Logistics || Types || Trends and way forward

What is Logistics?

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• Logistics is that part of the supply chain process that plans, implements, and controls the efficient, effective flow and storage of goods, services, and related information from the point of origin to the point of consumption in order to meet customers’ requirement.
• "Logistics" was initially a military-based term used in reference to how military personnel obtained, stored, and moved equipment and supplies. The term became popular during the World War era, especially in European military parlance .The term is now used widely in the business sector, particularly by companies in the manufacturing sectors, to refer to how resources are handled and moved along the supply chain.

Evolution​

7 R’s of Logistics Management

Types of Logistics :

•  Inbound Logistics : concerned with activities related to the incoming flow of resources needed to make a product or a service.
•  Outbound logistics : refers to activities in delivering the right product at the right time to customers at a minimum cost. Customer satisfaction is the primary objective of outbound logistics.
• Third Party Logistics : 3PL (third-party logistics) is a provider of outsourced logistics services. ​It encompasses anything that involves management of the way resources are moved to the areas where they are required. The term comes from the military.​
• Fourth Party Logistics : gives its clients a “control tower” view of their supply chains, overseeing the mix of warehouses, shipping companies, freight forwarders and agents​.
• Reverse Logistics : process of moving products from end-user back to the origin to recover value or for proper disposal. The value is recaptured from products recovered from customers through rework, refurbishment, reuse, scrap recycling, or government incentives for recyclable products.​

Current Trends in Logistics and SCM​

•  Crowdsourcing delivery task : It seeks service of one of the citizens for delivering an on-demand delivery.
• Collaboration for Outsourcing : Collaborate with competitors in mutually beneficial ways.​ And delivery and logistics businesses operating in the same region to generate a marketplace of gig workers.
• Smart Warehouse Management : Interconnection of various devices and software systems to eliminate human input and accelerate job scheduling.​ IoT to track inventory item instantly with RFID tags or bar codes. WMS (Warehouse management systems) enable you to perform a range of tasks.​
• Multi-route Planning System : For optimisation of fleet operations​. Map customization, destination prioritization, route identification, route recommendation.
• Block Chain for enhanced logistics : Verification of transactions needs to be done at multiple steps and wait time is long​. It gives security and transparency.
• AR and IoT for Fleet Management : Fleet managers are implementing these technologies for improvement in their fleet management. Warehouse managers can use AR in managing inventory items and details associated to them in real time.

Way Forward

Operating in the increasingly competitive markets requires more than sticking to the conventional approaches.​
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Some of the principles that drive future of logistics are: ​