Where to locate your warehouse. The decision about locating a new distribution centre or warehouse will not be made that often in the course of a company’s business – the review of location suitability will be about every five to seven years. Selecting a site a location that is close to a freeway can be a sensible decision; new warehouses … Read More
Improve your supply chains through materials productivity
Thinking about reuse. In my last two blogs I have been discussing the productivity of materials and why it should have a higher visibility in our consideration of supply chain improvements, equal or even more important than labour productivity. Thinking about sustainability and improving materials productivity has generated new terms, such as environmental logistics, with its focus on reducing all … Read More
Reverse logistics does not tell the whole story
Improve the productivity of materials. My previous blog discussed price volatility for hard and soft commodities. This situation is unlikely to change, being influenced by factors of supply availability and disruptions, plus spikes in demand. The flow on effect of volatile raw material prices is that producers must take action to protect their businesses, as materials are a high percentage … Read More
How do you measure productivity in logistics?
The price of commodities. Australia has an open market for fuel. The price of petrol at service stations can change each day; sometimes by large amounts – last week the price increased in one major city from $1.23 to $1.46 per litre. So what has this got to do with logistics? Oil is a hard commodity, like iron ore and … Read More
Change your work style in logistics
Work and flexibility. I was recently talking with a sales representative from a freight forwarder and noticed that his mobile phone was not switched off for our conversation. I asked if the mobile phone was also on in the evening and he replied that the phone was never off and that he was expected to respond whenever it rang. For … Read More