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Characteristics of logistics industry
Logistics process, which
includes material flows, human resources flow, capital flows and
information flows, covers varieties of enterprises and services
provided. As for scope of enterprises, the major stakeholders are
consigner, consignee and freight forwarder; transportation companies,
like air carriers, sea services, truck services and rail services,
are also key party in logistics industry; other supplementary parties
include warehouse services, customs brokerage, insurance companies,
banks and etc. In terms of services provisions, logistics activities
includes transportation and distribution, data transmission, value-added,
packaging, warehousing and inventories control and etc.
Logistics industry is an industry incorporated by thousands of enterprises,
which are highly interdependent. Cooperation and coordination among
those logistics parties are very complex and diversified. To achieve
an effective logistics chain management, all the stakeholders in
which should be highly integrated.
One of the obstacles to the integration of logistics chain is the
data interchange. Enterprises have their own MIS system for data
storage and managerial functions. Different methods of data exchange
and archive among enterprises create incompatibility and possible
misinterpretation leading to errors.
In addition, every enterprise may have their effective enterprise
management system. Integration of logistics chain would be complicated
by their differences. As a result, the logistics flows would become
cost and time ineffective.
Moreover, evolution on the practices of business competition is
induced by the integration of logistics chain. To achieve optimal
logistics flows, enterprises no longer work on their own, but integrated
with their backward or forward partners. Nowadays, competitions
among logistics chains are common. Aforementioned, optimization
on logistics chain, however, is full of difficulties. The integration
between information technology (IT) and logistics becomes a key
for success.
The
Center of Cyber Logistics (or Cyber Logistics Research Center),
is a research center under Li & Fung Institute of Supply Chain
Management & Logistics, The
Chinese University of Hong Kong. The Center was first established
in early 2000 affiliated with the Department
of Decision Sciences & Managerial Economics (DSE), Faculty
of Business Administration, The
Chinese University of Hong Kong and Department
of Management Sciences, Faculty
of Business, The City University
of Hong Kong
© Center of Cyber Logistics,
2000-2007.
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