Reap The Benefits Of Logistics Management

It is important to know the processes that a company is involved in and master them for a more efficient production output. Logistics management, on the other hand, is a critical component to achieve business goals. This is defined as the organized movement of materials, and sometimes, people. The term logistics was originally associated with the military. Eventually, the term has gradually spread to cover business activities and processes. In terms of transportation, for example, this is a vital cost-containment key that one should consider. If a company is working with carriers and couriers, the products should be transported in a timely, safe and efficient manner, thereby managing company costs. There are certain companies and establishments who offer logistics management services. If you want your company to run in a timely and efficient manner, you have to choose a company who provides logistics management services and make sure that they can meet your business' transportation needs. You must coordinate and tie together your firm's logistics system. It is good to consider the five elements or functions of logistics and how important they are to your company.

Business logistics is a series of separate activities or functions which all fall under a business firm's logistics umbrella.

- customer service
- demand forecasting
- documentation flow
- inter-plant movements
- inventory management
- order processing
- packaging
- parts and service support
- plant and warehouse site selection
- production scheduling purchasing returned products

1. Supply

Consider the supply of materials that you have as this would help meet your self-imposed quota for the company to profit.

2. Transportation

This is where logistics management applies. A company should have the transportation services needed to move the products and deliver them in a timely and efficient manner to the customers.

3. Facilities

Different companies employ different services according to their needs. Each of them has a different facility which helps produce the products and services which they eventually offer to customers. These facilities should be tailor-made and fit the client's and customer's specifications.

4. Services

From customer service, to delivering an order on time, to resolving order-related problems, a company should employ a logistics management service provider which will provide all of these services.

5. Management and Administration

This is an aspect of logistics management which is common to all organizations. A well-balanced and knowledgeable staff and leaders make for a better, service-oriented company. In relation to this, here are the important factors that you should consider when employing a logistics management service provider that will best benefit your company:

6. Inbound Transportation

- You should choose a logistics management service provider who will give out quotes for the inbound transportation costs of components
- This might include the delivery of individual components to your production line
- For a better price comparison, you may also ask if they can deal with clients who buy some or all of their components from a particular supplier
- You can look for cost and time frame quotations that you can use to consider the service provider that is most cost-effective

7. Outbound Transportation

Outbound transportation refers to the carriers who meet the customer's needs. Different clients need various freight and carrier services, and a logistics management service provider should be able to provide these individual needs. The deal can either be on an over-all operational basis, or on a per-shipment basis. This provides a comprehensive solution for a company's primary need for logistics. Choose a logistics management service provider who will provide rate comparisons from different couriers to meet and handle the customer's goals. The main point here is that you need to have somebody to handle and ship out your main products in a safe and timely manner.

8. Troubleshooting Capabilities

A logistics management service provider should know how to handle unusual and day-to-day complications and problems. If a customer has a specific shipping need, would they be able to deliver and solve the problem? Should a serious delivery or shipping problem arise, they should be able to troubleshoot and come up with the perfect solution and at the same time soothe a customer's ruffled feathers.

9. Keeping Customers Informed

The customers have the right to know the details about a particular order shipment. They should be informed of when the products were shipped, how it was shipped and who shipped it. Some logistics management service provider give out their contact numbers directly to their client's customers. This would avoid a pointing of fingers should problems arise. Also, there is online tracking information available for most couriers and carriers. All in all, you have to choose a logistics management service provider that would fit your company's needs to a tee so that both of you will reap the benefits in the end.

Recognition! What's In A Name?

Cameron Timpson is CEO of a medium-sized electronic assembly operation. He makes a point of making a weekly recognition award to the best assembler on the factory floor. "Today," he shouts to the gathering crowd "it is Lavinia Argot's turn" and he turns to her to present her prize. Her mouth is smiling but her eyes are not. "My name's Davina Urquhart" she whispers. Cameron smiles and tells her not to worry about it.

The ability to connect with people at a personal level is such an important skill that all supervisors, managers, vice-presidents, directors and CEOs should possess it. Even the most trivial oversight can have a massively de-motivating effect on employees.

Recognition is not only some sort of formalized award ceremony; it is not contained only in a pay-check; it is part of the fabric of interpersonal relationships within the entire organization.

Personal details

In his book "How to Win Friends and Influence People" the best selling author Dale Carnegie tells us that a person's name is the sweetest word they will ever hear in any language. Remembering someone's name, especially if you meet them infrequently, sends a message that they are important to you. Forgetting names or getting them wrong sends completely the opposite message.

But surely there is a point beyond which it is impossible to remember every name in the organization. Well, the simple answer is "No". Your brain has a capacity in bits of 10 followed by 8741 zeros. A Gigabyte is 10 followed by 8 zeros (1,000,000,000) bits. So, compared with the average computer hard drive your memory capacity is enormous and there is no physical reason why anyone cannot learn 300 or a thousand names, given time. The only barrier to a manager learning the names of everyone in the organization is whether they think it is important enough.

