“Terminal Network” Digital Platform As An Open Process Innovation

Abstract

The paper is devoted to the development and description of a digital platform for railway transport terminal network management, tracking its performance indicators and working with customers in an interactive mode. The proposed digital platform is an open process innovation that enables comprehensive assessment and calculation of the terminal-warehouse infrastructure performance indicators. The study reports that business solutions digitalization became the main anti-crisis tool ensuring the market participants competitiveness. Based on the global digitalization trends analysis of the transport business, it is noted that in the era of consumer, the client needs ready-made solutions with a high degree of accuracy and simplicity. Digitalization of the transport and logistics business today is not just a tribute to fashion, but an urgent need. The study aims to address the issues of increasing customer orientation and accessibility of transport and logistics services, developing tools for evaluating terminal network and logistics facilities operations and increasing the terminal and warehouse business profitability. To implement the principles of customer orientation and one-stop online work, the concept and modular structure of a digital platform as a shared information “terminal network-carrier-client” space, including work with customer orders, terminal network location and status visualization was developed. To perform a comprehensive assessment, a logistic norm setting system was designed. Implementation of the proposed digital platform will increase the efficiency of interaction between the logistics service provider and the customer.

Keywords: Railway businessdigital platformtransport and logistics activitieslogistics facilityterminal network

Introduction

Problem Statement

The importance of deploying the digital economy tools to evaluate modern logistics projects is not doubted in the current academic environment ( Levitin & Mayboroda, 2017). To organize a cargo/goods delivery system to both the customer and the delivery organizer (the decision-maker), it is important to quickly and comprehensively evaluate the effectiveness of a particular LF “inclusion” in the logistics chain. In this case, the choice should be based on a whole range of LF parameters influencing its work efficiency and feasibility in the logistics chain.

Despite the active position of OJSC “Russian Railways” on the market and the successful implementation in its primary activity of big data technologies, smart contracts, the Internet of things, etc., currently there are separate digital solutions for the railway services market in Russia that cover only a part of the transportation process elements. A single digital “one-stop” platform for working with railway transportation customers is just being formed.

Research Questions

The study addresses the following issues:

• How to increase customer focus and accessibility of transport and logistics services sold by OJSC “Russian Railways”?

• In what format can a shared digital “terminal network-carrier-client” space be created?

• What tools would make it possible to evaluate the terminal network effectiveness as a whole and its individual logistics facilities?

How to increase the terminal and warehouse business unit profitability of a railway carrier?

In particular, the issues that can be solved with the use of the proposed digital platform and the system of terminal network performance indicators logistic norming are visualized in Figure 01 .

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Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the study is to develop and describe an option of digital platform building for a terminal network management, performance indicators tracking and working with customers in an interactive mode. Such a digital platform is an open process innovation, enabling a comprehensive assessment and calculation of terminal-warehouse infrastructure performance indicators. In particular, to achieve the goal it was necessary to solve the following tasks:

To implement the principles of customer orientation and online “one-stop –shop” work, the concept and modular structure of a digital platform was proposed as a shared information “terminal network-carrier-client” space, including work with customer orders, terminal network and individual LO location and status visualization;

• To perform a comprehensive assessment, a logistic norming system was developed.

Research Methods

In preparing this paper, a wide scientific and methodological toolkit was used. In particular, when analyzing existing digitalization trends, tools of statistical, systemic and economic analysis were applied. To formulate the functional objectives and the digital platform concept, the tools and methods of logistics, marketing, engineering, as well as the author's theory of terminalistics - the logistics of terminals and transport nodes – were deployed. Programming and computer modeling tools and methods were used for developing the digital platform demo version. The authors’ mathematical models were used for LF comprehensive assessment methods design in the framework of the proposed logistics norming system.

