What is logistics management?
Many operational processes are interlinked, especially in the context of inventory management. Logistics management is therefore understood to mean the holistic management of the flow of materials and goods within an organizational unit - depending on the degree of development, this also includes aspects such as recycling, which is being assigned to ever greater proportions of the actual value chain.
In order to gain a better understanding of the relevance of the individual management tasks and functions in logistics, we explain the five central areas of responsibility below:
Planning
Which goals or benchmarks should logistics fulfill? And what options for action are available? In the context of logistics management, this primarily refers to a transportation or transshipment network that ensures that goods and merchandise reach their destination within a defined period of time. Such an action plan is part of the organizational structural planning, which in turn sets specific requirements for the company's intralogistics.
Organization
Who takes on which tasks? Answers to these questions depend heavily on whether logistics is treated as part of a centralized department or is decentralized. Procedures and processes are then defined as part of a process organization to ensure that all necessary tasks are performed by the responsible task owners. This affects aspects such as the formation of logistics units, a definition of the functions of technical logistics, etc.
Guidance
How much man power is needed to fulfill all logistics tasks? Within logistics management, management and personnel deployment are considered together. Among other things, this involves adequately filling vacancies and training employees (especially with regard to digital processes that characterize intralogistics).
Information management
How is waste, surplus raw materials etc. dealt with? Such issues are also increasingly being discussed at management level. This involves environmental and business analyses as well as holistic knowledge and data management. Ideally, this creates a big picture of the use of resources and their potential economic or logistical utilization.
Control
Are target and actual data in line with each other? Are logistics goals being achieved? Such questions and the revisions or corrections derived from the answers are part of a permanent comparison of different data. Key performance indicators (KPIs) are used to define key figures within logistics management, assign them to specific costs and services and thus transfer them to internal processes and areas such as the supply chain.
Conclusion: Logistics management ensures the distribution of goods to the market
Efficient, modern logistics management not only requires a high level of functional planning and the use of modern technology, but also the permanent questioning of the status quo. Planning, management, organization, processing and control are not considered separately, but are integrated at the operational organizational level. The aim of logistics management is to ensure the effective and cost-efficient flow of goods and materials, to optimize logistics processes and, above all, to handle both intra- and extra-logistics holistically.
