Logistic Issues and Strategies for Australia Post

This report discusses the logistic issues faced by Australia Post, their impact on the company, and logistic management strategies to resolve them. It also highlights the involvement of the NSW government in the resolution. The report provides a detailed understanding of the logistic issues and their resolution in Australia post specifically.

Logistics

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Company Overview.........................................................................................................................1
Current logistic problem..................................................................................................................2
Impact of logistic issues on company..............................................................................................3
Logistic management strategies to resolve issues...........................................................................4
Involvement of the NSW government in the resolution..................................................................6
Conclusion and Recommendation...................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................8

Introduction
Logistic is been mainly defined as the procedure of coordinating and moving the
resources, inventory or material from one place to another destination. It refers to the activities
that take place within the organization involving purchases and delivery of the resources,
packaging, shipping and transporting the goods to end distributors. The current report is been
carried out with the intention to gain in-depth knowledge about the logistics and the issues
related to the same. It would assess the logistic issues being faced by the intermodal companies
and the strategies to overcome the problems effectively. The report would also highlight the
involvement of NSW government if any in the resolution of the issues. However, the logistic
issues of Australia Post Company would be elaborated on in the report. It would provide with
detailed understanding and knowledge about the logistic issues and their resolution in Australia
post specifically.
Company Overview
Australia post is a large-scale government-owned organization which provides with the
postal services in Australia. The organization is been headquartered in Melbourne, Australia and
also serves as the post office. The company mainly manages the largest retail network in the
country and is accountable for the safe delivery of more than three billion letters in a year (Ali
and et al, 2018). The Australian government is the only shareholder of the company and
managed and controlled by the same. The company serves an immense number of customers
with the logistics and other delivery services in the entire nations as well as across the
boundaries. The company is the first to make use of 100% electronic commercial vans in the
nation ('Australian Postal Corporation' 2015). It emphasizes majorly on sustainability within the
logistics and transport operations along with reuse and recycling of the used packaging. Australia
post had also introduced new fleets and motorbikes with fuel efficiencies so that to decrease the
carbon emission in surroundings.
Australia post delivers services in about 190 countries along with the online services to
the customers. The organization is currently operating in three major areas i.e. retail
merchandise, letters, and associated services and parcels and logistics. It offers delivery
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services, financial services, logistics and fulfillment services, retail services and direct marketing
and database management services (SURRETT, 2018). In addition to this, the Australia post
collects processes and delivers the multi-parcel or single parcel shipments all over the world. It
even provides with the end to end supply chain facilities starting from the manufacturer to the
consumer with enhanced incorporated logistics services.
Current logistic problem
Logistics is the widespread activity which includes huge potentiality and challenges into
the operations. The organization had observed the biggest change in the activities of logistics in
the past few decades. The activities of delivering goods and services from one place to another
are a bit difficult sector on which the businesses largely rely and could be influenced to the great
extent. The companies dealing with the online businesses or any company which ships,
documents or parcels intercity, interstate or overseas include various logistical issues
(Wudhikarn and et al, 2018). It is been identified that the majority of the Australian businesses
relies upon the cost-efficient logistics and transportation solutions. It is determined that logistics
plays an important role in the economic growth of the nation. The transportation network of
Australia covers the wide area of modes of transportation and thus includes various logistic
issues as well.
The company comes across huge challenges of logistics every day whether related to
logistic business or not. The major logistic problem being faced by the Australia post company in
past few times is the issues in letter delivery business. The company faced huge delays in the
timely delivery of parcels and letters to the end customers (O'Byrne, 2012). There are various
reasons behind the challenges and problem of delays in the delivery. The problem of delivering
the parcels or letters on time had led the company towards huge losses and negative influences
with the same. The increased number of competition, different geographical, legislative and
technological challenges had made the logistic business more complicated for the company. In
addition to this, there are more issues like security issues, market entrance or competition and
changing fuel prices are also some major problems faced during the logistical activities of
Australia post ('Automation: In brief' 2015).
