A Complete Guide About Logistics
Logistics is a process of systemic planning and management of the supply chain, the flow of products and information. Both large corporations and small enterprises use logistics services. An important role in logistics is to make decisions that will bring the company the highest possible profit and the least losses.
Logistics is mainly associated with a warehouse. And rightly so. It consists in inventory control and order fulfillment, packaging of goods, customer service, organizing transport and waste management.
Types Of Logistics
As described above, logistics work differs from each other in terms of the type of duties performed. Therefore, it is possible to define several main types of logistics that present a different set of tasks and responsibilities of a given employee in this industry. Therefore, the types of logistics include:
- supply logistics – locates supply sources, supplies the company with materials necessary for production, negotiates material prices, controls the quality of deliveries;
- distribution logistics – plans and controls the distribution of a given company, maintains stocks of finished products, locates distribution warehouses, organizes distribution channels, and optimizes transport routes;
- service logistics – supplies buyers with spare parts and handles product returns;
- production logistics – plans and controls the course of production, reduces the distance of movement of materials to a minimum, reduces the amount of materials used in production;
- warehouse logistics – deals with the storage of components and finished products;
- contract logistics – includes operations carried out on the warehouse space;
- ecology – deals with the collection, transport and disposal of environmentally harmful waste;
- e-logistics – concerns logistics activities related to the use of the Internet and IT systems.
Logistics Divisions
Due to the range of impact, logistics are divided into:
- micrologistics – covers logistics processes within a single company;
- mesologistics – covers logistic processes within a single branch of the economy;
- macrology – covers logistic processes throughout the national economy;
- eurologistics – covers the whole of Europe;
- global logistics – covers the whole world.
Road Freight
According to the book definition, road transport is defined as running a registered business. And the provision of passenger or goods transport services.
The origins of this form of transport date back to ancient times, where merchants transported their goods using animals. The strength of their own legs with the help of a very limited network of primitive roads. Nowadays, of course, all road transport is basically based on the achievements of the automotive industry. It allows mass transport of goods and people in much shorter periods of time.
Air Freight
Airfreight is of course the fastest way to ship individual goods. Be aware that its price is very high compared to other methods. This option is recommended primarily to companies whose goal is to transport products that require a very short delivery time. It is noteworthy that air freight enables the shipment to be delivered within 4-7 days.
Sea Freight
Sea freight means the same as sea transport, although the term used to refer to charges for the transport of goods by a merchant ship – a freighter. Nowadays, when the trade is global, shipping by sea is booming. Compared to other methods of transporting large quantities of goods, it is also much more profitable.
Warehousing
Warehousing is a set of activities related to stock management or as organizing “entry and exit”, “ebb and flow” of goods in an organization. Products in warehouses are in a relative rest phase because, from the logistic point of view, storage is undesirable due to interruptions in the flow of these products . Unfortunately, the above-mentioned breaks are inevitable and should be taken into account, and above all, appropriate decisions regarding warehouse management should be made.
Package And Storage In Logistics
About 90% of all goods produced in the world need packaging. The necessity to use packaging in the full production and logistics process forces manufacturers to use better and better technologies that have a real impact on the speed and quality of goods storage and transport. Learn about the most important functions of packaging in logistics.
This action consists in placing the goods on the available space or storage space in an orderly manner. The place where cargo is stored is called the storage area. This process performs the basic function of the warehouse, which is periodic storage of goods. The following activities are performed during storage:
Receipt of supplies from the reception area.
- Arrangement of goods in the storage area, taking into account parameters such as storage conditions, storage technology, dimensions of loading units.
- Stock storage as required (e.g. suitable temperature).
- Stock maintenance and periodic inspection.
- Moving loads to the picking area or the delivery area.
Freight forwarding is an activity consisting of organizing the transport of cargo at someone else’s request and performing other necessary additional activities, resulting from the specificity of the order. Forwarding, therefore, organizes transport processes, as well as entire service chains related to supply and distribution.