Nitori uses blockchain for its logistics system
【 Published by cyclicmint | Editor: Shane Vieira 】
As the Internet accelerates the Internet society, the importance of logistics [logistics] as a source of competitiveness in management is beginning to be re-recognized. Nitori, the largest furniture and household goods retailer at the forefront of the logistics industry, is trying to use blockchain and open APIs in its logistics system as a group strategy of the Nitori Group.
Kotori Fukasaku, home logistics and CIO responsible for logistics at the Nitori Group, is a player who redesigns the structure of the logistics industry at the “ Legacy Tech Conference 2020 ‘’ held at BASEQ in Tokyo Midtown Hibiya on February 7. We talked about how to realize future logistics in a panel discussion.
“Legacy Tech Conference 2020” is an invitation-only conference where large companies and startups cross the boundaries and communicate the next challenge trends in business. “Legacy Tech” is a place to discuss how to redesign existing business models and organizations with new technologies.
In a panel discussion on the theme of “logistics as a group strategy led by the logistics industry, Nitori,” Protostar and advisor Takeshi Yamaguchi, host of the conference, moderated the session, and home logistics Kota Fukasaku. At the center, LayerX CEO Yoshinori Fukushima and OptiMind President and CEO Ken Matsushita participated in the discussion.
Home Logistics is responsible for the logistics of Nitori worth about 70 billion yen, and also undertakes logistics for 2 billion yen for other companies. Logistics is carried out with 24,000 vehicles and 16,000 drivers using 150 transportation companies nationwide as partners. By the way, 80% of the partner transportation companies are companies with annual sales of 5 billion yen or less.
In terms of logistics, furniture and other items are imported from overseas suppliers in about 180,000 containers a year. This amount is about 3% of all industries in Japan. The furniture is delivered from a DC [Inventory Distribution Center] to 519 Nitori stores or 78 sales offices [depots]. The total delivery volume is 210,000 trucks. It is said that the last one mile delivery from stores and sales offices to consumers [purchasers] amounts to 3 million. These are handled by 150 logistics companies below home logistics, said Kota Fukasaku of the company.
Update supply chain management in Japan
Although home logistics handles large-scale logistics, the company, along with partner companies such as LayerX and OptiMind, has become a social issue for next-generation logistics with the aim of updating Japan’s SCM [supply chain management] efficiency, etc. It is said that the company has begun a new business with a view to eliminating the shortage of labor and vehicles.
Mr. Fukasaku said that in the logistics of home logistics, he has already introduced and used Optimind’s “Loogia”, a delivery route optimization service specializing in the last mile, for delivery to consumers. He said he was using OptiMind’s products for more efficient delivery, he said.
Optimind’s Ken Matsushita will then comment on “Loogia”. “ Loogia ‘’ uses AI, anyone can easily create the optimal route to delivery, and automatically creates complex and complex dispatching plans with AI to create the optimal dispatching plan. Reported that the last mile business was being streamlined. The two companies will further improve efficiency.
In-house delivery
Mr. Fukasaku explained here the structure of the logistics industry. Nitori said that it is carrying out logistics with 150 shipping companies, but will also proceed with its own delivery. In-house delivery is also a trend among retailers, mainly EC.
In the above slide showing the structure of the logistics industry, the shipper part is a nitrile, the shipping company A and B below it is a partner shipping company, and the colored part displayed right below the shipper Said that it indicates its own delivery. Specifically, he wants to create a system that allows direct delivery requests and contracts to individual businesses and individual drivers, which are the lowest layers in the logistics and transportation industries.
But where are these individual drivers? You also need skills to carry the special luggage of furniture. It is difficult to ask individuals to work. To achieve this, a “equal chain of values” in the logistics industry is needed. He said that it would be necessary to digitize driver skills and achievements in the logistics industry and to digitize everything from contracts to settlements in the future, and he concluded that blockchain technology was needed.
That’s why our partner is LayerX. The company, which was established by Gunosy and AnyPay as a joint venture to develop services in the blockchain-related area, provides services such as consulting and product development in the blockchain area both in Japan and overseas. Mr. Fukasaku did not just ask LayerX to design the blockchain part, but he asked Mr. Fukushima to join in on how to update the logistics business more extensively. Revealed sex.
Fukushima of LayerX, the founder of Gunosy, thinks through news media such as Gunosy that technology change and software evolution that have occurred in the Internet industry in the past make efficient use of available time. It became so. However, considering how much work time and processes have been digitized and made more efficient, Japan is still far behind. Mr. Fukushima stated that he had founded and worked on LayerX with the desire to digitize things from the perspective of digitizing business operations to make things easier and increase productivity.
According to Fukushima, some people see the word “digitalization” in terms of surface and others see it three-dimensionally. In terms of surface, the idea is that there is something real [stores, etc.], and on the other hand, there will be more new customer openings called digital. In this case, the only relationship is “make a homepage” and “make an app.” Thinking about digitalization in three dimensions means how to redefine existing operations digitally and how to improve efficiency. The fundamental business model remains the same, but it is important to think together from the concept stage, such as how the work has been done so far and what was the problem.
In this project, Fukushima wants to see the same issues from the same perspective, exchange opinions as a professional in logistics and as a professional in software development, and work together to create a product with the following results. He says he is thinking.
As mentioned above, in order to create a system that allows direct delivery requests and contracts to individual business operators and individual drivers at the lowest layer of the logistics industry and the transportation industry, LayerX, a partner who cooperates with Nitori’s logistics redesign, OptiMind will continue to work together. The restructuring of existing systems by business digitization starting from blockchain will have a significant impact on society for 20 years, which is far more dramatic than social changes caused by the Internet, the three predict. I do.
However, first of all, rather than a major reform, while efficiently digitizing each operation, the burden is dispersed by leveling out what drivers and delivery people feel stressed He wants to make improvements so that he can perform operations with Rather than being worried about reducing costs and shortening delivery times, he said he wanted to create a mechanism that would allow drivers to feel safe and have more time. As a result, Fukasaku concluded the panel discussion with the desire to make a change, such as having more smiles and more small talk than ever before.
■ Source: cyclicmint
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