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The Australia post company come across various technical issues such as lack of
integrated systems, regional issues, dependency in technology, change resistances, adopting new
systems and additional cost to technology that restricts the logistics extensively (BOULTER,
2016). In the present technological world, the larger number of customers prefers smart and
sustainable logistics and transport solutions raising the bar for the logistic companies to serve
them. The company also faced issues in establishing reliability among the customers making the
deliveries effectively. Moreover, logistic is a vast area of services and involves many challenges
and issues that impact both the customers and organization to the great extent. It is required to
bring improvements in the logistic business activities making more efficient and effective out of
the acts ('it's the little things' 2016).
Impact of logistic issues on company
Australia Post is a leading logistics and transport organization serving millions of
customer in both the domestic and international boundaries. With the increase in the customer
base and logistic services, there has been an increase in the issues as well. Logistic and transport
issues lay various adverse impacts over the business activities and its market value in the nation
(Vidal Vieira and Fransoo, 2015). Logistics is considered to be one of the major businesses
which contribute the highest in any country’s economy. It impacts both the business activities of
the company as well as the economic value of the nation as well. The logistic problems have
influenced the business of Australia post to the great extent and had led towards huge losses as
well. It is been determined that every business whether small or large strives hard to work more
efficiently and conduct its activities smoothly. The major impact Australia post had incurred is
the financial losses and customer dissatisfactions due to the issues (Lachapelle and et al, 2018).
It has been identified that Australia post had suffered from the losses of around $151
million last year in the letter delivery business. It influences the customer relationship and
reliability over the business extensively. The delays in the delivery of parcels or letter had made
the customer shift to other competitors in the industry and resulted in huge losses to Australia
post specifically. The trends of online businesses have emerged in the industry with huge
diversified attractions and enhanced the bar of expectations of the customers as well. Various
activities of the company related to logistics have also been influenced and led towards downfall
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(De Villiers and et al, 2017). The transportation and freight services of Australia post had been
influenced by the impacts of increased cost and restrictions across the boundaries. The increase
in fuel prices had also made the logistic activities overpriced for the company resulting in the
distraction of customers or a tough competition in the market.
It is been identified that logistics is an important aspect as it largely contributes to
creating value or value for customers and the suppliers of the business. It even helps in
enhancing the value for the stakeholders of the business by delivering effective services to its
end customers and make profits out of it. Therefore, it is very important for the authorities of
Australia post to improve the logistic issues and meet the expectation of the customers as well as
the suppliers (PR, 2018).
Logistic management strategies to resolve issues
The logistics management is the most crucial and practical part of the supply chain in which
goods and services are being transported, packaged, stored, handled and delivered to the end
customers. It mainly focuses upon the short term procedures and contributes to adding
efficiencies in the delivery process of the products. It is important to improve the delivery of
parcels to customers so that to enhance their value and meet the competitiveness in the industry
(DHL Global, 2018). There are various logistic management strategies which could be utilized
by the authorities of Australia post and overcome the issues effectively. Some of the most
effective initiatives which could be used to resolve the problem are:
Effective planning: Planning is an important aspect which includes the outline of the activities to
be conducted within the supply chain and logistics departments. The planning mainly includes
procurements of the goods, storage facilities and delivering the goods and services to the actual
destination. Time, cost and transportation are also important parameters to be included in the
planning for the activities. The planning must aim at maximizing the profits levels and prepare
for the uncertain issues as well. The Australia post must prepare an effective planning stating the
entire process of logistics and making sure that the activities flow in similar manners (Sindi and
Roe, 2017). The planning would help in identifying any of the unforeseen situations such as
unavailability of transportation, parcels, and any internal issues of Australia post.
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Adopting automation: In the era of automation, technological advancements play an important
role in enhancing the efficiencies of the business. Valuable software must be installed in the
logistic processes so that to contribute to the business process optimization (Dai and et al, 2017).
For instance, business process software or tracking systems could be integrated so that it
provides with the timely updates about the goods and services. Using automation or software
would help the client and the organization look over the movement of the goods and ensure
timely delivery of the same. An effective tracking would help in enhancing the overall process of
logistic management and would resolve the problems extensively. In addition to this, Australia
post could also make use of specific software to manage the account and employee details
concerned with the logistics areas. Thus, Australia post must move towards technology and
automation so that to overcome with the issues and huge losses eventually (Gunasekaran and et
al, 2015).
