Shipping and logistics management books free download

The eBook shows how these metrics become part of a comprehensive portfolio of measures which define the value of Supply Chains. Use the proposal in your organisation and in business courses to test the approach and to start changes and improvements to the measurement of performance for your Core Supply Chains.

Are you considering a career in Logistics, or wondering what Logistics is about? What do you think of when the word Logistics is mentioned? The role of Logistics is to ensure that goods and associated services are available for customers and consumers to buy. But, the word Logistics is written on the side of so many trucks. Does this mean that logistics is transport? Storing goods in warehouses and transporting them to customers are certainly part of Logistics, but they are only a part.

This eBook will help careers advisors and their clients to gain a comprehensive overview of possible careers in Logistics and the roles that Logisticians have in different industries and organisations. We have developed an introductory video training course titled Scope of Supply Chains that provides an introduction to Logistics and Supply Chain topics over four modules.

The learning is based on visual slides with voice over by Roger Oakden. To view a sample of the full course, watch the YouTube video below titled From Logistics to Supply Networks or download the full video training course:. To improve the performance of your supply chains requires analysis of the collected data. Logistics Performance: a theoretical conceptual model for small and medium enterprises author Rui M.

Total logistics management concept and principles in manufacturing enterprise author Maciej Bieleck, Barbara Galinska Source: Srce Business logistics. Importance and some research opportunities author Ronald H. The role of transportation in logistics chain author M. Sreenivas, T. Logistics and supply chain management: an overview author Vacar Anca Source: Sciendo The future of supply chain and logistics management in the strategic organizations: contractor companies and new generation suppliers author Ramazan Erturgut Source: Sciencedirectassets.

Here ends our selection of free Logistics books in PDF format. We hope you liked it and already have your next book! It has significant implications for distribution and logistics. The overall concept of JIT is to provide a production system that eliminates all activities that neither add value to the final product nor allow for the continuous flow of material — in simple terms, that eliminates the costly and wasteful elements within a production process. As with all such approaches, JIT has some negative points as well as the more positive ones listed above.

It can, for example, lead to increased transport flows due to the need for smaller but more frequent deliveries of goods to the customer. Competitive advantage through logistics Attitudes towards distribution and logistics have changed quite dramatically in recent years. It was commonly thought that the various elements within logistics merely created additional cost for those companies trying to sell products in the marketplace.

Although there is, of course, a cost associated with the movement and storage of goods, it is now recognized that distribution and logistics also provide a very positive contribution to the value of a product. This is because logistics operations provide the means by which the product can reach the customer or end user, in the appropriate condition and required location. It is therefore possible for companies to compete on the basis of providing a product either at the lowest possible cost so that the customer will buy it because it is the least expensive or at the highest possible value to the customer eg if it is provided exactly where, when and how the customer wants it.

Some companies may, perhaps unwisely, try to achieve both of these cost and value objectives and probably succeed in neither! It is particularly important to understand which competitive stance a company is trying to achieve when planning a logistics operation. These ideas are illustrated in Figure 2. This shows that a company may compete as a service leader, where it is trying to gain a value advantage over its competitors by providing a number of key service elements to differentiate its product.

Or it may compete as a cost leader where it is trying to utilize its resources so that it offers the product at the lowest possible cost, thus gaining a productivity advantage.

Examples of how this might be achieved are given in Figure 2. It might include a guaranteed service level or a regular update on the status of orders. For a cost or productivity advantage, this may include a number of different means of cost minimization, such as maintaining very low levels of inventory and ensuring that all manufacturing and distribution assets are kept at a high utilization.

It should also be emphasized that for many companies it is necessary to develop differently configured logistics structures to cater for the variety of service offerings that they need to provide. Leading com- panies are segmenting their supply chains according to the service and cost needs of the customer. The concept of the supply chain is really an extension of the ideas that have been developed in this and the previous chapter concerning the integrated nature of logistics.

The total logistics concept advocates the benefits of viewing the various elements of logistics as an integrated whole. Supply chain management is similar, but also includes the supplier and the end user in the process or, as indicated in Figure 1. This is the major difference between supply chain management and traditional logistics. There are four distinct differences claimed for supply chain management over the more classic view of logistics, although some of these elements have also been recognized as key to the successful planning of logistics operations.

