Logistics! A new concept?. The Myth and the Truth

Logistics is the center of discussion among career aspiring students and youngsters nowadays. It is becoming a hot trend for students on the belief that logistics is a new generation course but is it true?
Logistics was believed to be transportation business earlier and on later stage there were so many add ups to the concept. Logistics may be a new concept for students in India but the concept and system was prevailing for centuries. Logistical concepts were discussed soon after the advancement of military logistics. The effectiveness and efficiency in military system has given a new insight to the business field and it was easy for business enterprises to induct military logistical experts to their companies soon after the post world war time. In India the possibilities of logistics are yet to be explored properly as we are at the beginning stage compared to the developed world.

Logistical concept has evolved from transportation to the whole operation management process and has developed to supply chain activities and management. Due to immense competition and technological advancement, companies face lot of uncertainties in production to distribution. Now forecasting is not feasible as the technology can change at any moment, which in turn affects the procurement and production. The postproduction works such as distribution and marketing will have to bear the pressure regarding the ROI and it can in turn result in discount sales and clearance sale, which we often see.

Another challenge, which the companies often face, is the buyer’s consumer behavior. The market has become so open, competitive and every thing is available on a single click. It has in a way developed an average buyer’s buying habit to become instinctive and he/ she became impatient on any sort of delay. The buying trend became unstable and unpredictable. Companies were forced to adapt new techniques to overcome this crisis. And they found Logistics implementation helped them to overcome this crisis.

Implementation of logistics is another challenge faced by the companies as it can turn the employee’s comfort zone to zero as the whole system demands high productivity and designed as a single window operation management program.Activities of each employee become measurable and accountable and can be monitored at any time with the help of advanced IT applications and software. And usually the employee who acts in a traditional way has to become more focused and has to put an extra effort to reach the level of expectation demanded by the industry. Collective leadership for achieving the optimal performance become mandatory as any delay or error can reduce the chance of achieving the logistical competency.

Any new person who wants to have a career in business management cannot omit logistics any more as it has become an integral part of modern tactical business. The knowledge of making profit with zero inventory is the basic concept of modern business management and it is inevitably the basics of logistics nowadays.

The truth is most companies are yet to explore the chances of logistics and they still treat this as a basic concept for transportation and major academic institutions too believe it is all shipping and transportation. This myth has created a lot number of aspirants with logistics certification who believe that logistics is just the movement of goods.

Laurus tries to break this traditional concept by imparting proper training’s and knowledge in the field of procurement to distribution channel by identifying the core competency of each individual student through different training methodologies and create the best out of them to get them into the line of logistical activities.

By,
Dr. Ajay Sanker
Director
Laurus