Logistics

Logistics according to the Oxford Concise Dictionary, is defined as, “The detailed organization and implementation of a plan or operation”. It can therefore be seen that Logistics can apply to any part of an organisation’s process and management of the processes.

However if we take the commonly held view that logistics applies basically to trucks and warehouses, it can often be seen that this process is seen as a separate entity to the rest of a company’s main processes. This logistics section of a company is often overlooked but it should be remembered that this is a crucial part of any company, as in the main it is the main link between the company and the customer. Getting this area wrong can have catastrophic consequences with the customer’s perception of the supplier.

Logistics in it’s prime state is at the beginning of a company process and at the end. It is therefore logical to assume that the processes between the inbound and the outbound process would encompass the whole of the company and the processes that are performed between inbound of say raw materials and the outbound of the finished goods. This total supply/demand chain is what a company depends on to meet customer requirements and the requirements of the company to allow it to function.

Visology can help in several areas of the supply chain. Firstly a basic mapping from beginning to end normally identifies areas where overlap exists or where the various parts of the supply chain are not synchronised. Once identified then process re-engineering can jointly be discussed and implemented with the company.

Once a company begins this re-engineering and begins to implement new and different working practices and processes one of the main areas overlooked is training the staff in the new way of working, so that it is totally understood what is changing, why and how it affects the staff. Visology can offer structured training programmes to cover this oft missed opportunity.

Visology has also discovered that the sales force in some companies sell on a commodity sales basis, which is predominately product focused. Visology has found that if the sales function, especially the account management section, understands the customers complete process i.e. the supply chain then further sales can be identified and made. Visology covers this on the consultative selling programme that it has developed.