The supply chain is viewed as a single entity rather than a series of fragmented elements such as procurement, manufacturing, distribution, etc. This is also how logistics is viewed in most forward-looking companies.

In an integrated supply chain, however, both the suppliers and the end users are included in the planning process, thus going outside the boundaries of a single organization in an attempt to plan for the supply chain as a whole. Supply chain management is very much a strategic planning process, with a particular emphasis on strategic decision making rather than on the operational systems. Supply chain management provides for a very different approach to dealing with inventory. Traditionally, inventory has been used as a safety valve between the separate components within the pipeline — thus, often leading to large and expensive stocks of products.

Supply chain management aims to alter this perspective so that inventory is used as a last resort to balance the integrated flow of product through the pipeline. Central to the success of effective supply chain management is the use of integrated information systems that are a part of the whole supply chain rather than merely acting in isolation for each of the separate components.

These enable visibility of product demand and stock levels through the full length of the pipeline. This has only become a possibility with the recent advances in information systems technology. Stage one: baseline material flow customer service purchasing material production sales distribution control Stage two: functional integration material flow customer service materials manufacturing distribution management management Stage three: internal integration material flow customer service materials manufacturing distribution management management Stage four: external integration material flow customer service suppliers internal supply customers chain Key: Inventory Source: Stevens Figure 2.

Many companies have moved to functional integration, with some achieving an element of full internal integration. Figure 2. The extent of integration has a big impact on the logistics structure of a company. A company with limited integration will hold stocks in many parts of its operation.

A highly integrated company will hold very limited stocks, with the emphasis on the steady flow of product throughout the physical system. The figure emphasizes this need for poorly integrated organizations to hold large inventories at frequent intervals throughout the supply chain.

Summary The realization of the need for the effective planning and control of logistics, coupled with the obvious interrelationships within logistics systems, has led to the development of several new approaches towards integrated systems. The recent advances in information technology have made the practical application of these new approaches feasible. All in all, there has been a very positive move towards an integrated approach to logistics, although for many companies, both large and small, there is still considerable scope for improvement.

The more complex and sophisticated systems and concepts such as DPP and DRP have been adopted by a number of large, generally multinational companies. Smaller companies have been slower to adopt these concepts, despite the clear benefits to be gained. For many small and medium-sized companies, there is also the very pertinent factor that they need to learn to walk the logistics path before they attempt to run on it.

However, even for companies such as these, there is a great deal to be gained from taking those first few steps towards recognizing that logistics should be viewed as an integrated system and that there is a strong interrelationship between the different elements of transportation, storage, informa- tion, etc.

In addition, there is the need to adopt a positive approach to the planning and control of those systems. Fortunately, in the past few years, companies have, to a greater or lesser extent, realized the importance and relevance of logistics to their business as a whole.

Thus, organizational struc- tures and planning policies are now beginning to reflect this integrated approach. The financial impact that logistics has in a business has been described.

The importance of the need to integrate the various logistics components into a complete working structure that enables the overall system to run at the optimum has been identified. Some key aspects of planning for logistics have been reviewed. Finally, a number of recent developments in logistics thinking have been described, including the globalization of companies, integrated planning systems, the use of logistics to help create competitive advantage and the concept of supply chain management.

When pressed, however, there are many companies that find it difficult to describe exactly what they mean by customer service or provide a precise definition of customer service measures. For any company or organization it is vital, therefore, to have a clear definition of customer service and to have specific and recognized customer service measures.

It is also important to understand that customer service and customer service requirements can and will differ not just between industries and companies but additionally between the market segments that a business might serve.

Another relevant factor is the recognition of the complexity of customer service provision. Customer service is inextricably linked to the process of distribution and logistics. Within this process, there are many influences that may be relevant to customer service. These range from the ease of ordering to stock availability to delivery reliability.

Finally, there is the need to balance the level of service provided with the cost of that provision. The downfall of many a service offering is often the unrealistic and unrecognized high cost of providing a service that may, in the event, be greater than is required by the customer.

The key to achieving a successful customer service policy is to develop appropriate objectives through a proper framework that includes liaison with the customer, and then to measure, monitor and control the procedures that have been set up. The importance of customer service As already suggested, there are few companies that do not recognize the importance of the provision of good customer service.