Add to this list of names, details of where people live, their wives names, how many children they have and their interests outside work and you have a highly valuable motivation database at your disposal.

Projects

When there is no senior management attention paid to projects they can often drag along and suffer from under-funding, understaffing or both and they may end up producing poor results. There is a fine line to be drawn between "breathing down their necks" and being motivational but that is the true skill of being a thoughtful leader.

Project teams need the same sort of collective recognition that an individual desires. As part of the team, each member can benefit from words of praise aimed at the whole project. In these circumstances, it can actually be more destructive to heap recognition on one particular team member when they may have achieved their success through collaboration with their colleagues.

Of course, Davina (or is it Lavinia?) was pleased that she had been recognized for her hard work by the CEO but his lack of attention to the small detail of her name took the shine off just a little.

Recognition As Part Of Performance Management

Performance Management is a system developed out of the best practice of top performing organizations to provide managers with a structured approach to the key retention criteria. Simplistically, most people will feel motivated and will want to stay in their job if their manager:
pays attention to their work provides them with a job to match their skills, knowledge and experience gives them opportunities to grow and develop judges their performance objectively

Most Performance Management processes contain critical opportunities for recognition.

Appraisals

Traditionally, the annual appraisal is the only meeting during the year when an average or better worker will meet their boss to discuss performance. People with poor performance can and do have a regular audience with their manager; sometimes on a weekly basis. Your appraisal form is "the" document that is held on file as a record of how good, bad or indifferent you might have been. For some, this may be the only time in the year that they receive plaudits and even these may be guarded comments because of the close link in everyone's mind between appraisal and pay rise despite repeated denials. Too much praise might raise expectations of a large pay increase. Poor performers, however, frequently receive far more than their fair share of management attention throughout the year.

If paying attention to our employees is one of the greatest motivators, when did we decide that high performers need less motivation than poor performers? Of course they don't! Many of the top performing companies in the world have introduced regular coaching and mentoring sessions to supplement the appraisal system and to give all employees a regular, sometimes fortnightly, opportunity to talk about their job, their performance against their objectives, their motivation and their aspirations.

Coaching

Often you can see situations where managers act as spectators. Their behavior plus the words they use along with their body language would not be out of place at a soccer or baseball match. They would be sitting in the stands eating a hot dog, throwing down a beer and belting out criticism at the players (their staff) on the field. There is almost no connection between the manager and the staff other than they just happen to be sitting in the same building.

This image is used to point out the profound difference between the 'manager as coach' and the 'manager as spectator'. A coach works individually with players, helping them to overcome setbacks and obstacles to progress forward. They know and understand how their players respond to different types of motivation and how their family life and health impact their performance.

The majority of coaching is done on a very frequent basis. You simply don't wait for the big match to deliver your advice to the team in the way the 'manager as spectator' does. You work very closely with everyone in the team, understanding the strengths and weaknesses of your defense and your strikers before they are tested under pressure.

Recognition By The Happy Wanderer

Quin Jerome is Sales Director with a clothing company. He is a talented talker and entertains major clients on a regular basis. One summer he was deputizing while the CEO was on vacation and found an entry in his planner that just said "11.00 - 12.00 Wander". The CEO's PA clarified that it meant walking the production floor to talk with the machinists. "But I don't know what to say to them!" said the gifted raconteur.

Curiosity is the real key to uncovering performance that deserves recognition. Managing by wandering about (MBWA) is a technique first recognized in the 1980's by quality guru Tom Peters. He found that some successful organizations got that way by encouraging managers to get away from behind their desks on a regular basis. With the emphasis on wandering, which is a slow process of following your nose, you will find yourself being drawn towards areas of the business you might not otherwise visit.

You may find yourself speaking to people who are hidden away from the light of day and by asking the who, what, where, when, why and how you'll discover things about your own business that would never have been revealed to you otherwise. It's not that your managers are hiding anything; they just want to let you know what they think is important and they edit out what they consider to be trivia.

Unfortunately one man's trivia is another man's hero's journey and these examples represent the acorns that you will want to nourish. How can well focused behavior be copied by others in the company if it is not captured, highlighted and praised?

MBWA is in itself a form of recognition. If the senior woman or man can spend some of their valuable time talking to employees and asking their opinions, the employees must have value. This feeling can be reinforced by asking your people for their opinion about management decisions, company policy and rumors. Keep an open mind about their answers, understand their perspective and calm their uncertainties.

Simple questions can open up enormous opportunities. "What one thing could I do to help you with your job?" will always get a cheeky answer about swapping salaries but is usually followed up with the really simple stuff like: "We need better lighting", or, "We need an electric fan in the summer", or, "Can I replace the missing wheel on my chair?"; none of which will break the bank but all of which will improve their work experience.

Asking "What and who makes a difference to the performance of your department?" will start to reveal some of the activities that should be emulated throughout the business. People will be named who are seen as role-models in their approach to their work and to their colleagues. Remember that work is not all about hard graft. A good proportion of work is a social experience which should be as good humored and pleasant as possible to bring out the best qualities of your employees.