Analysis of Logistics and Supply Chain Management in the FMCG Sector

This report provides an analysis of logistics and supply chain management, using Unilever as a case study. It explores how traditional organizational systems like supply chain management (SCM) can be optimized through cloud computing, particularly with the integration of the Internet of Things (IoT) and Software as a Service (SaaS). The report discusses the challenges faced by large companies with complex warehousing processes and proposes solutions for improving efficiency in storage, order picking, and product delivery. It highlights the benefits of IoT and SaaS in synchronizing business processes with production and supply chains, with specific examples of how these technologies are being implemented to improve speed and accuracy within Unilever's extensive warehousing and supply chain operations, focusing on FMCG products.

Running head: LOGISTICS AND SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
LOGISTICS AND SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note:

1
LOGISTICS AND SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Introduction
The traditional organizational systems like supply chain management (SCM), customer
relationship managements (CRM), and comparatively new enterprise resource planning (ERP)
systems can be utilized and administered in optimum way through the usage of cloud computing.
The physical resources of the company can be combined with the cloud services with the usage
of the concept of Internet of Things which may improve the whole system.
The warehouse system department is one of the most important in an organization which
serves the function of receiving raw material or finished products and then distributing according
to the requirement. Unilever which is a British company, presently the world’s 3rd largest
company in its genre deals with FMCG products, hence has an elaborate system of warehousing
facilities and supply chain management.
Discussion
Internet of Things
There are many companies that have their own IT department working on developing
their dedicated systems to keep a track on production quantity and quality. However, there is a
need for creating a better synchronization in the business process and the production process.
The management and the administration must be in line with the real time production happening
in real time, which is not happening in the real case. The Internet of things (IOT) technology and
the Software as a Service (S-a-a-S) is endeavoring in solving this disorientation between the two
layers of production and business. The existing market for SaaS cloud computing is moving
upwards and touched about 1.47 billion US dollars (Chen, Chen & Hsu, 2014). The popular
companies working in this field are “SuccessFactors, Zuora, Marketo, Boomi, SpringCM,

2
LOGISTICS AND SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
AdaptivePlanning, NETSUITE, PLABMiLL, FreshBooks, and Coupa.” These are providers of
management solutions for big companies.
Internet of Things system uses various utilities such as GPS, RIFD, infrared sensors, laser
scanners and similar devices that can sense information and give feedback to establish the system
of “information exchange and communication” to intelligently comply and complete the tasks of
identifying, tracking, and managing the products and services in the supply chain managements
(Chen, Chen & Hsu, 2014).
In the supply chain process, it is required to track information about individual products
about their location and about the direction of their flow in aggregation. IOT and SaaS efficiently
performs this function by combining various hardware and software elements and synchronizing
them according to need. Barcodes tagged in the cargos and products are improved with better
locators and features like GPS to locate them when they may go missing due to human or
technical errors. A logistic cloud framework can be designed in order to integrate the IOT and
SaaS framework.
Warehousing
The system of warehousing in big companies like Unilever with elaborate business
processes face much difficulties due to complex process but limited understanding of
technological advancement in the field. The problems lie in the process of storage and then
locating the items stored and moving them into the desired directions. The article proposes
solution to such problem of storage, stacking and locating in the warehouse department of the big
companies.

3
LOGISTICS AND SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
The complex process that goes on behind the delivery of a particular product can be
reduced by decreasing the sizes of the batches of products and developing an efficient system of
storage. Batching up of products so that the person picking up the products finds it easy to locate
the desired product is necessary as well (Isler, Righetto & Morabito, 2016). Recent researches
conclude that most of the companies are focusing on the warehouse layouts and configuration in
order to solve problem of product pickup. However, focusing also on the storing pattern of the
products and barcoding them appropriately to reduce the time consumed in locating the products
are important steps required to solve such problem. The authors in the article develop simple
algorithms to reduce the time taken for operators to pick up products and also to reduce the time
taken by the operator to transport the product (Isler, Righetto & Morabito, 2016).
Conclusion
The new concepts like Internet of Things and Software as a Service (S-a-a-S) is helping
in developing the systems of supply chain management and customer relationship managements
to help in developing the business processes and aligning the business process with the
production and supply chain.
Unilever which is a company dealing with FMCG products has large warehouses that
have complex layouts and huge amount of stored products. They are looking for increasing the
efficiency of locating and delivering products, the new technology is increasing the speed and
accuracy of the process. Therefore, IOT and SaaS are becoming popular presently.

4
LOGISTICS AND SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Reference:
Chen, S. L., Chen, Y. Y., & Hsu, C. (2014). A new approach to integrate internet-of-things and
software-as-a-service model for logistic systems: A case study. Sensors, 14(4), 6144-
6164.
Isler, C. A., Righetto, G. M., & Morabito, R. (2016). Optimizing the order picking of a scholar
and office supplies warehouse. The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing
Technology, 87(5-8), 2327-2336.