But, why is it so important? One way of considering customer service is to differentiate between the core product itself and the service elements related to the product. This is depicted in Figure 3. The core product concerns the item itself: the technical content, the product features, the ease of use, the style and the quality. There is a long list as we shall see later in this chapter , and clearly not all of the service items on our list are relevant to all products.

The marketing departments of many companies recognize that the product surround elements are very important in determining the final demand for a product. In addition, these aspects often represent only a small percentage of the cost of a product.

Thus, no matter how attractive the product may be, it is essential that the customer service elements are satisfactory and, as we shall see, logistics plays a crucial role in providing good customer service. These are the right quantity, cost, product, customer, time, place and condition; and the concept of applying these to customer service can be seen in Figure 3. All of these dif- ferent aspects can be key requisites of a good customer service offering — indeed, each of them may be essential to ensure that a product achieves its expected sales in the various markets where it is made available.

It is notable that all of these elements are affected by the standard and quality of the logistics operations that are essential to getting a product to market. Thus, these elements can provide the basis for identifying the different aspects of logistics that should form a part of any customer service offering, and also, and this is of equal importance, these elements should become the basis of the key measurements that are used to monitor opera- tional success or failure.

This will be considered in the final sections of this chapter. The components of customer service The logistics components of customer service can be classified in different ways. They may be seen as direct transaction-related elements, where the emphasis is on the specific physical service provided, such as on-time delivery, or they may be seen as indirect support eg non- transactional, or pre- and post-transactional attributes that are related to overall aspects of order fulfilment, such as the ease of order taking.

Pre-transaction elements: these are customer service factors that arise prior to the actual transaction taking place. They include: —— written customer service policy; —— accessibility of order personnel; —— single order contact point; —— organizational structure; —— method of ordering; —— order size constraints; —— system flexibility; —— transaction elements. Transaction elements: these are the elements directly related to the physical transaction and are those that are most commonly concerned with distribution and logistics.

Under this heading would be included: —— order cycle time; —— order preparation; —— inventory availability; —— delivery alternatives; —— delivery time; —— delivery reliability; —— delivery of complete order; —— condition of goods; —— order status information.

Logistics customer service elements can also be classified by multifunctional dimensions. The intention is to assess the different components of customer service across the whole range of company functions, to try to enable a seamless service provision. One of the main consequences of this approach is that it enables some very relevant overall logistics measures to be derived.

These will be considered later in this chapter. The four main multifunctional dimensions are: 1. Each of these can be broken down into further detailed elements. One example of this is shown in Figure 3. Total order fulfilment cycle time is When identifying and measuring order fulfil- ment cycle time it is important to be able to break it down to all of the key components.

Thus, if there is a customer service problem it can be measured and traced quickly and easily and the actual detailed problem can be identified and remedied. As indicated already in this chapter, there are many different elements of customer service, and their relevance and relative importance will vary according to the product, company and market concerned. Two different models of service quality are considered: a very basic model and a more complicated, extended model.

Basic service model A very simple, yet effective, view of service quality is that it is the match between what the customer expects and what the customer experiences. Note that the customer viewpoint is what the customer perceives or believes to be happening, not necessarily what is actually happening in terms of what the sup- plier is providing or thinks they are providing.

Perceived quality is always a judgement that the customer makes — whatever the customer thinks is reality, no matter what the supplier may believe to the contrary! This is another reason why careful measurement of customer service is necessary: to be able to demonstrate that certain agreed standards are being achieved.

This is particularly useful in helping to identify and measure the critical elements of service for key customers. The main factors are outlined in Figures 3.

The aim of this approach is to identify the various different service gaps that can or might appear throughout the customer service process. Measures are then set up to assess the relative importance of each of these gaps and to monitor them on a regular basis. The boxes in Figure 3.

From this, the supplier should develop appropriate service quality stand- ards and specifications. These should then be communicated to and agreed with the customer. Subsequently, the service is provided by the supplier via the logistics operation. The customer will then have a certain expectation of the service level to be provided and can compare this to the service that he or she perceives is being received. In Figure 3. Working backwards, the main issue is likely to be the one between the service that the cus- tomer expects and the service that the customer perceives to be provided Gap 6.

