Autonomous Logistic Processes - New Demands and First Approaches -

Due to the dynamic and structural complexity of today’s logistics systems and networks, central planning and control of logistic processes becomes increasingly difficult. Thus, decentralised and autonomous control of logistic processes is required. Based on recent IC technologies such as RFID and wireless communication networks, intelligent items, which can communicate and coordinate each other, are possible. These technological developments require novel concepts and strategies to implement autonomy in logistic processes. This paper sketches the vision of autonomy in logistics, describes the new demands on autonomous logistic processes and introduces a new German Collaborative Research Centre, which investigates autonomy as a new control paradigm for logistic processes.