Monday, March 3, 2008

Automated Logistics

In any type of business whether it be a daycare, or a billion dollar retail franchise, one thing is common throughout. In each business, the owner is delivering a product or service to a customer. Many companies focus solely on the value and profitability of the product itself. This is obviously important but it isn t the only thing that is important. How the product or service is delivered is also important. Whatever your company is selling should arrive to the customer on time, ready to use and in exactly the condition that you promised. This may seem like an obvious prerequisite to running a successful business and it is, but it can be much more difficult that it sounds. The process of delivering a service from the originator to the customer is sometimes tedious and sometimes nearly impossible. This is why any business of a reasonable size should have an automated logistical system. The benefits of an automated logistical system are far too many too list here. First of all, as long the system is set up carefully, there is no chance of human error. A computer won t promise a customer a product will arrive in 2 hours when it is 5 hours from the customer s location. A second benefit is that an automated logistical system is much cheaper than having people monitor and make deliveries manually. For instance, if we take a large retail store such as Target or Wal-Mart, the benefit to them of using an automated logistical system is immeasurable. When any retail store decides to purchase items, it is done automatically. It saves them hundreds and maybe even thousands of dollars a day, to order it automatically then to have people physically go up and down the isles and the warehouses checking if there is any of a particular product left and then calling a supplier on the phone and speaking the names of all the products that are needed. Even the smallest companies use automated logistical systems. These systems aren t always extremely sophisticated but they are still automated. If a smaller company only makes a few sales of a particular product, it will still have designed a program that allows an automated order to be sent to its supplier for the product to be replenished. Doing saves time and money that will be wasted manually ordering everything and will eliminate mistakes. Automated logistical systems are beginning to be the norm in today s business world and that will continue to be the case. This will make small companies become more competitive and will eliminate wasted excess inventory and employees spending their valuable (and expensive) time doing work that could be easily done by an automated system. Automating logistics is a very important part of a company s growth. Using an automated system is much more efficient than doing the work manually and is part of the evolution of a company from a start-up to a successful corporation. Automated logistics will cause less employment but in the long run will cause companies to be more efficient and will lower prices. Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Logistics

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