"The results surprised us," says Carsten Knauer from BME. Although the 251 logistics sector respondents were familiar with many of the latest digitization technologies, they are reluctant to use them. Only cloud computing, robots, automation and, to some extent, big data analytics are already being used extensively in supply chain management. And the companies surveyed do not expect this to change much in the next two years. As a result, they run the risk of missing the digitization train, according to the BME. Among other things, the association advocates orienting the supply chain manager profession more toward the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) in the future.

Software developer Promatis (at the HANNOVER MESSE in Hall 7, Stand B16) even takes this one step further: "No Industry 4.0 without supply chain digitization". According to Promatis, although digitization often focuses on production alone, physical transport capacity and intelligent information management are also required in order to get the manufactured goods to the customer.