Column What worms worms #42
Stupid question, stupid answer
The German Logistics Association is turning 40, which is the age when people start telling stories about the past. But Germany's largest logistics association dares to look ahead and asks a great question for its anniversary: Which people, companies, research institutions or organizations are the future makers of logistics? Who has innovative ideas, who is setting the course for positive development? "Stupid question," said a freight forwarder recently, who does not wish to be named here. The fact that there are no stupid questions, only stupid answers, makes the list all the more interesting. I confess that I have rarely been as excited about a result as in this case.
After all, who wouldn't consider themselves a future maker? I can think of hundreds who do. But the BVL has set itself a limit of 40 people. A dangerous number. Too many to be sufficiently selective, too few to do justice to all innovators. The bar is therefore automatically set high. That's a good thing.
A pioneer is expected to have a lasting impact on logistics and to have discovered or done something that changes the way things are moved, stored, delivered or produced. However, if you believe some industry media, only start-ups can do this these days. However, you have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find a prince and who wants to see the revenants of the dotcom bubble from the 2000s on a list of future makers - sometimes it doesn't hurt to take a quick look at the past.
The question of the nationality of the future makers could be exciting. Unfortunately, economic success combined with new technologies always ends up in America or China. In Germany, people do what is technically possible, but only very few take the risk of shaping the future themselves. Fraunhofer researcher Michael ten Hompel, who himself is known for being ahead of his time, said this.
Logistics is essential for a globalized world, and from a sober point of view it is still quite inefficient. This means there is potential for forward-thinkers to do everything right and perhaps even a place in the Logistics Hall of Fame for one or two of them.
Anita Würmser is a business and logistics journalist, former editor-in-chief of "Verkehrs-Rundschau", "Logistik Heute" and "Logistik inside" and currently initiator of the Logistics Hall of Fame and the IFOY Awards, among other things. In LT-manager, "Mutti", as she respectfully calls the industry, hasn't minced her words exclusively since issue one.
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