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
Where are your warehouses?
Location of LSP facilities. Are you a manufacturer or importer that intends to contract with a logistics service provider (LSP) for storage and distribution of your goods to retail outlets. When outsourcing your distribution to a LSP, you would expect the storage facilities for your inventory to be sighted in an optimum location for efficient distribution. What if the location … Read More
Outsourcing logistics functions
Competencies can change. I am interested that Amazon has recently purchased the supplier of Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV) used in its warehouses. This is an example of vertical integration within a business. When Amazon started, it was portrayed as the ‘new’ style of business. The requirement was to be good at your core competency, in this case on-line book selling … Read More