Towards Fourth-party Logistics Providers - A Business Model for Cloud-based Autonomous Logistics

Cloud computing denotes a paradigm shift in computing that enables a flexible allocation of hardware and software resources on demand. Therewith, it is particularly appealing for applications with a high degree of computational complexity and dynamics. This paper identifies logistics planning and control as a promising application for clouds. However, two prerequisites must be met for cloud-based logistics control. Firstly, the platform-as-a-service layer must provide a synchronisation of the physically distributed real-world material flows and the data flows in the cloud. Secondly, appropriate and scalable control software must be implemented on the software-as-a-service layer. Apart from outlining the technical foundations, this paper describes how both steps enable a business model that is usually referred to as fourth-party logistics.