Logistics seems to be a hot word in business now days…
“Logistics seems to be a hot word in business now days, “Looking for some good economic news? How about this: hiring for jobs in logistics and the supply chain is taking off. According to Wanted Analytics, over 49,000 supply chain jobs were posted online in the last three months alone, up 24 percent from the same period last year,”(Michael Koploy, Software Advice).
Read more on Koploy’s warehouse management systems website
Freight used to be a simple model:
client + load > client calls carrier> carrier picks up> carrier delivers load.
This may have been fine and dandy back in the 1950’s when many of our products were being manufactured right here in the U.S. A. As most people know, things are different now. Almost everything sold in American markets and European markets are manufactured in different countries primarily in the factories of China, India, Philippines and other countries in South America. Sure there are geographic borders that separate countries and continents today, but let’s face it…It’s a Global economy nowadays. Things are made in Asia, sold in America or Europe >>> starting trends everywhere from Russia to Africa, the Middle East down to Antarctica.
Economies are now more than ever moving past just regional and now becoming global. Markets overlap and technology unites people on different coasts. A decade ago, the term Supply- Chain Management http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supply_chain_management was a term that only a few select decision makers were aware of. Nowadays, everyone in business is aware of the supply-chain dynamic. From large corporations to small business, everyone is using technology in a way to modernize, minimize and streamline their supply-chain. This is where 3rd party logistics come into play.
3PL’s, freight management specialists, freight consultants, freight brokers…etc…exist for this particular function of managing a client’s supply-chain, either on a macro level, or a micro level. A lot of shippers have a misguided idea that by working with the carrier direct that they will be getting a better service by:
1) Direct relationship
2) Pricing that is better because no middleman
In actuality, working with 3PL’s have more benefits:
1) Good 3pl’s have direct relationships with carrier’s upper management
2) 3PL firms get blanket discounts from carriers due to the amount of clients they represent
3) Working with a 3pl you get the opportunity to work with more than one carrier and in different regions, all while receiving one bill.
4) Technology and software is usually cutting edge with the ability to work with different programs, helping a client’s diverse needs.
In my opinion, as we climb out of the financial instability of the last few years, logistics is going to play a big deal in the overall structure of our economy. Logistics can bridge continents together, allowing businesses to be profitable on a global scale.