JD.com is to set up a new research centre in Xiongan, China, dedicated to developing futuristic automation technology for urban logistics in the country's smart cities, with its early work including studies into the feasibility of underground, in-city parcel delivery networks.
The Chinese e-commerce giant said that the Urban Smart Logistics Institute will focus on planning for urban logistics hubs, top-level design for urban logistics systems, big data and cloud computing platforms for logistics and more.
Founding members of the institute include Nankai University, the Institute of Comprehensive Transportation at the National Development and Reform Commission, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing Wuzi University, Shanghai Maritime University, Sinotrans & CSC and Shanghai Municipal Engineering Design Institute.
JD.com explained that research showed that freight vehicles have an outsized contribution to urban traffic emissions and can take up as much as a third of road capacity.
With urbanization in China causing intense changes to the environment, creating pollution and causing other disruption to people’s lives, the primary goal of the institute is to design the framework for logistics in urban spaces to be more efficient and environmentally friendly.
The institute will look first at underground logistics systems, making use of subterranean tracks and integrated municipal pipe corridors. This would provide scope to preserve open, convenient and aesthetically-pleasing above ground space that would otherwise be occupied by traditional logistics systems, ensuring smooth and efficient urban logistics with minimal disruption to daily life.
“The most effective smart cities are the ones that make best use of all available space and resources,” said the director of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Chen Xiangsheng, at the Institute’s launch event during the 2018 Global Smart Supply Chain Summit in Beijing. “The use of underground space to build three-dimensional smart logistics systems is an industry game-changer. It will alleviate traffic problems, environmental problems, and save urban space.”
For his part, Zhenhui Wang, CEO of JD Logistics, commented: "As China’s cities are developing faster and becoming more sophisticated, sustainable urban development is critical. Smart logistics ensures that space in cities is being used in the most efficient and least disruptive way possible.
"We are committed to revolutionizing global commerce, and society more broadly, and it is an honour for us to join together with other leading ecosystem players to establish the Urban Smart Logistics Institute.”
In a separate development, JD.com announced last week that small and medium-sized businesses across China are upgrading their supply chains with the JD Cloud Warehouse Management Solution, a smart, cloud-based supply chain management solution developed by the company.
The solution uses JD.com’s proprietary technology and supply chain expertise to holistically upgrade existing warehouse management systems, enabling businesses of any size to increase the number of orders and customers, while improving efficiency, it said. The solution was originally designed to power JD’s own nationwide logistics network, which can deliver over 90% of orders same- or next-day.
