MAN203 Logistics And Supply Chain Management

1. What is a 3PL?
2. What is the information you would seek from a 3PL to demonstrate its ability to meet your company requirements?

3. Humanitarian logistics.

1.

1. Forecasting is essential to improve logistics and supply chain management (SCM) as the risk related with exposure to supplier’s operations and expanded logistics is increased with the increase in dependency on suppliers. Therefore, these risks are measured and controlled with the use of forecasting. SCM can be improved through recognizing factors which can impact the costs and put limitations on capacity. Proper forecasting helps to estimate the demand such that both the extreme conditions of high inventory and shortage of inventory can be eliminated. Moreover, technological advancement, change in markets and upcoming products can be interpreted on time. For example, proper demand forecasting will allow to determine that sufficient number of personnel is available to prepare and ship the material on time so that problems does not arise at the end. (Taylor,1997).
   
   
2. The three main types of forecasts used within the context of the supply chain are as follows-

• Demand forecasts – Demand forecast can be considered as an estimate regarding the demand of the organization’s products and services.
• Supply forecasts – Supply forecasts seeks to measure the risk that an organization may face as the supply might get affected by a variety of factors including the number of existing producers and suppliers along with the technological and political trends.
• Price forecasts – Price forecasts helps to determine the trend in the short and long term prices of the materials and services such that large quantities can be ordered before the price shoots up (Arlbjorn, 2010).

• Not all forecasting questions are worth equal consideration.
• Big problems are divided into sub- problems for making it easier to answer. .
• Underreacting and overreacting to evidences is avoided.
• Opposite view points are taken into consideration in each problem (Jain and Malehorn, 2005).

2.  

1. When an agency is formed by individual companies collectively to arrange their freight movements such that their buying power can be combined to get reduced rates from carriers. Since wider and unified range of services is provided by them, they are known as third- party logistics companies (3PLs) (Levi, 2008).
   
   
2. The following information will be required from a 3PL to demonstrate its ability to meet the company’s requirement -

• Costing approach to be followed including the gain share, penalties, etc.
• time to be taken in transit/ speed
• Documentation requirements, technological considerations including the capability to track freight and information systems
• Information regarding the history and client references including performance reliability
• Insurance for damage and terms of carriage
• Information regarding the services to be provided i.e. time frame, geographical areas, etc. (Mangan, Lalwani and Butcher, 2008).

3. 

1. Humanitarian logistics is the procedure to be followed in planning, implementing and controlling the flow of goods, materials and information in an efficient and cost-effective manner for the purpose of relieving the suffering of weak people (Blecken, 2010).
   
   
2. The key players that should collaborate to provide humanitarian support in the times of disasters include the following-

• Governments- They has the power to mobilize resources and approve operations and act as activators of humanitarian logistics stream after disaster.
• Donors- They support relief activities through bulk of funding. While performing logistics processes they support humanitarian operations for free.
• NGOs- It includes international players, small organizations while some are formed to address one particular disaster.
• Aid Agencies- these are actors through which the suffering caused by disasters is alleviated by government.
• Military- In some situations, primary assistance such as hospital, camp installation, etc.  is required from the soldiers.
• Logistics Companies- They are capable of providing technological support and services that may no longer be available after a disaster has happened like banking support, electricity, etc. (Ergun, Karakus, Keskinocak, Swann and Villarreal,2009)

4. 

Information Technology is being used in a number of ways to improve the supply chain and logistics effectiveness and efficiency-

• Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) - It is a technology in which data is electronically interchanged between companies. Some of the examples of data transfer via EDI include purchase orders, payment instructions, etc. It provides the advantage of higher productivity with limited paper work.
• Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) - It is a software package which provides enterprise- wide planning and control of all the resources which may be required within the duration ranging from receipt of order to delivery of freight.
• Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) - This technology helps in SCM and logistics as physical freight is automatically identified and located by the signals detected by RFID reader.
• Collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment (CPFR) - It is a new method of scheduling logistics among consumers and suppliers. It is important in speedy supply chains like those of supermarkets.
• Vendor-managed inventory (VMI) - In case of VMI, inventory management is outsourced to the suppliers by their customers as it helps to improve upstream demand visibility and therefore the influence of demand fluctuations is reduced (Jamil, et.al., 2016).

References

Arlbjorn. J.S. 2010. Supply Chain Management. Academica.

Blecken, A. 2010. Humanitarian Logistics: Modelling Supply Chain Processes of Humanitarian Organisations. Haupt Verlag AG.

Ergun, O., Karakus, G., Keskinocak, P., Swann, J. and Villarreal, M. 2009. Humanitarian Supply Chain Management- An Overview, [Online]. Available at: drops.dagstuhl.de/volltexte/2009/2181/pdf/09261.ErgunOzlem.ExtAbstract.2181.pdf [Accessed on: 14 October 2017].

Jain, C. L. and Malehorn, J. 2005. Practical Guide to Business Forecasting. Institute of Business Forec.

Jamil, et.al. 2016. Handbook of Research on Information Management for Effective Logistics and Supply Chains. IGI Global.

Levi, S. 2008. Designing and Managing the Supply Chain: Concepts, Strategies, and Case Studies. Tata McGraw-Hill Education.

Mangan, J., Lalwani, C. and Butcher, T. 2008. Global Logistics and Supply Chain Management. John Wiley & Sons.

Taylor, D. H. 1997. Global Cases in Logistics and Supply Chain Management. Cengage Learning EMEA.