For years, logistics control towers were used simply to see what was happening in the supply chain. Dashboards with operational indicators and alerts helped detect incidents, but not to decide what to do about them. Information arrived, but decisions still depended on calls and emails, and were often made too late.

Today, control towers no longer limit themselves to displaying information. They analyze what is happening, provide context for each issue, and help determine what to address first when several things go wrong at the same time.

Instead of reacting case by case, they make it possible to prioritize incidents, coordinate responses across transportation, warehouses, and suppliers, and act while there is still time to correct course.

In practice, a logistics control tower does not replace the systems a company already has. It connects them and consolidates information so that everyone works from the same real‑time view of operations.

A success story is DHL Supply Chain. Its control tower in Madrid is a strong example of how these systems are used today in real operations. From this center, the company coordinates transportation and logistics activities for more than 70 clients in sectors such as automotive, pharmaceuticals, consumer goods, and retail, using a common and standardized model.

With a specialized team, the control tower manages more than 800,000 orders and 100,000 transport routes each year. This real‑time information helps anticipate deviations, reduce errors, and react earlier to delays or service disruptions.

Kuehne+Nagel, a global logistics operator with a presence in sea, air, and land transport, does something similar. In its operations, the control tower enables monitoring and coordination—within a single system—of both its own transport and that managed by third parties.

This allows the company to detect delays and mismatches between planning and actual operations, and to act without relying on emails, calls, or scattered information outside the system.

In day‑to‑day operations, the difference becomes clear when something unexpected happens. A truck arrives late at a warehouse, there is no available capacity for a planned load, or a supplier fails to confirm a shipment within the agreed timeframe. Previously, each team saw only its part of the problem. With a control tower, everyone works with the same up‑to‑date information on orders, transport, and deadlines, enabling timely adjustments and preventing cascading errors.