Every manufacturing company heavily relies on the power of a streamlined logistics process to meet all the market demands, ensure product availability and boost customer satisfaction. A good logistics system is crucial for boosting manufacturing, revenues, marketing, and sales; hence, you must ensure efficiency and effectiveness.

Without a good logistics system, the entire supply chain will likely crumble and have consequential effects on the entire company’s operations. Therefore, companies must invest in various strategies, resources, and other tips to boost logistic efficiency. The strategies deployed must apply to all the logistic functions and supporting activities such as warehousing and production. Consider these tips to boost logistics effectiveness and efficiency. 

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1. Use GPS Tracking 

One of the best ways to boost logistics is to install tracking systems for trucks for your fleet to enable you to monitor real-time location, stops, and other activities such as driver’s driving behaviors and performance. It has various benefits for your business once you enable all the performance features, such as instant notifications and alerts.

The tracking system collects all the trucking, route, and durational data, which can be used for reports, analytics, and decision-making. This analyzed data can be suitable for route scheduling to find the shortest route to warehouses, reducing logistics duration and improving timely delivery.

You can also rely on the system for other needs, such as promoting sustainability through fuel saving and reducing carbon footprint. With the tracking system, you can monitor drivers’ behaviors and performance, such as braking and acceleration. This is critical for preventing accidents that may disrupt the delivery schedules or lead to damaged goods. 

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2. Optimize and Integrate Management Systems

Running a global or big logistical system requires integrating various systems such as tracking, logistics, warehousing systems, and many more. You need to host all these systems on a cloud server. The cloud platform facilitates data sharing, systems integration, and collaboration to boost operational efficiency. The cloud platform also has other benefits to logistics management since it promotes remote accessibility enabling workers to track all the processes remotely.

To optimize the systems, you need to automate major operations such as warehousing and barcoding to detect a decline in product volume. In real life, an integrated system may work as follows: the warehousing systems will share information, such as product volumes, with the operations management systems to trigger the production of certain volumes. 

The data from operations management systems will be sent to the logistics systems to schedule truck delivery. To deliver the goods, the company will rely on tracking software to identify the shortest route to deliver the goods in time. It will also schedule other activities such as speed and stop duration to ensure just-in-time delivery hence lean supply chain management.

3. Invest More in Inventory Management

Inventory management is a crucial and critical process for every logistics management team and operation. It is critical for satisfying customer needs, meeting all the demands, determining the production or manufacturing process, etc. If possible, ensure the entire process is automated and controlled by AI-based systems to avoid errors arising when you over-rely on human labor. 

Optimize the system to record all the entries and outflows and instantly trigger notifications and warnings when specific product quantities decline. A good inventory system and management will save you from stock outages, unmet demands, delayed deliveries, and stocking excess goods. It is also critical for managing the supply-demand cycle, especially those based on seasons.

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4. Use The Best Transport Mode

It does not matter what you think about the market or the customers’ needs; sometimes, you may be forced to use multiple transport modes despite having reliable transport and systems such as trucks. The ideal transport mode will depend on various factors such as distance, the nature of the goods, and your distribution systems. For instance, it will be cheaper to transport bulk and large volumes through ships or trains than tricks. This will have cost advantage benefits and reduce logistical expenses, which can affect the revenue.

If transporting goods for long distances and they are perishable or in high demand, you can use planes to the next logistics hub to complete the last-mile transport using trucks. The best logistics systems must invest in using multiple transport methods to boost efficiency. You can use trucks for first and last-mile transport; in between, you use planes, ships, and trains due to speed, volume, and distance concerns. Therefore, you need to set a good transport schedule and redesign the entire process to ensure efficiency and effectiveness.

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5. Logistics KPIs

Every system and project must have a KPI to measure the overall performance and ensure the team has a target to meet and objectives to motivate them. You should have KPIs at all stages to avoid employees’ complacency and ensure everyone operates at optimal levels. 

The KPIs will help you deal with idleness and other employee behaviors that can disrupt the supply chain process. Such KPIs can be based on delivery duration, fuel consumption, route optimization, and costs. When setting the KPIs, you should collaborate with the team to listen and care for their needs. This will help you avoid overambitious, difficult goals, especially when employees consider them too ambitious. Finally, you need to keep adjusting the KPIs for continuous improvement reasons.

Conclusion

Running an effective logistical process requires streamlined systems and team collaboration efforts to ensure input from everyone. You need KPIs supported by various inventory, warehousing, tracking, and logistical systems as part of the lean supply chain strategy. Finally, you must align and redesign the transport systems to enable them to operate efficiently and complement each other.