Logistics: what is the American, European and Japanese system?

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

The first thing to note about such a concept as logistics is that such a name in translation from Greek literally means "the art of counting." Initially, the concept was widely used in the army, where it referred to employees in charge of food distribution. Some time later, due to the low level of development of information and transport technologies, its basic principles and schemes began to be widely used in the economy. During the rapid development of science in the second half of the last century, three main systems were formed, including American, European and Japanese. Any course in logistics confirms this.

The American logistics system is built on the interconnection between such concepts as production and resources. Economists call its main advantage that, under the condition of the same amount of manufactured products and potential buyers, the most effective balance is achieved. In addition, you can completely eliminate the case that the warehouse will store large stocks of finished goods, as well assemi-finished products. Along with this, it also has its drawbacks. We are talking about a possible unjustified forecast of a manufacturing company, which usually results from a change in the opinion of specific consumers about products or the emergence of competitors. In other words, the balance called "supply and demand" is disturbed. It should be noted, speaking of such an area as logistics, that this happens here quite often.

The European system is based on stocks. In all other respects, it is similar to the American one. It is the seller who is entrusted with the mission of determining the opinions of potential consumers about the goods. The advantage of the system is the ability of the consumer to choose and then buy the products that he needs, because the scheme of building on stocks makes it possible to choose from the available assortment. It should be remembered, speaking about the disadvantages that European logistics has, that such a large amount of stocks leads to serious monetary costs for their savings. Moreover, the world's leading experts have already proven that investing in material and technical resources is not profitable.

International logistics highlights another system that is fundamentally different in terms of approach to the production of products, as well as its sale from the two mentioned above. It is known as Japanese and is built on such a concept as an order. In other words, neither the seller nor the manufacturer is interested in the opinion of a potential buyer about a particular product. System advantagelies in the highest flexibility during the ordering of goods, as well as semi-finished products and the necessary material resources. Moreover, there is no need for a warehouse.

As for the disadvantage, it boils down to the need for the manufacturer to wait for the order. At the same time, do not forget about the time that you need to spend on its implementation. Despite the presence of some disadvantages, there is every reason to believe that in the future, Americans and Europeans will also switch to the system on which Japanese logistics is built. That this will certainly happen, say the world's leading economists.