Logistics Management Report: Current Issues, Trends, and Analysis

This report delves into the intricacies of logistics management, focusing on the core dimensions of transportation, supplier relationship management, and information flow, using the Coles Supermarket as a case study. It examines current issues and trends within these dimensions, highlighting challenges such as selecting efficient modes of transport, managing warehousing operations, and fostering strong supplier relationships. The report also addresses the impact of information systems and risk management on the overall logistics process. The analysis covers issues like transportation costs, warehousing inefficiencies, and supplier synergy. Furthermore, it explores the evolution of technology and its impact on logistics, including innovations in tracking systems, automated warehousing, and enhanced information sharing. The report concludes with recommendations for addressing these challenges and improving logistics efficiency.

Logistics Management

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Contents
Logistics management...........................................................................................................................2
Current Issues and Trends in Logistics Management............................................................................3
Influence of these dimensions...............................................................................................................8
Findings & Recommendations.............................................................................................................10
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................11
References...........................................................................................................................................12
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Logistics management
Logistics refers to the process of planning, organizing, implementing and controlling the
effective and efficient flow of goods, services and information between the point of origin
and the point of consumption. The management of all such activities in the supply chain is
referred to as the logistics management. The logistics management is a part of the supply
chain management. The logistics management covers the short term plans of the organization,
whereas the supply chain management refers to the long term plans. Logistics is the customer
oriented operational system of the organization since this caters to assemble of the services
that will lead to customer satisfaction. Due to the recent trend and the globalization of the
economy, logistics management has gained immense popularity in the recent past. The
logistics management help the industries in managing and implementing their production and
distribution systems in order to gain high efficiency levels (PLS, 2015). The logistics services
of the organization support the movement of the goods from the production unit to the end
consumer through the various stages that comprehend to the physical flow of goods and
services. With the recent advancements and changes, it has become important for the
organizations to develop a sound and effective logistics management in order to attain
efficiency levels. The logistics management of the organization contains various dimensions
that are to be managed and developed (MIT, 2014). The various dimensions of the logistics
change according to the dynamic environment and bring advantages and disadvantages for
the logistic managers. Any fault in the dimension of the logistics services, will have equal
impact on the supply chain management of the organization. The dimensions of logistics
management include procurement process, mode of transportation, warehousing, information
flows and risk management, supplier relationship management, supply network design. All
such dimensions have their own challenges that are faced by the logistics managers. Thereby,
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it becomes very important for the organization to understand and consider the challenges and
trends of the dimensions and take corrective actions in order to overcome such challenges and
issues as they highly influence the organizational performance and customer satisfaction
(Association, 2016).
Current Issues and Trends in Logistics Management
This part of the report aims at discussing the issues relating to the logistics management.
From the various dimensions of logistics, only three main dimensions of the logistics
management are discussed. The three dimensions that are being discussed is the
Transportation, Supplier relationship management and Information flows and Risk
Management. In order to explain in a better context the example of the Coles supermarkets of
Australia is taken.
 Transportation: Transportation system plays a vital role in the logistics management. A
sound transportation system can provide better quality, delivery and service and will also help
in promoting the efficiency. Almost two third of the logistics costs are spent on the
transportation system of the organization. Transportation systems help in transferring the
goods from place to the another. With increased number of benefits, transportation also
causes challenges to the logistic managers in selecting the most efficient mode of transport
(Stewart, 2013). The Coles Supermarket faces challenges relating to the modes of transport
such as rail, road, air freight and ports. The recent change in the customer expectations has
pressurized the organization by using the most effective modes of transport. The air freight
causes challenges to the organization relating to the bulk and weight of the products. Only the
heavy products are delivered through airplanes. No matter that the road conditions in
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Australia are still better, but since the distance between the cities are very long, thereby, it
causes problem of delay delivery through roads (Hodgson, 2014). The railway conditions are
not much good as they do not connect all the cities of Australia and also, the cost of
transporting the goods from one place to another through road and railways are quite costly.
Any damage on the roads can cause damage to the products and services. Thereby, the
problems are highly related while choosing the best mode of transport. The important
documents that are required while making a transportation are so long and complex that
create another issue for the Coles organization while managing its logistics. All the modes of
transport have their own specific documentation, technical base, material and equipments,
which heavily affects the management of the logistics. The costs are implemented more due
to the factors like long route, and use of cargo, which affects the efficiency levels of the
Coles Supermarkets. Another challenge is the time factor on which the transportation is
highly dependent (Tsend & Yue, 2005). The payment of various tariff rates and charges are
the biggest challenge faced by the logistics managers due to the transportation dimension.
Coming to the recent trends in the transport system, the innovations in the technology that
have impact on the transport facilities changes the complete logistics system of the
organization. The radical change has been evolved into the transport system like tracking
systems, automated trucks and various innovations in packaging protect the product from
getting damaged and helps in easy delivery at the right location.