How is this undertaken? As described later in this chapter, there are a number of different types of customer service studies that can be carried out to achieve this. However, it is also important to be able to identify why any such service failure has occurred, and the different reasons can be identified by measuring the other service gaps that appear in Figure 3.

This gap may, typically, be caused because the supplier and the customer are measur- ing service in a different way. This gap may be caused by a misunderstanding in communication. The cause for this gap may be inefficiency within the delivery service. Perceived service — expected service gap Perceived service 5. Actual service — perceived service gap 4. Service standard — service delivery gap gap 1. Customer expectation — Service quality standards management perception and specification gap 2.

Management perception — service standard gap supplier Management perception of customer expectation Based on work by Parasuraman and Zeithaml Figure 3.

This gap is likely to be caused by an inadequate initial opera- tional set-up. This gap is usually caused because the supplier does not under- stand the real customer requirements. Conceptual models of this nature are valuable to help the understanding of the underlying issues that are involved. They need to be interpreted into a practical format to enable actual service policies to be derived.

The remaining sections of this chapter address this requirement. Developing a customer service policy Every company that provides products and services to its customers should have an appropri- ate customer service policy. The next few sections of this chapter describe how this can be done. Because there are so many different elements of customer service, this policy must be very clearly and carefully defined. Also, there are many different types of customer even for the same product.

A can of fizzy drink, for example, may be bought in a supermarket, a corner shop, a petrol station or from a self-service dispensing unit. It is unlikely that a manufacturer of fizzy drink would wish to provide exactly the same level and style of service to all these very different customer types.

This is why many companies segment their customers into different customer categories. It is also an additional reason for having a distinct customer service policy.

Many studies have been undertaken to measure the effects of poor customer service. It is also important to understand what minimum requirements are necessary when identify- ing any particular service policy. If these minimum requirements are not met, the supplier cannot even expect to be considered as a feasible sup- plier. Once these requirements are met and the supplier begins to exceed them, it then becomes possible to achieve customer satisfaction and begin to add value to the supply relationship.

Once the positive need for a customer service policy has been accepted, it is useful to adopt a recognized approach to determine the basic requirements and format of this policy. One such approach is outlined in Figure 3. As well as showing the major steps that should be taken, the figure also indicates how these steps can be carried out.

This is a six-step plan to identify key customer service components and then to design and maintain a suitable customer service package. The main steps are: 1. Identify the main elements of service and identify suitable market segments. The first step is to identify those elements of service that are most highly rated by customers.

The main means of determin- ing these key elements are by market research techniques. A typical approach might be: —— the identification of the main decision maker or buyer of the product; —— the use of personal interviews to determine the importance of customer service and the different elements within customer service; —— the use of group interviews to determine the same.

A major output from this stage of the study is to enable an appropriate survey questionnaire to be designed. It is highly unlikely that a universal level of customer service will be appropriate for all customers. Most customer populations consist of a range of customers of different size and importance. Part of this preliminary stage is, therefore, to try to iden- tify broad customer categories and to ensure that any questionnaire is designed to enable the different requirements of these different categories to be identified.

It should be noted that there is a variety of types of customer service study that can be used. These are summarized in Figure 3. For some companies it is relevant to use several of these for different purposes. Approach Comment Complaint analysis Qualitative. Statistically limited. Limited to those who do complain.

Critical incident studies Qualitative. Relevant to individual customers only. Limited scope. Customer panels Limited coverage. Qualitative information.

Would not show priorities. Key client survey Useful Pareto approach. Not valid across whole client base. Qualitative and quantitative.

Figure 3. Control over response Expense. Possible interviewer bias. Can control questions answered. Can Time-restrictive. Not anonymous. Can be quick. E-mail Inexpensive. Fast response. Limited interaction. Limited response. Fax Inexpensive. Quite fast response. Low response for respondent to complete. Non-response to some questions. Web Inexpensive. Quick response. Flexible time for No control over respondents. Mail Inexpensive. Flexible time for respondent to Time-consuming.

No interviewer bias. Face to face Can probe. Can ensure appropriate respondent. Limited sample. Very time- Can control questions.

Allows greater consuming. All questions answered.