing transport capacity resources among enterprises.
In addition to cloud storage platform and cloud transport capacity platform, it is also possible to form a professional platform based on other logistics resource elements such as freight parking lot and cargo source.
3、Logistics vertical segmentation platform
There are many vertical segments in the logistics industry, such as cold chain logistics, hazardous chemicals logistics, sub-carload logistics, express logistics, etc. The characteristics of operation and resource elements of each subdivision are personalized. Therefore, professional platforms are needed to support resource pooling, coordination and sharing in various vertical subdivisions of logistics.
Cold chain logistics platform is used to gather cold chain storage resources and transport capacity resources, coordinate and share these resources, and improve the efficiency of cold chain logistics by strengthening the collaboration of cold chain logistics business process.
For example, in the field of hazardous chemical logistics, there are special requirements on the safety and professionalism of storage facilities and transport vehicles, which need to be fire prevention, explosion prevention, leakage prevention, pollution prevention, and so on. So the Internet of hazardous chemical logistics, It needs a professional platform to support it. In addition, steel logistics, coal logistics, agricultural logistics, clothing logistics and other logistics are likely to become professional vertical segmentation platform.
Although there may be a lot of vertical segmentation platforms for logistics, the platforms are not separated from each other, but related to each other. For instance, the transportation capacity of the clothing logistics platform can also be used to transport goods of the household appliances logistics platform. Warehouses that used to store steel can be cleared to store bags of cement, or have extra space for other building materials. In short, the uses of resources are diverse. Therefore, the logistics vertical segmentation platform and logistics resource factor platform are not separate, they are two sides of the same coin, just look at things from different perspectives.
三、All paths lead to the same destination
No matter what kind of logistics platform, no matter how logistics platform develops, it is always a part of the "network" in "Internet + logistics". No matter which logistics platform the logistics elements belong to, they are all nodes in the "network". Logistics elements and logistics platforms, through the universal transparent connection, can eventually form an industry network that can widely support logistics business collaboration.
From the perspective of logistics business management, logistics platform is needed; From the perspective of pooling, coordinating and sharing logistics resources, logistics platform is needed. From the perspective of professionalism in the vertical segmentation field of logistics, logistics platforms are also needed. The same logistics element can also be distributed on different types of logistics platforms at the same time. For example, a refrigerated truck can be distributed on the logistics business operation platform of an enterprise, the cold chain logistics platform, and the cloud transport capacity platform.
Logistics platform is a form of extensive and transparent connection of logistics elements, in order to achieve the transparency of logistics industry, in order to improve the efficiency of logistics operation.
Therefore, the ultimate trend of the development of logistics platforms will be to establish extensive transparent connections with each other due to the need of collaboration, and eventually form a "network" of "Internet + logistics". Therefore, no matter the logistics platform at the enterprise level or the industry level, it must be open, otherwise it cannot be integrated into the "network" of "Internet + logistics".