 Warehousing: This dimension of the logistics management faces the higher number of
challenges in the global logistic management. The warehouses face the challenges by the
poor human resources, poor skilled systems for tracking and packing the products and
services and poor infrastructure. All such factors result to the issues like poor maintenance of
the stocks, overstocking, disbalance between the demand and supply and wastage of the
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resources. The biggest emerging issue faced by the Coles organization is the product
traceability. The employees have to record the flow of products and services, which is a time
consuming process and brings monotony while working. Also, the staff is not well qualified
and skilled in order to manage various activities performed in the warehouse, which also
disrupts the working of the logistics. Another issue is the stock leakages and security issues,
which reduces the protection level of the products and services in the warehouse (WHO,
2014). Insufficient space and poor installation of the systems at the warehouses lead to poor
performances in the logistics management. Thereby, the organizations face numerous issues
relating to the activity of the warehouse. It becomes difficult for the organization to cope with
the supply chain along with such problems and issues. Also, the various changes and trends
in the global logistic management has increased the problem in the Coles organization in
order to compete with the standardization of the logistics management. The global logistics
management aims at building a sound and effective infrastructure in the warehouse, smooth
operations systems and the qualified human resources that also help in monitoring the various
performances in the warehouses in order to manage the supply chain. This has consistently
pressurized the Coles organization to install automatic systems and machines, which help in
assisting the employees to perform the tasks effectively and efficiently in the organization.
The requirement of funds to buy and install such warehousing machines in the organization is
also another threat. The increase in the innovations of the technology like bar coding, radio
frequency identification helps in tracking the products. Thus, the use and installation of such
heavy machines in the warehouse and improvement in the poor infrastructure of the
warehouses lead to heavy cost and material, which is not affordable to every organization.
Thereby, these are the challenges and threats relating to the warehousing dimension in the
logistics management (Kondratjev, 2015).
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 Supplier Relationship Management: It has been found that relationships in the organization
are very important. The most important relationship in the organization is the Supplier
organization relationship. The coles organization works and produces products and services
only with the help of its suppliers. The Supplier relationship management is an important
aspect in the logistic management. This dimension has the major amount of emerging issues
and challenges that become difficult for the Coles supermarket to handle. The biggest
problem in maintaining the global logistics management through the supplier relationship
management is the lack of synergy among the suppliers and the organizations. The suppliers
sometimes may not work according to the plans and strategies of the organization, this might
cause problems for the Coles organization in maintaining its relationship with the suppliers.
The organizations wants its suppliers to serve them for a long term, thereby, it becomes
important for the organization to determine and monitor the level of synergy, which is the
least in the suppliers with the organizational strategies (Khan, 2012). This further leads to
strategic misalignment between the organization and the suppliers. The other issue is the
exploitation of the intellectual property rights among the organization and the supplier. The
Coles organization faces the problem of violation of the ownership of the rights and property
with its suppliers. This disrupts the relationship with the suppliers and further causes problem
in the logistics management. The next issue relates to the management of the portfolio of the
various suppliers. With the increase in the globalization, the Coles organization built various
connections with numerous suppliers, thus it further creates issues of giving importance to a
particular supplier. Also, the suppliers seek information regarding the organization, the
communication channels used to provide the necessary information to the particular supplier
is another major problem. The organizations have to maintain a balance between the various
portfolios of the suppliers, this may lead to high cost and time consuming process, also if any
problem persists, it will cause disruption of the supplier relationship management, which
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further impacts the logistics management. Such problems arise in this dimension (Mampane,
2012). Along with the challenges, recent key trends have emerged where it is known that the
use of technology in order to provide the information to the various suppliers have increased.
The suppliers have been encouraged to build their knowledge and skills, which makes it
important for the organization to compete with the suppliers knowledge.
 Information and Risk management: This dimension captures more than half of the issues
in managing the global logistics. The flow of information and the security risks are very
common in the logistics management. The Coles organization faces problem relating to the
poor information systems in the organization, that causes problem to other activities of the
logistics. The poor information systems disrupt the flow of information and conversation
between the suppliers, customers and the organization. Maintaining and implementing the
sound and effective information systems in the organization implies huge cost, which is
another problem in the organization that is faced while managing the logistics. Due to the
recent trend in information systems, the technological innovation has improved the
information systems, where the flow of information has become easy with the developments
of internet, intranet, EDI and various other systems, but this causes problem in the
organization, as the suppliers may not approve of using the same information systems, which
will lead to conflicts in the organization (Bala, 2014). The information is given to various
suppliers through the use of the internet, which may cause risks to the confidentiality of the
information, as they become prone to the risks of hacking and scams. The developed
information systems are more open to the potential risks and this causes a serious threat to the
information about the organization. The poor information systems, may not help in
connecting with the customers, which cause problem to the Coles organization. Any
breakdown in the information system will further lead to destruction in the smooth flow of
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logistics management as the whole global logistics are dependent on the information
technology and any problem will further destroy the next links of the logistics management
and the supply chain management also. Recent trends in the information system and the risk
management have evolved the new models and concepts of managing the information and
risk in the logistics chain, but their implementation and installation cost a lot of money to the
organizations, which is not a favorable option for all the organizations. The development of
social media platforms, have helped the Coles organization in connecting with its suppliers
and customers easily and this further increases the level of connection. The increased use of
EDI services and other electronic systems have helped in transferring information and
invoices, cheques among the suppliers and the organization that are risk free. All such trends
evokes the Coles organization to adopt such inventions (Badr & Stephan, 2007).