Value relationships: Manpower or team is also an important part of the business and influences
the growth as well. It is very important to acquire efficient manpower whether a delivery guy or
the warehouse manager who should work with perfection in their respective fields. Providing the
employees with periodic training and workshops helps in keeping them updated about the latest
trends in the logistics field. It would even help in developing valuable relations with the
employees making them work with their best efforts to the client satisfaction ('Advanced Supply
Chain Planning for Tomorrow' 2015).
Warehouse management: An efficient logistics management is imperfect without having a
proper warehouse management. The warehouse operations are mainly considered to be
dependent on the type of goods and services the company deals in. It is important for Australia
post to look after the warehouse management and ensure proper distribution and allocation of the
parcels towards the customers (Fosso Wamba and et al, 2018). It is essential to ensure an
efficient execution of the software to sequence the parcels or letters within the logistic chain. It is
important to make sure that there are no delays in locating the parcels and meet the timely
delivery of the orders. In addition to this, it is also important to have well-trained warehouse staff
so that to manage the operations proficiently.
Efficient transportation: The department of transportation could be evaluated to decrease the
expenses of logistic activities and at the same time, it could be restored to deliver the parcels
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quickly. It is important to determine the best route for the delivery of the goods as it would save
both money and time for the organization. Australia post must consider the shortest yet safest
route for the delivery of its parcels or letters so that to avoid any losses out of it (Szmelter, 2017).
The logistics firm must also not overlook the transportation charges, routes, traffic issues, safety
issues, and the other challenges during the delivery of the goods and services.
Measuring and improvising: In order to establish logistics network optimization, it is important
to integrate measurement, evaluation, and feedbacks in the process. The implementation of new
strategies and its output must be measured so that to acquire the idea of success or failure of the
strategy. The authorities of Australia post could make use of the tools and software like cost
metrics and service metrics so that to analyze the operations effectively (Govindan and et al,
2018). Additionally, feedbacks and suggestions of both the employees and customers also help
in bringing improvements in the logistics or other activities of the business.
Therefore, executing the strategies into the logistic area of Australia post would
contribute to mitigating through the problem and reduce the losses out of the same ('THE
IMPORTANCE OF STRONG SUPPLY CHAIN LOGISTICS' 2015). It is very important to
manage the logistics and supply chain activities within the organization as it highly contributes to
the growth of the business as well as the economy of the nation.
Involvement of the NSW government in the resolution
Australia post is a large-scale government-owned organization which provides with the
postal services in Australia. The Australian government is the only shareholder of the company
and managed and controlled by the same. Being a government-owned company; Australia post
acquires an involvement of the NSW government as well. It is been identified that the
government had passed various regulations stating the enhancements in the logistic processes of
Australia post (Higgins and et al, 2018). The government makes use of additional or existing
revenues to integrate the logistics industry with technology and data advances allowing them to
improve their business and its related operations. The government announced the support for the
regulatory reforms of the letter services of Australia post so that to enhance the delivery of the
parcels and overcome with the issues. The organization is been governed under the Australian
postal corporation Act 1989. The organization does not receive any funding from the government
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but is been managed and handled by the authorities. However, the NSW government do not have
much contribution to the resolution of the issues of Australia post. It is more managed by the
Australian government rather than NSW government ('The chartered institute of logistics and
transport in Australia (cilta)' 2015).
Conclusion and Recommendation
The above report concludes with the facts that the activities of delivering goods and
services from one place to another are a bit difficult. The business operations largely rely upon
the logistic activities and could be influenced to the great extent. It is been identified that
logistics is the widespread activity that includes huge potentiality and challenges into it. The
report revealed that the transportation network of Australia covers the wide area of modes of
transportation and thus includes various logistic issues as well. The major logistic problem being
identified in the report of Australia Post Company in the past few times is the issues in letter
delivery business. The company is been facing huge delays in the timely delivery of parcels and
letters to the end customers. It is been observed that the logistic problems have influenced the
business of Australia post to the great extent and had led towards huge losses as well. The major
impact Australia post had incurred is the financial losses and customer dissatisfactions due to the
issues. However, it is recommended that Australia post requires to improve the delivery of
parcels to customers so that to enhance their value and meet the competitiveness in the industry.
The organization must also install valuable software in the logistic processes so that to contribute
to the business process optimization.
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