In 2019, 243.9 million tons of goods were distributed by road in Portugal. Despite the pandemic affecting the trade of non-essential goods over the past year and a half, during the first quarter of 2021, amidst the second lockdown, road freight transportation grew by 8.3% compared to the same period the previous year.

As in other sectors, the health crisis forced logistics companies to reinvent themselves, accelerating their digital transformation to continue offering their services with the highest quality and safety, and at the pace demanded by the market.

“Traditional logistics is no longer sufficient,” says António Fernandes, Director of Innovation at Luís Simões. “In recent years, Logistics 4.0 has improved process efficiency and agility while reducing costs. Accelerated by the pandemic, the digitization of the sector will continue to focus on automating operations but will also seek new, more environmentally responsible, and personalized solutions to meet the demands of discerning customers.”

Technological Trends

Drawing from their experience as a pioneering innovator in the field, Luís Simões highlights six key trends that will shape the digitization of the sector in the coming years:

• Automation of operations, progressing in collaborative work between machines and humans, automation of warehouse management, distribution, and waste recycling—enabling routine tasks to be delegated to machines.
• Business Intelligence, with new applications developed to reduce time and resources dedicated to each process, increase security, prevent errors, and enhance traceability.
• Big Data Analytics evolving towards data-driven processes that leverage data value to anticipate customer demand and make predictions to optimize operations and margins.
• Artificial Intelligence and predictive algorithms, improving operators’ adaptability to demand spikes and seasonal changes.
• Internet of Things (IoT), connecting vehicles, infrastructure, and people to enhance traffic management, increase remote process efficiency, and reduce pollution emissions.
• Cybersecurity, safeguarding data integrity, confidentiality, and availability through AI-based security solutions, quantum encryption, and blockchain.

Continuous Innovation

Embracing innovation as a lever to offer cutting-edge, precise, and cost-effective logistics solutions, Luís Simões invests in the latest technologies to optimize its operations and enhance customer service quality.

Among these is warehouse automation: since 2008, the company has invested in AGV systems that connect directly to management software, increasing the number of movements per hour for pallet or box transportation, thereby reducing required space and manual errors. The recent inauguration of the Puerta Centro – Ciudad del Transporte industrial complex in Guadalajara transformed that Logistics Operations Center (LOC) into a European reference in terms of automation.

The Power BI solution—providing real-time remote monitoring of all active processes—BOT programs handling repetitive administrative tasks, and applications addressing various specificities (such as food safety or compliance with certain standards) are other technologies of Luís Simões’ Logistics 4.0, with plans to further invest in IoT and cybersecurity.

“The digitization of logistics operators is essential for companies in all sectors to benefit from technological potential without having to make substantial investments themselves. Multiclient Logistics Operations Centers will enable manufacturers to modernize their supply chains cost-effectively with the guidance of a specialized partner,” concludes António Fernandes.”