Human Resource and Knowledge Management BT - Operations, Logistics and Supply Chain Management

Abstract

Future innovations in logistics and supply chain management are driven by technological, regional, economic and social changes as well as sustainability and resource restrictions. They will not occur without sufficient attention for the human contribution, in particular the qualification, competence and motivation of the workforce in the logistics domain. Worldwide, about 50 million people—or the entire population of South Korea—are employed in the SCM, logistics and transportation sectors. Consequently, human resource and knowledge management plays an important role, more so when considering demographic developments (ageing, migration) and increasing globalization. Whereas in the past, many blue-collar jobs in logistics such as truck driving merely required a basic school education and rudimentary qualification levels, these jobs now require increased competences due to improved technology interaction, e.g., barcode and RFID systems, fleet management or toll and truck steering concepts and finally artificial intelligence applications. The same is true for many white-collar jobs in logistics, exemplified by the increasing number of university graduates employed in the sector. This is especially true for specific fields such as logistics information technology, contract logistics and supply chain innovation and design, which in turn leads to the question of how to assess qualitative and quantitative competence levels in the SCM and logistics sector. Such an analysis example is provided here with the Berufswertigkeit concept (reference framework for competence levels). This may lead to a new paradigm in HR and knowledge management for SCM and logistics: whereas past education was mainly driven by formal qualifications and therefore personnel groups (white-collar/blue-collar), future concepts may focus on an individual analysis of gaps and potentials based on elaborate evaluations. In addition, modern concepts like edugaming are outlined as examples for future qualification and training concepts for logistics personnel.