Logistics / Supply Chain Management Industry Overview and Statistical Profile

Background

Productivity is about far more than old-fashioned concepts of a plant's unit-per-labour costs. As competition becomes more global, innovation is moving from a firm-to-firm level to a supply chain versus supply chain perspective. Incremental competitiveness advantage is now achieved when all the supply chain players are synchronized and collaborating together.

Supply chain management (SCM) encompasses the planning and management of all activities involved in sourcing and procurement, conversion, and all logistics management activities. Importantly, it also includes coordination and collaboration with channel partners, which can be suppliers, intermediaries, third-party service providers, and customers. In essence, SCM integrates supply and demand management within and across companies.

Logistics management is that part of SCM that plans, implements, and controls the efficient, effective forward and reverse flow and storage of goods, services and related information between the point of origin and the point of consumption in order to meet customers requirements.

Logistics management activities typically include inbound and outbound transportation management, fleet management, warehousing, materials handling, order fulfillment, logistics network design, inventory management, supply/demand planning, and management of third party logistics services providers. To varying degrees, the logistics function also includes sourcing and procurement, production planning and scheduling, packaging and assembly, and customer service. It is involved in all levels of planning and execution:  strategic, operational and tactical. Logistics management is an integrating function, which coordinates and optimizes all logistics activities, as well as integrates logistics activities with other functions including marketing, sales manufacturing, finance and information technology ¹.