Generally, in event logistics as well as in the example company, dynamic occurrences complicate the logistic
planning [2]. At this, new and changing orders require a frequent replanning of transports and routes. In addition, the
changing availability of resources due to damages and thefts often influences the event planning and execution. This
results in inefficient transports, insufficient capacity and resource utilization as well as a large planning and control
effort [4].
In the use case, all planning activities apply to a so called project manager. This person is responsible for the
complete event execution, including both the resource allocation and the customer contact [5]. The project manager
performs all planning tasks manually, without the support of corresponding software. The only access to the relevant
data takes place in form of availability charts within the enterprise resource planning program (ERP). These
overviews resemble Gant charts and mostly rely on the inventory data of the storage [6]. Unfortunately, the
automated material flow documentation only covers the ingoing and outgoing event equipment at the warehouse
entrance. Therefore, the material flows at and between different venues mostly stays unrecorded. As a result, the
project manager can only fall back to event equipment currently located at the storage [6]. This often leads to the
case that the example company needs to rent additional equipment or transport devices, although the spatial and
temporal distance between already planned and new events would allow the utilization of resources at the venues for
subsequent orders [6]. This lack of information transparency leads to additional costs and effort regarding the
handling of foreign equipment.
Summarised, the example company faces a frequent replanning due to dynamic and unexpected occurrences.
This replanning takes place manually and is correspondingly time-consuming and incident to a high effort.
Additionally, the insufficient material flow documentation at the venues leads to partly unnecessary costs for the
renting of foreign event equipment and transport devices for order peaks, rush orders or short-term resource
shortages [1, 4, 2]. Fig. 1 illustrates the major process vulnerabilities regarding the planning and execution of events,
both use case specific and in general.