Logistics centers are Description, features, tasks and functions

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Logistics centers are enterprises that process and store goods, as well as their customs clearance, if necessary. In addition, they can provide information services, as well as offer universal cargo solutions. Such centers have many features, which will be discussed below.

Description

Logistics centers are whole complexes. Separate areas are allocated for them, on which various buildings are located, as well as equipment designed to provide relevant services.

The opening of such enterprises is one of the modern trends in the development of warehouse infrastructure. Various companies are engaged in their launch. For example, these could be:

• Retail chain stores.
• Manufacturing companies.
• Forwarding organizations.
• Distributors.

Vacancies in the logistics center are mainly focused on qualifiedspecialists. That is why such enterprises often face a shortage of personnel, which makes this type of business in general less attractive to potential entrepreneurs.

Tasks

Logistics centers are enterprises that reduce the number of participants in the supply chain, and therefore ultimately reduce the cost of the product for the end consumer and at the same time increase the speed of delivery.

These companies perform several main tasks at once:

• Reducing the material costs of transporting goods.
• Improve the efficiency of business processes.
• Optimization of information flows.

In essence, logistics centers are enterprises that allow delivering goods from manufacturers and distributing them to retail outlets at minimal cost in accordance with the level of demand. The maximum effect is created by combining individual companies into entire networks.

Features

Logistics centers of the region are an association of several companies engaged in the field of cargo transportation, on a territorial basis. At the same time, outwardly, they may look like a single terminal, and not like disparate companies, united by only one common feature.

Logistics centers around the world may differ in structure or other features. However, they all perform the same function, which is to quicklydeliver goods from producers to consumers at the lowest cost.

The construction of logistics centers should take into account some features at the planning stage:

• Which transport will be used.
• What features will the processed goods have.
• What volumes of commodity flows can the logistics center handle.
• How many outlets will serve the enterprise and where they will be located.

If you take into account the above features, it will be possible to correctly design a logistics center. Oddly enough, the main difficulty that can be encountered in this matter is the shortage of qualified personnel. Depending on the structure and scale of the enterprise, even a couple of qualified employees can cope with it, if you manage to find such specialists among hundreds of resumes. However, if we are talking about a large logistics center, there will be much more people in the state. At the same time, employees' work computers are usually connected to a local network for ease of interaction.

Industry centers

Despite the fact that in transport science there is still no unified classification of logistics centers depending on the structure and purpose, there are still some conditional divisions. For example, some centers may be sectoral or regional. The first are usually created for enterprises united by a common activity. The second - for companies located within the same region.

Industry centerslarger and often perform purchasing and distribution functions. The quantitative advantage is also on the side of the industry centers. They are created by enterprises that have taken a fairly stable position in the market and plan to further develop their own business. Their main advantages are low maintenance costs combined with high profitability, since the same center can be opened in the interests of several enterprises at once.

Regional centers

Different from industry ones in that they are created not for their own needs, but to provide commercial services to other enterprises. Usually they can boast of a fairly wide range of services, which is quite justified. After all, the greater the number of services provided on a paid basis, the higher the potential profit of the enterprise.

Regional centers focus on the number of operations performed. The more of them, the lower the cost of each individual operation, which is why in the end it reduces the cost of goods for consumers. In addition, they are placed, as a rule, not far from large producers or consumers, which reduces transport costs.

Some wholesale companies do not open their own logistics divisions, but enter into agreements with specialized enterprises.

Views

There is a more global classification, according to which the following types of centers are distinguished:

• Transport and logistics.
• Wholesale and logistics.
• Multifunctional.

Let's talk about each of them in more detail.

Transport and logistics

Such enterprises provide a range of various services, the need for which arises during the transportation of goods. The transport and logistics center allows you to optimize cargo flows and, as a result, reduce the cost of transporting goods.

An important function of this enterprise is to handle transit cargo flows. In addition, his tasks include the development, organization, and implementation of the most rational scheme for the movement of goods.

Main functions of the transport and logistics center:

• preparation of cargo for further transportation;
• loading cargo;
• drawing up the necessary documentation for transportation, including cargo insurance;
• accompanying cargo or otherwise securing it.

Wholesale-logistics

Specialize in large quantities of consumer and other goods that are sold through retail chains. The second name of such enterprises is trade and logistics centers.

Created to increase the efficiency of selling goods through an accelerated rate of turnover, as well as improve the speed and quality of service.

Unlike transport, a wholesale and logistics center provides services related primarily to the processing, rather than storage of goods. The company completes consignments of goods according to the directions of transportation.

In connectionwith an expanded range of services, trading and transport companies can be concentrated on the territory belonging to the center.

Wholesale and logistics centers show high efficiency, which is achieved through an expanded range of services. In particular, their creation is facilitated by an increase in the income of the population, which, in turn, increases consumer demand.

Performed functions:

• processing of bulk goods;
• improvement of warehouse infrastructure;
• development of new software products that can simplify and speed up inventory control;
• monitoring the quality of goods, etc.

Multifunctional

Such enterprises are created for the purpose of exploitation of commodity distribution networks. Such centers make it possible to provide trade, customs, and information services. Thus, it is possible to manage several directions at once while providing the corresponding services.

Functions

Like any business, a logistics center performs several important functions. In many ways, they depend on the specialization of the company. In particular, the transport and logistics center provides other enterprises with sites and parking lots for trucks. In addition, logistics companies provide additional services related to the repair of vehicles, customs clearance of goods, etc.

If we talk more globally about the functions of such centers, let's imagine what a colossal path this or thatother goods before reaching the final consumer. First, it is produced at the enterprise, then quality control, packaging, assembly and shipment take place. Further, the goods, as a rule, go through a whole chain of distributors, each of which lays its own profit in the final cost of the goods. Only after that it goes to retail chains, where it can be purchased by the consumer.

Logistics centers can significantly reduce the number of intermediaries and at the same time speed up the flow of goods from producers to consumers. This not only improves the quality of service, but also reduces the final cost of products. In such a situation, only intermediary distributors remain dissatisfied, who had the opportunity to earn money by acting as a link between the manufacturer and the consumer.