The 10 Keys to Global Logistics Excellence

Changes within the supply chain can disrupt the normal flow of goods and services because each change hasn’t been fully scrutinized. A firm can plan and speculate that a change with have a certain effect on the supply chain, but until those processes have been measured it is impossible to know the true cause and effect of any disruption.

Today’s global supply chain has been shaped by the past decades of focus and strategies based on achieving the lowest operational costs coupled with a push towards market expansion and supplier outsourcing. The expansion of global supply chains combined with the increasing number of joined connections to external business partners has significantly raised the possibility for supply chain disruptions (Poirier, Quinn, & Swink, 2010). In today’s global business environment, the importance of risk management continues to grow daily.

Due to the large quantity of freight and the long distance that it must travel to arrive to its destination exporters and importers alike have found logistic service providers essential to engage in international trade (Rodriguez, Comtois, Slack, 2013). While some Logistics service providers focus only on the area of transportation others specialize in freight consolidation, distribution management, and warehousing (Robinson, 2014). They have enough market knowledge, information and communication systems to offer supply chain solutions tailored to the specific needs of any company be it small or large (Rodriguez, Comtois, Slack,

Westminster Company is one of the largest manufacturers of consumer health products, based in US. Their distinctive name and company logo are recognized throughout the world. Westminster was originally founded as a family-owned pharmaceutical supply business in 1923, the company has expanded, by virtue of aggressive new product development, into a global provider of health care consumer products. It consumes three wholly owned subsidiaries, manufacturing grocery product, drugs, and mass merchandise. Intense rivalry in the market, and distresses of having an effective supply chain, made the company evaluate its supply chain and logistics. The primary focus of its research was the key clients of the three companies. To understand logistics the company must first know what logistics is and how it works. Logistics is defined as a business planning framework for the management of material, service, information and capital flows (Logistics World , 2014). Logistics is an important function of the business and without a proper logistics system, all the manufacturing, marketing and other activities would fail, overall resulting with the company failing to reach its full potential. After thoroughly analyzing the case study of, Westminster Company, to improve their current logistic strategy, they would need to implement the following strategies: developing and analyzing a new system to focus on strategic effort to ship their products in a timelier, efficient and in a more accurate

One of the major features of globalization has been the mergence and increased importance of third party logistics providers and support industries for shipping and transport operations. As businesses become more global in their scope and supply chains grow ever wider in scope and more globally integrated, the complexities and considerations of achieving efficient and cost-effective transport and support services grows more difficult, and most manufacturing and distribution companies outsource these services to a variety of different companies specializing in specific aspects of supply chain management and operational assistance. Achieving success as such a specialized company can be easy if the company maintains proper and accurate analyses of capabilities and environments and has appropriate internal controls, however failure to ensure these components and processes are in place can be disastrous, especially when combined with an emphasis on rampant growth.

The purpose of this report is to explain in brief to the Senior Management of a hypothetical supply chain

The larger a company’s supply chain, the more vulnerable the company becomes. When the company’s suppliers spread further and further away from the company, the company becomes even more vulnerable to political and currency risk, cyber attacks, missed inventory goals, and failed communication with the supply chain. For a company to overcome those potential vulnerabilities, a company must build safeguards into their operations. Those safeguards include a strong corporate backing in supply chain management, solid relationships with suppliers, more attention to forecasting, and a holistic approach to sustainability.

Those firms that choose not to will suffer from both late to market costs, as well as increased costs to build their supply chain. Cost, Production, and Quality across the supply chain must be measureable. Maintaining the perspective of a global workforce remains a vital way of doing business, however,. it must continue and grow stronger through innovation to better meet the needs of the customer. Shortening supply chains and making them simpler yet more robust, is something that Ghemawat believes is a critical requirement.

Technology industry supply chains face risks that are coming from both, internal and external factors, many of which were mentioned previously. These include capacity constraints, fulfilling customers’ demand expectations, political disruptions, regulatory laws, increasing economic uncertainty, rapid technological changes, the effects of globalization, and natural disasters.

Outbound Logistics: The order processing methodology should be accurate and quick. Even the deliveries of the product should be timely in

Organizations having supply chain world-wide face more risks such as supply disruptions, longer lead times etc. caused by global customs, foreign policy regulations, port delays, political instability, recession in a specific region’s economy etc.

Compare the other retailers, logistics is an essential problem in e-commerce and e-business. Over country shipping and one-day shipping are more and more popular in the past years, like Amazon one day shipping, Amazon fresh keeps food in a good condition and deliver in a specific time. Retail leaders Amazon started same-day deliveries and drone shipping careers in 2015, but it hasn't expanded to all industry. The customer's satisfaction degree is closely connected with delivery ability, which makes the logistic problem more important.

Over the last few decades, the role of logistics in business has increased in scope as well as in strategic importance (Caplice and sheffi, 1995). In general, distribution logistics is expected to ‘provide the right goods at the right time, at the right place, in the right amount and quality, and at the right price’ (Jünemann & Daum 1989, p. 18.)

In a globalised world, the need to maintain some distinguishing edge is all the more essential, not only to grow or protect market share, but also to provide anchors to defend appropriation of value by adjacent players in the supply chain.

We are all aware about the importance of supply, manufacturing and operations chain for any business. It becomes even more important if we are crossing the borders and entering international marketplaces as we are