Logistics Management

Export/Import Transportation Systems

The transportation industry is a complex of institution that includes not only the carriers themselves (the ocean shipping companies, airlines, and truckers), but also the supporting terminal operators, freight forwarders, customhouse brokers, ship brokers, financial houses, insurance firms, and engineering and manufacturing concerns, There is also an array of governmental agencies, that oversee the operations of the industry and control the rates charged and services provided. Changes in any of these institutions or their foreign counterparts have ramifications on the rest of the industry and affect the service provided to the shipper of goods in international trade.

Physical distribution managers have an array of alternative methods or modes of transportation for the movement of goods across borders and within countries.… Read the rest

Abey Francis

Export Packing List

The export packing list, which may be shown on the commercial invoice or separately, should contain item by item, the contents of cases or containers or of a shipment’s cases, with each item listed separately and with its weight and description set forth in such a manner as to permit a check of the contents by the customs on arrival at the port of destination as well as by the importer. The export packing list must be made in accordance with the instructions of the customer. Great care should be exercised to make certain that the contents of the packages are exactly as indicated in the export packing list.… Read the rest

Abey Francis

Concept of Export Packing

The aim of every exporter must be to ensure that the goods arrive safely in the hands of the consumer. The fact that the goods are fully insured is in excuse for not bothering to check whether damage or pilferage occurs during the transit. Whilst the payment of the insurance claim may satisfy the buyer financially, it will not satisfy him mentally. The buyer orders the goods because he can sell them, before the vessel arrives. If he receives only a part of what he has handed in a salable condition, he will probably lose the goodwill of his customers and, in consequences, will blame the exporter.… Read the rest

Abey Francis

Supply Chain Management Processes

Although there are many views of supply chain management (SCM), at present, many practitioners look upon SCM as the management of key business processes across the network of organizations that form the supply chain. A supply chain is a network of manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, transporters, storage facilities and retailers that perform functions like procurement and acquisition of material, processing and transformation of the material into intermediate and finished tangible goods, and finally, the physical distribution of the finished goods to intermediate or final customers.

According to the definition given by the Global Supply Chain Forum, supply chain management is the integration of key business processes from end-user,to original suppliers that provides products, services, and information that add value for customers and other stakeholders.… Read the rest

Abey Francis

Use of Logistics Channel and Public and Private Distribution Facilities – For Material Sources

Use of Logistics Channel

The procurement cycle occurs at the manufacturer/supplier interface and includes all processes necessary to ensure that materials are available for manufacturing to occur according to schedule. During the procurement cycle, the manufacturer orders the components from suppliers that replenish the component inventories. The relationship is quite similar to that between a distributor and manufacturer, with one significant difference: whereas retailer or distributor orders are triggered by uncertain customer demand, component orders can be determined precisely once the manufacturer has decided what the production schedule will be. Component orders are dependent on the production schedule. Of course, if a supplier’s lead times are long, the supplier has to produce to forecast because the manufacturer’s production schedule may not be fixed that far in advance.… Read the rest

Abey Francis

Distribution Center Decisions

When deciding upon locational decision a manager basically decides upon suppliers, plants, ware houses and markets. There may also be other facilities such as super stockists, consolidation centers or transit points.

Besides locating the facilities a manager must also decide how market may be allocated to ware houses and how ware houses will be allocated to plants. The allocation decision can be altered on a regular basis as different costs change and markets evolve. When designing the network, both location and allocation decisions are made jointly.

In some cases, companies want to design supply chain networks, in which a market is supplied from only one factory.… Read the rest

Abey Francis