Influence of these dimensions
This part of the report highlights the influence of the four dimensions of logistics
management stated in the study on the organizational performance and on the customer
satisfaction. The organization’s logistics management, customers and suppliers form a
vicious circle, where any change or problem in the particular dimension will have an equal
and corresponding effect on the other factors. Thus, problems faced by the Coles organization
in the dimensions of its logistics management will also bring a change in the organizational
performance and the customer satisfaction (Maraka, et al., 2015). Following are the
influences of the dimensions:
 The poor management of the supplier relations affect the effectiveness of the
organization.
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 Any problems in the supplier relationship management destroys the complete supply
chain, thereby, the logistics will also destroy.
 The insufficient flow of information between the suppliers and organization leads to
communication problems and this result in poor strategy planning and implementation
(Munirat, 2014).
 The transportation problems can cause damage to the products, this will further not
satisfy the customers.
 The information systems if properly implemented in the organization, will help in
knowing the needs of the customers and further leads to customer satisfaction.
 The poor warehousing infrastructure disrupts the flow of supply chain, which result in
poor performance of the organization (Harriet, et al., 2013).
 The unskilled and unqualified workforce can create a negative impact on the
employee as well as the organizational performance.
 The frequent risks in the information systems incurs huge cost that might create
imbalances in the working requirements.
 The insufficient inventory management will not allow the firm to fulfil the orders of
the customers, which will lead to decrease in the levels of customer satisfaction.
 The less number of talented suppliers will never understand the needs and trends of
the market, which will have a negative effect on the effectiveness of the organization.
 The insufficient technical skills in the employees will lead to underutilization of the
resources and the machines employed in the logistics management.
 Incurring huge costs on the various modes of transportation leads to less productivity
levels of the organization (Kumar & Bahl, 2014).
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Findings & Recommendations
From the above stated analysis of the report, it can be inferred that the four major dimensions
of the logistics management highly influence the organizational performance and the
customer satisfaction. The findings of the study are similar to the issues and influence of the
dimensions of the logistics management. The current issues and trends state that Coles
Organization faces countless problems and barriers while performing their logistics
management. Also, such problems lead to the errors and issues in the supply chain
management, which poses a threat to the complete productivity of the organization (USAID,
2012). The issues in the dimensions have a negative impact on the customer satisfaction and
the performance of the organization, which can be improved by the organization by
understanding and implementing the current trends in the managing the global logistics. This
study states the recommendations to the findings of the study as stated in previous part of the
report:
 The Coles organization must follow the switching strategy in order to develop the
capacity of the warehouse as per the demand, where the cost and service factor are
improved and will further lead to customer satisfaction.
 Effective material handling system must be deployed in order to maintain the
resources at their right place in the warehouse, which will lead to effectiveness of the
organization (Kaur & Batra, 2011).
 The use of sophisticated systems and emerging technologies must be deployed in the
logistics management for smooth flow of working in the organization.
 The training and development programs must be organized by the organization in
order to train the employees efficiently.
 Proper rules and regulations on the intellectual property rights must be framed in
order to avoid the violation of property among the suppliers and the organizations.
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 Computerized system of tracking and tracing must be installed in the organization in
order to reduce the problems in the warehouse.
 The warehouse infrastructure must be improved , which will lead to effective logistics
management (Diaconu & Alpopi, 2014).
 The use of technological advancements in the transportation systems will help in
overcoming the problems of lead times, delay in delivery and etc.
 The effective use of information will also help in developing strong supplier
relationships.
Conclusion
The management of the logistics of the Coles organization is very important as this helps in
the smooth working of the supply chain management. This further leads to the effectiveness
of the organization and the workforce. It is highly important for all the organizations to
manage their logistics globally when working in various other countries. The challenges of
managing the global logistics are the key issue for the organizations. This report has helped in
outlining the main issues and trends relating to the dimensions of the logistics management
and their influence has been depicted. From the above study, it is clear that the logistics
management holds a significant position in increasing the customer satisfaction and
organizational performance. Thus, such key challenges must be addressed by the organization
by taking corrective measures as management of logistics globally is an integral part of the
organization’s objectives and this action will further lead to effectiveness in the
organizational performance and customer satisfaction.
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