LOGISTICS AND TRADE 2
Transportation Operations, Warehousing, Packaging, and Material Handling
Summary
One of the themes involved is reverse logistics and how organizations can benefit from it. The aspect of transportation operations and how technology affects the flow of goods and services is essential to firms (Speranza, 2018). The purpose of reverse logistics is the optimizing the supply chain and assist in asset recovery in companies. Secondly, the relationship between the supply chain and trade (international and domestic). Understanding the process of manufacturing, packaging, and designing of products and warehousing on a global or national level helps identify delivery and transaction systems for goods and services. Transportation of goods requires coordination of processes and management of delivery systems that would ensure safe delivery of products.
Lastly, the way manufacturing firms handle raw materials for production determines the quality of the end products (Widmann et al., 2017). The process of raw materials prepared and later transported to warehouses is crucial. Material handling has the benefits of reducing costs and giving employees the benefits of using automated loading systems. Transportation of materials from site to factory involves different equipment material handling like engineered systems and the bulk handling protocol. International trading requires an understanding of terms of sale like loco price and free of rail that facilitates transaction relationship and transportation concept between the buyer and seller. The aspect of domestic trading where knowing the roles of wholesalers and retails defines the selling concept of supply chain management which is vital for manufacturing firms.
Meaningful ideas
The ideas which include ways to enhance a safe logistics process whereby goods can be transported through a reliable and cost-effective way to reduce cargo damages. The thought of how logistics is affected by technology is imperative. Firms need to understand that transportation of goods /products require innovative technology and every company have to evolve in their functions and operations to ensure safe delivery of goods. Storage of goods is another issue that some companies do not address which includes excess, obsolete inventory. Importance of warehousing management systems gives companies complete control and efficient time to manage inventory and storage (Alyahya et al., 2016). This system software involves racking, unloading, and unpacking which optimizes functionality and distribution in warehousing. The system gives the warehouse attendees time to inspect the production number and damages involved.
The idea of having space utilization, planning, resource allocation and management of workload is vital in supply chain management. If a firm has poor planning in receiving, assembly of consignments and storage, then the goods are likely to be damaged or lost during delivery and shelving. The reason for highlighting technology effects and software systems in logistics and warehousing is because they facilitate the production process and promotes warehouse management. These two ideas rely on how they are managed to maintain proper supply chain management. Without the right technologies and effective software systems in processes, the production to warehousing will be affected hence provoked. Packaging is essential in the supply chain, therefore, requires an innovative method to ensure success (Larson & Shah, 2017).
Personal connecting
The application of data warehousing in the consumer goods industry can help firms predict customer trends. The aspect of using data warehouses to inventory management is an excellent application to assist manufacturing firms in analyzing sales and market research for their products. The connection between production and warehousing is that they both involve systematic procedures and coordinated activities. In a scenario, I was a production manager in a bread manufacturing company which was having process issues. The observation made on manufacturing time and packaging was longer. The solution for reducing lead time was to increase order frequency and provide sales forecasts. Reason for this reaction was to identify ways to reduce cost and maintain time efficient in production.
Changes
One of the SMART objectives for change for the above scenario is to design a systematic logistics strategy in a manufacturing firm in delivering products to consumers in two days which will achieve a lead reduction rate. This change will help firms have a proper transportation system for their goods and ensure safety in delivery. Another SMART objective is to introduce and maintain technological upgrades on the production process to ensure the company achieves maximum sales by six months through the use of automated machines. This change will help reduce the lead time that many firms experience in manufacturing. Conclusively, Firms should ask themselves why is logistic so crucial in the supply chain? What I was interested a lot was the aspect of receiving of goods in warehouses and the process of packaging products. Companies with a regular mode of transportation have the benefit of a successful supply chain. Warehousing and packaging are elements to ensure the safety of goods.
References
Speranza, M. G. (2018). Trends in transportation and logistics. European Journal of Operational Research, 264(3), 830-836.
Alyahya, S., Wang, Q., & Bennett, N. (2016). Application and integration of an RFID-enabled warehousing management system–a feasibility study. Journal of Industrial Information Integration, 4, 15-25.
Larson, E. A., & Shah, R. (2017). U.S. Patent Application No. 15/444,252.
Widmann, A., Adel, M., & Sekula, P. (2017). U.S. Patent No. 9,558,978. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.