Discusses the results of a survey among shippers in several European countries involved in outsourcing their transport, warehousing and other logistics activities. The survey, which is a joint initiative of the universities of Cranfield, Eindhoven, LinkoÈ ping and Rotterdam (Erasmus) and of ManDat GmbH, is a sequel to a similar survey carried out five years ago and has led to a renewed insigh…
This paper focusess on the determination and evaluation of the factors of logistic outsourching. Many authors usually talk about logistic service outsourcing and it reason and benefit as well, but if some functions of the service are not outsourced, we can not really entitle “outsourcing” as the whole service providing. If logistic actifity if one or several functions are outsourced it is n…
Logistics is becoming an increasingly important part of overall retail strategy because it provides opportunities for enhanced profit, market growth and sustainable competitive advantage. This research examines the underlying factors which impact retail logistics. The factors found are warehousing/transportation, supplier performance/communications, internal information systems, activity levell…
Describes the “Health Check” – an investigation of critical activities in warehouses which incorporates reviews of people′s perceptions, technology applied and systems used, in order to produce a rapid evaluation statement. This report identifies three levels of possible improvement from immediate action, involving little or no capital expenditure, to longer projects with significant ca…
The aim of this paper is to explore the role of inventory and warehousing within international supply chains and, from this, to develop an exploratory framework that assists understanding in the area.
Automated warehouse equipment is often regarded as being inflexible, and yet its use continues to rise even though markets are becoming increasingly volatile. The purpose of this paper is to explore the reasons for, and nature of, warehouse automation implementations in order to further this understanding.
The aim of this paper is to explore the role of inventory and warehousing within international supply chains and, from this, to develop an exploratory framework that assists understanding in the area.
The purpose of this paper is to examine traditional, current and emerging roles played by ports in the context of logistics and supply chain management practice and strategy. The paper also seeks to elaborate the emerging concept of port-centric logistics.
The purpose of this paper is to examine traditional, current and emerging roles played by ports in the context of logistics and supply chain management practice and strategy. The paper also seeks to elaborate the emerging concept of port-centric logistics.
Warehousing remains the most frequently outsourced logistics activity, but empirical research on the third‐party selection process for warehousing remains scarce. The main goals of this research were to identify the most critical factors to customers during third‐party warehousing selection and to compare the perceived performance levels of national and regional third‐party firms on each …
Considering a relay order pick system in a distribution center, proposes a heuristic method based on historical customers’ orders for assigning products into storage zones, and constructs a performance index for measuring the continuity of each order handled in the pick system. The objective is to balance workloads among all pickers so each one has almost the same load and the relay pick la…
As business firms and even public sector operations opt to run leaner operating systems, the question of outsourcing becomes an increasingly popular topic for discussion. There are substantial differences between countries and between industries on what is considered “best practice” in outsourcing. There is ample evidence that some of these views on outsourcing are changing and will continu…
Already for a long time retailers have taken back products. In this paper we explore the factors contributing to the decision of combining vs separating inbound and outbound flows during the return handling process. We do so through a comparative analysis of the operations in nine retailer warehouses, which can be divided into three groups: food retailers, non‐food store chains and mail ord…
Logistics companies have benefited from the use of information and communications technology (ICT) in their business processes. Although ICT is being promoted in the Singapore logistics industry, details on status and perception towards ICT are not well-known. Therefore, in order to understand ICT penetration, a study is necessary.
Looks at how inventory can best be monitored and measured in the warehouse. Includes finding out what has to be monitored and measured; a closer look at stock counting; discussing how information is gathered; asking what makes a good warehouse management system and what the benefits are of using inventory control and warehouse management together and looking at working with limited systems.
Warehousing is becoming more and more a critical activity in the supply chain to outperform competitors on customer service, lead times, and costs. However, if warehousing is to be a source of competitive advantage, then the implementation of a warehouse management information system (WMS) is a necessary condition to achieve efficiently the high performance of warehousing operations required …
Logisticians in the worldwide industry are frequently faced with the problem of measuring the total cost of holding inventories with simple and easy-to-use methodologies. The purpose of this paper is to look at the problem, and in particular illustrate the inventory holding cost rate computation, when different kind of warehousing systems are applied.
The purpose of this paper is to consider the use of temporary storage offered by intermodal transshipment points to position some stock of fast moving consumer goods in advance of demand; this floating stock concept combines transport and inventory management. Intermodal transport is compared with direct road transport for a supply chain.
The purpose of this paper is to consider the use of temporary storage offered by intermodal transshipment points to position some stock of fast moving consumer goods in advance of demand; this floating stock concept combines transport and inventory management. Intermodal transport is compared with direct road transport for a supply chain.
The purpose of this paper is to examine the applicability of different drivers for assigning activity costs to products in warehouse logistics environment.
The purpose of this paper is to examine the applicability of different drivers for assigning activity costs to products in warehouse logistics environment.
Over the last two decades, a large number of studies have been conducted in the field of outsourcing third-party logistics (3PL) services and the field is growing. The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which 3PL services are outsourced by Australian firms. Specifically, it investigates the motivation for outsourcing, the average length of 3PL contracts, types of logistics servic…
This paper aims to report a survey carried out among European distribution centres (EDCs) in The Netherlands. EDCs are forerunners in implementing advanced logistics systems, since they are responsible for the distribution of a manufacturer’s products to customers in a larger part of Europe, Middle East and Africa, often with strict service level agreements.
In spite of the wide experience already developed in the field of internal logistics using radio frequency, many companies are wary of its implantation due to the fact that the benefits of this technology are not easily quantifiable in most cases. Develops a detailed discounted payback analysis of the cash flows associated with the implementation of radio frequency, presenting a table with the …
Presents a methodology useful when analysing the efficiency of order picking systems. The main feature of the analysis is the ability to compare different system designs. The methodology has earlier been applied mainly to assembly production systems, and has in these cases proved to be an effective management tool in discussions concerning the choice of production system.