Innovations in Transportation Logistics

Transportation logistics field has experienced a number of significant changes in recent years due to innovations in technology, and there are a number of emerging concepts that have surfaced over the past 1 to 2 years as a result. To determine the facts, this paper provides a review of the relevant literature to identify several of these emerging concepts, including a detailed discussion concerning their respective importance in the transportation logistics management (TLM) field.

An analysis concerning the direction these emerging trends will take in the future and their potential future impact within the TLM field is followed by a summary of the research and important findings concerning these issues in the conclusion.

Review and Analysis The concepts that are emerging in the TLM field today may have appeared as so much science fiction just a few years ago, but concepts such as 3D printing, drone deliveries and driverless vehicles have become reality over the past 2 years to the extent that they are being adopted by a growing number of enterprises. For example, according to Robinson (2015), "Today, the industry is cautiously adopting these technologies to provide faster, cheaper, more reliable and sustainable delivery" (para. 3).

Three-dimensional printing, or 3D printing, appears to hold enormous promise for the TLM field. For instance, according to Grace (2014), 3D printing has been characterized as a "third industrial revolution" that will "allow for tremendous efficiency gains in the areas of rapid prototyping and supply chain management" (p. 264). These technologies use various materials such as plastic, steel, ceramics or even food ingredients instead of ink to fabricate bespoke or production level three-dimensional objects, layer by layer (Grace, 2014).

Although the process is time-consuming, further innovations in these technologies are expected to reduce the time required for fabrication (Grace, 2014). Although the use of drones for commercial applications such as consumer deliveries remains in its infancy, current signs indicate that this may be a viable alternative in the foreseeable future (Rule, 2015). This emerging concept also holds enormous promise for the TLM field.

In this regard, Rule emphasizes that, "For a fraction of the cost of an airplane or helicopter, drones can fly through treacherous areas without endangering human lives, soar past traffic jams to make urgent deliveries, and provide valuable birds-eye views of happenings below" (p. 156). Despite these advantages, this emerging concept is still faced with a number of regulatory issues that will require resolution before this technology can be widely deployed (Grace, 2015). A final emerging concept that will have a significant impact on the TLM field is driverless vehicles.

In some cases, these technologies will integrate so-called "smart" highways that have embedded signaling devices that will help control and direct the flow of traffic while in other cases driverless vehicles are completely autonomous (Frey, 2012). Like commercial drones, though, this emerging concept is several years or even decades from being fully realized, but the handwriting is clearly on the wall with respect to eventual uptake of these technologies (Frey, 202).

Conclusion While Americans may have to wait awhile longer for the flying cars that were promised them in the early part of the 20th century, the research showed that several other emerging concepts with implications for the transportation logistics field include 3D printing, commercial drones and driverless vehicles. Although.