Globalization of the world economy and our supply chains has advanced at an almost unbelievable speed. Growth in world trade, and corresponding cargo container movements, continues to substantially exceed overall economic growth, meaning that trade volumes are doubling every 5-7 years
Logistics management is an interesting field though with challenges. It’s one of the areas that is not yet fully utilized.
Logistics is all about the management of goods and information along the supply chain. It involves management of the movement of goods on all the major modes of transport that is road, rail, air and water transport.
From my experience it normally involves the following activities;
- Sourcing and management of transporters
- Transportation mode and carrier selection
- Production of status reports on the movement of cargo
- Update on truck arrivals
- Preparing local shunting return & payments.
- Cargo tracking
- Monitor long distance truck turn around
- Supervise all Rail Loadings for exports & empty containers.
- Maintain various spread sheets related to rail.
- Vehicle Load and Route optimization
- Transport costs and scheme simulation
- Track/follow exports loaded till arrival Mombasa.
- Collects T1s, IM8s & other documents and also export documents/FRTS & delivers to respective parties.
Challenges
- Pressure from the clients
- Theft of cargo by transporters
- Loss of cargo through accidents
- Delays related to customs clearance especially with cargo moving across countries
- Unstable fuel prices that raise transport charges
- Lack of enough facilities like forklifts and other machinery necessary for loading and offloading cargo
- Lack of facilities related to storage as there is need for storage of cargo as you process documentation for the transported goods.
- Also the field is still highly manual as little information technology is being applied in this area.
Key success factors for logistics management
- Total Delivered Cost Management - involves the ability to analyze and predict the total supply chain costs from the source of supply to its final point of distribution
- Global Logistics Process Automation - Technology that greatly automates many of these manual booking processes, managing global transportation carriers, rates, and execution in a single environment
- End-to-End Visibility
- Supplier Portals and ASN Capabilities - Accurate Advance Ship Notices (ASNs) from overseas suppliers is critical for both effective inventory planning and to streamline the inbound flow of goods
- Total Product Identification and Regulatory Compliance
- Dynamic Routing
- Variability Management
- Integrated International and Domestic Workflow - Logistics leaders need to deploy technology that enables them to have a single “work space” that contains both functionality and data across the full international planning and execution lifecycle.
- Integrated Planning and Execution Platform - Logistics leaders need to deploy technology that enables them to have a single “work space” that contains both functionality and data across the full international planning and execution lifecycle.
- Financial Supply Chain Management
