This research analyzes and mentions the important role of logistics, as a global strategy in companies, from the economic point of view, from the role of customers to suppliers. Where the sales forecast, distribution planning, inventory management, collaboration in market places, among others, comes in. With logistics, optimization is sought in the use of human, technological and capital resources, with which companies or organizations have.
Logistics is a very good tool, which can produce good competitive advantages, among which we can mention, first of all, the optimization in the production of a product or article, as well as obtaining good quality products, reducing costs in all processes, which results in being able to offer them at competitive prices.
What logistics seeks has always been to overcome segmentation to deal with things within their globality. Today the technical possibilities have increased, specifically that of computer tools to process information in a more agile way. It represents a potential for significant progress, to better dominate the value chain, even beyond value boundaries. (Michel Journet 2004)
It is also worth mentioning that logistics is closely related to Information Technology (IT), since it has similar origins based on information systems that facilitate extensive knowledge of all data at any time, as well as the best use and use of that information, which is looking for the best result that results in high competitiveness.
The beginning of logistics could be found from the first human groups, where families or individuals kept their food in a certain period of the year in caves to be able to have it in the winters in a clear attempt to control inventory. Such caves (warehouses) had to be appropriate and accessible.
The development of logistics has gone in parallel with the development of humanity, however it has played a decisive role during World War I and II, reaching its application.
Definition
The official definition of the AFNOR standard (X50-600 standard), logistics is a function whose purpose is the satisfaction of expressed or latent needs, at the best economic conditions for the company and for a specific level of service.
Needs can be internal (provision of goods and services to ensure the operation of the company), or external (customer satisfaction). Logistics uses various activities and know-how that participate in the management and control of physical and information flows as well as media.
Another definition of logistics, according to Martin Christopher, Professor of Logistics of Cranfield: it is the process of strategically managing the movement and storage of materials, parts and finished product from the supplier through the company to the customer.
A logistics process could be represented in the following scheme, this is defined and represented as shown in Scheme 1 (González-Aleu, 97).
Scheme 1. Supplies and Products in a Logistic Process. Model for the implementation of logistics in small businesses through control indexes, (Reference), González-Aleu, 1997.
Logistics Integration
Advances in technology (more specifically Information Technology) have impacted different areas of business, but it has been notorious in the logistics area, this has influenced the way in which operations are carried out in different departments of the company, as well as in the relationship of the company with its customers and suppliers.
Literally every one of the logistics areas has been affected by the technological revolution, and the advancement in computers and in information and communication systems. (Lambert, 93).
The main areas handled by logistics and where it is most frequently developed are listed below. (Vera Zorrilla, 1999).
- Raw material supply Purchasing Transportation Customer service Warehousing and inventories Inventory flow management Order processing Information systems
Development
The origins of logistics date from approximately 1960, but in those days it was called Regression Logistics, and so it was used for many years as a statistical regression analysis, which in its beginning its usefulness was oriented towards the end of the army of the United States, and that time later it had great potential to be implemented in health sciences. Until it was time to be implemented in any type of organization.
Taking into account that with the implementation of logistics in companies and organizations, its objective is to make the most of the resources that are available, both as human, technological and capital resources.
For a good implementation of a logistics process, it is necessary to know well each department that makes up the company, as well as the objectives of each department, the communication they have between them, and analyze the relationship with their external environment, see which clients they intend to address and which providers they plan to rely on.
To integrate and implement logistics in a company, you have to define some policies and environment where the company operates, to simplify this can be represented in a very simple way in the following scheme, Scheme 2:
Scheme 2. Scheme of the development of integration to the company of a logistics process. Model for the implementation of logistics in small businesses through control indexes. (Reference): María Mercedes Vera Zorrilla, 1999.
A large number of organizations have begun to focus their priorities on emerging opportunities in customer relationship approaches, and also to correlate these applications with company supply chain management. Companies as a whole are well informed of the latest "supply chain management" approaches and have understood the interest. In the mid-1990s, some companies began to move towards ECR and therefore to implement radically new organizations between manufacturers and distributors, the latter communicating customer needs and trends to the former. More recently some companies began to lean towards GPA (Shared Provisioning Management), which are less global than ECR,but they allow to effectively reduce stocks. (Michel Journet, General Delegate of the French Association for Logistics “ASLOG”)
The SCM has been developed enormously, which tries to arrive and be at the forefront in terms of the design of a product or item, and of a logistics chain that is primarily oriented towards customers and suppliers.
The SCM is its most up-to-date version, it will have the responsibility and vision of that product that is oriented to that clientele, from its design and its changes according to its new demand and delivery time. (Norbert Cohen, 2002)
In any business, full customer satisfaction is always sought, both for their preference for the product and that it has a differentiation in this that is, that it has something that makes it more attractive and innovative than the competition's products, trying to keep it in competitive prices, another type of attraction would be to maintain optimal customer service.
Case of logistics applied in a company
Here, mention is made of a French company with great expansion worldwide, a company that is highly developed and has state-of-the-art information technology, such is the case of its logistics software used, which is an Xpress-MP solver, from Dash Associates and in the activity component LP-SupplyChain, of the French company Eurodecisión, for the optimization of logistics flows. This tool has been fundamental in the decision-making of the company, which has led it to achieve enormous success worldwide, below I mention the company:
Italcementi, is today the largest cement producer in Europe, and one of the leaders worldwide. It is established in Europe, North America and Asia, has more than 50 plants, 150 quarries and 500 concrete plants. The optimization of the production and distribution plan constitutes an important economic element at stake in the cement field where variable production costs and internal logistics costs represent up to 40% of the sales price. A motto for this company is: “We now have a measurement tool that allows us to encrypt and compare cases with each other. We can respond very quickly to questions of a strategic nature such as the impact of closing a center or buying a new shredder. " Explained Joël Mariotti, Vice President Strategic Plan of the company.The software actually gives the production and distribution plan but also the value of the economic function, the average and marginal costs for each entity and in each phase of the process, the costs of the products leaving the factories, etc. (reference www.eurodecision.com)
The system also knows how to evaluate the impact of the purchase of a plant.
Conclusions
Logistics itself came to generate a series of opportunities for the business world to be more competitive, since it generates by its essence a competitive advantage, some of the things that we can conclude from this are the following:
- At first, logistics appeared due to its need to apply to the army and naval force of the United States, later it incurred in the area of health sciences, then it spread to courier and shipping companies, airlines, until over the years 80 becomes a fundamental part of any competitive company. Logistics is an effective tool in several aspects, which can produce competitive advantages, such as achieving optimization in production, in the provision of goods and services for operation. And to achieve the entire satisfaction of its customers.It should be mentioned that logistics is an important tool for any company or business, as could be seen in the case of applied logistics, which encourages the business to maintain the standards of both quality and of prices,that it has to continually face both locally and globally. Lastly, I mention that logistics aims to drive the organization to be more competitive in all its areas.
Bibliography
Michel Journet, Norbert Cohen., "Trends and practices of a community of logistics actors"
David W. Hosmer, Stanley Lameshow., “Applied Logistic Regression
"A French know-how to optimize the worldwide flows of Italcementi Group"
Zorrilla & Mercedes, "Modeling for the implementation of logistics in small businesses, through control indexes", May 1999.