Findings

The concept of an automated control system for the railway transport terminal network was developed during the study. Software modules provide the ability to calculate key parameters for the assessment, inventory, control and advertising of logistics facilities. The introduction of the concept and the accompanying informational solutions will enable the railway holding company (for example, OJSC “Russian Railways”) to create a shared customer-oriented informational environment and reach the 4-th – 5th level of the logistics services provision. The key values of this project are the speed of delivery, transportation “Just in time”, the seamless service and the receipt of all services in the “one-stop-shop” mode. An important innovation of the digital platform project is the implementation of electronic document exchange, blockchain and smart technologies. Cloud-based technology for organizing databases will allow the separation of the contractors’ information flows and the carrier system, speed up the process of services/orders delivery, make it manageable and eliminate other losses.

To implement the procedures of a comprehensive assessment, logistic audit and terminal network and its LF current state indication, a logistics norming system, SLoN, is proposed - a set of economic, logistic and operational indicators of the terminal-warehouse infrastructure that determine its condition and development (85 in total). SLoN takes into account the logistical aspect associated with terminal-warehousing services for cargo flows, allows for a comprehensive assessment and establishing a decision vector for managing the logistics services quality.

In addition to performing calculations of the SLoN indicators, to perform a comprehensive assessment of both the terminal network as a whole and its individual elements – LF - performance, the digital platform functionality solves such problems as: creating an up-to-date database about LF and its administration; automation of terminal network activity logistics norming and visualization of the LF’s location and current technical and technological state; interactively building a terminal network scheme using cloud services and the Internet.

One of the versions of a working map of the terminal infrastructure location and condition for facilities located in Russia was prepared. Using the C# syntax and the logistics norming method the tasks of map building, unloading, evaluating and visualizing the terminal network objects state parameters were performed. The following circumstance served as a prerequisite for the methodological support implementation of for the terminal network logistic norming in the software environment. To date, there is no module performing the functions of collecting, analyzing, conducting monitoring, evaluation and expert procedures regarding the status and further development forecasts of infrastructure elements and railway terminal network as a whole in the structure of the Russian Railways automated control system. This would make it possible to simplify the terminals key performance indicators calculation procedures as well as to optimize the situational management procedures for them in the operational regulation and evaluation of their work in real time.

Let us consider the basic structure of the program, its functional and modular composition (Figure 02 ).

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The digital platform consists of the following elements: computational (data collection and uploading statistics and calculated state parameters of both individual LFs and the terminal network as a whole); logistics audit (using the economic and mathematical support of the proposed SLoN methodology, calculation and analysis of the terminal network performance indicators with the graphical results representation are performed); interactive (visual map of the current terminal network state with capability to collect orders for services provision); management decisions generation (the formation of the logistic audit results reports, comparing the values of indicators with normed ones, issuing decisions on efficiency, etc.).

Conclusion

The study results provide argument that in the era of consumer, the client needs ready-made solutions with a high degree of accuracy and simplicity. This is the meaning of the customer-oriented LF operation - to provide customers with comprehensive information of the infrastructure and service in the most convenient, concise way, to expedite decision-making. The application of new solutions will enable the railway carrier as a key player in the transportation and logistics market to receive additional income, through the transit traffic growth among other things, and provide all transportation and logistics market participants with a reliable, modern system of wide range of cargo delivery applying both multimodal technologies and digital technologies of big data, blockchain and smart solutions. This will undoubtedly increase the terminal-warehouse segment efficiency in the transportation business, as well as the quality and complexity of the service provided by the carrier; will strengthen the local/domestic market players competitiveness in the context of international sanctions policies. Moreover, the application of proposals in rail transportation will lead the industry to increase the share of non-resource goods export with high added value, which will have an additional positive impact on the country's economy development and bring it closer to the most developed countries level.

It is fair to assume that the digital platform project developed in the study will become the main interaction tool for the transportation process participants and will create informational support for Russian Railways Holding preparation to advance to a new level of logistics provider. In the process of global industrial revolutions, being prepared for new changes is crucial. To ensure this, it is necessary to set the priorities correctly and to respond fully to the global society transformation challenges with the help of new formats and tools. Obviously, having reached the 4th stage of business digitalization, humanity as a whole and the transportation industry in particular will be on the verge of a new, 5th technological revolution.

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