The contents are as follows: The word logistics originated from the English word "logistics", which originally meant military logistics support, and was widely used in the economic field after the Second World War. The American Logistics Management Association defines logistics as "the process of effective flow, storage, implementation and control of raw materials, intermediate products, final products and related information from the place of origin to the place of consumption in order to meet the needs of consumers".
Logistics consists of four key parts: entity flow, entity storage, information flow and management coordination. The main function of logistics is to create time utility and space utility, and the main way is to overcome space distance through warehousing.
Third-party logistics is a service provided by middlemen in the logistics channel, and middlemen provide all or part of the required logistics services in the form of contracts within a certain period of time. The third-party logistics company is a company that manages, controls and provides logistics services for external customers.
According to statistics, the proportion of using third-party logistics services in Europe is 76%, and that in the United States is about 58%, and its demand is still growing; 24% non-third-party logistics service users in Europe and 33% non-third-party logistics service users in the United States are actively considering using third-party logistics services. Third-party logistics, as an effective means to improve the speed of material circulation, save storage costs and funds in transit, has been paid more and more attention.
First, take advantage of third-party logistics
The use of third-party logistics products can bring many benefits to enterprises, mainly in:
1, focusing on the main business
The application of third-party logistics in production enterprises can enable enterprises to optimize resource allocation, concentrate limited manpower and financial resources on core energy, conduct key research, develop basic technologies, develop new products to participate in world competition and enhance their core competitiveness.
Step 2 save money
Professional third-party logistics providers use the professional advantages and cost advantages of large-scale production to achieve cost savings by providing the utilization rate of each link, so that enterprises can benefit from the separation of cost structure. With the continuous expansion of scale, any degree of in-depth participation of production enterprises in marketing services will lead to a substantial increase in costs. Only by using public services provided by professional service companies can we reduce additional losses. According to the survey organized by the University of Tennessee, EXEL Company in England and EMSTYOUNG Consulting Company in America, many shippers said that using third-party logistics reduced their logistics cost by 1. 18% on average, shortened the average turnover period of goods from 7. 1 day to 3.9 days, and reduced their inventory by 8.2%.
Step 3 reduce inventory
With the help of well-planned logistics and timely distribution, third-party logistics service providers can minimize inventory, improve cash flow of enterprises and realize cost advantages.
4. Enhance corporate image
The third party logistics service is a strategic partnership with customers. Third-party logistics providers use complete facilities and well-trained employees to achieve complete control of the entire supply chain, reduce the complexity of logistics, and help customers improve their services through their own network system, which not only establishes their own brand image, but also makes customers stand out from the competition.
Second, China's enterprises in the use of third-party logistics problems
Although cooperation with third-party logistics companies has many advantages, many enterprises have not outsourced more logistics business. The reason for this is the following：
1, resist change
Many companies are reluctant to change the current energy model through logistics outsourcing. Especially some state-owned enterprises, materials
Streaming outsourcing will also mean firing a large number of employees, which means great risks for managers of state-owned enterprises.
2. Lack of understanding
Enterprises' understanding of third-party logistics companies is generally still very low, and enterprises have not realized the great role of supply chain management in enterprise competition.
3. Fear of losing control
Because the implementation of supply chain plays an important role in improving the competitiveness of companies, many companies would rather have a small and comprehensive logistics department than hand over these functions to others. The main reason is that if we lose our internal logistics ability, we will rely too much on third-party logistics companies in customer interaction.
4. Logistics outsourcing itself has its complexity.
Supply chain logistics business is usually integrated with other businesses of the company, such as finance, marketing or production, and logistics outsourcing itself is very complicated. The integration of some practical businesses, including transportation and warehousing, may bring a series of organizational, management and implementation problems. In addition, the integrated characteristics of the company's internal information system make it difficult to hand over the logistics business to the third-party logistics company.
5. Measuring the effect of logistics outsourcing is influenced by many factors.
It is difficult to accurately measure the impact of logistics costs on information technology and human resources. It is difficult to determine how much potential cost outsourcing can bring to enterprises. In addition, the uniqueness of each company's business and the company's supply chain operation ability are usually considered as internal information that should not be disclosed, so it is difficult to accurately compare the supply chain operation ability between companies.
Although some production enterprises have realized that the use of third-party logistics can bring many benefits to enterprises, the practical application is often divided into several steps, and several logistics service providers are selected as partners at the same time to avoid the dependence caused by handing over the business to one logistics service provider.
Third, China's third-party logistics enterprises in the development of problems encountered
A successful logistics enterprise must have a large scale of operation, establish effective regional coverage, have a strong command and control center, and have a high level of comprehensive technology, financial resources and business strategy.
The problems encountered in the development of third-party logistics enterprises in China can be summarized as follows:
1, the problem of operation mode
At present, most large logistics companies in the world adopt the system of head office and branch office, with centralized logistics operation at the head office and vertical management in business. To establish a modern logistics enterprise, there must be a control center with strong ability and flexible command to control and coordinate the whole logistics business. The real modern logistics must be the command center and the profit center, and the organization, framework and system of the enterprise must match a center. There are problems in the operation mode of Chinese logistics enterprises, and the management mode of foreign logistics enterprises is worth learning from domestic logistics enterprises.
2. Lack of storage or transportation capacity
The main function of logistics is to create time theft and space utility. As far as the third-party logistics enterprises in China are concerned, some companies mainly focus on warehousing and lack transportation capacity; There are also companies that transport a lot of vehicles, and there are not many warehouses in the country. They rely on renting social warehouses to fulfill their commitments to customers.
3. Network problems
There are several large-scale logistics enterprises in China with vehicle storage network or freight network, but the coverage area of this network is not perfect. When customers choose logistics partners, they are very concerned about the coverage area of the network and the density of network outlets. Network construction should attract the attention of logistics enterprises.
4. Information technology
The largest logistics enterprises in the world have "first-class three networks", namely, order information flow, global supply chain resource network, global user resource network and computer information network. These logistics customers have advanced computer management technology and are also manufacturers of high value-added products. Domestic logistics enterprises must increase their investment in information systems in order to change their market positioning.
Centralization and integration are the development trends of third-party logistics enterprises. The reasons are as follows: first, large companies intend to outsource the main links of the supply chain to as few logistics companies as possible; Second, the capital investment needed to establish an efficient global third-party logistics enterprise is increasing day by day; Third, many third-party logistics providers expand their service capabilities through mergers and alliances.