Wuhan enterprise logistics management case

First, modern logistics.

Case 1: Modern Logistics of Delphi Company

Delphi, headquartered in Alaska, USA, produces deep-sea fish oil and various health products. Although it has always maintained the advantages of product design and research and development, Delphi is facing the situation of falling profits due to the complex, expensive and inefficient logistics system. Delphi found that too many operators and systems are causing complete loss of management control. In order to regain control, Delphi had to reorganize its logistics business. The implementation of Delphi's new logistics structure began with the transfer of all logistics business to a branch of FedEx, a commercial logistics company. The task of commercial logistics companies is to rebuild, improve and manage every link of goods and information flow in Delphi supply chain.

Before reorganization, the company had six large warehouses, eight most important carriers and 12 independent management systems. As a result, the time between customer ordering and customer delivery is long, the inventory is huge, and there are too many shortages. If a customer asks a warehouse in Germany about a fast-selling product, he will be told that the product is out of stock and the new supply will have to wait for several months. At the same time, the goods were overstocked in a warehouse in Wales. On average, 16% of all production lines are out of stock in retail stores.

Delphi realized that it needed to re-analyze the location of its existing facilities. Its suggestion is to close all warehouses in the United States except one, and they will change from serving only local customers to serving global customers. The single location is located near the factory site in the United States, becoming a worldwide "processing center" and acting as the German logistics exchange for Delphi's products. Although this concept of a single German center may require higher transportation costs, Delphi believes that this cost will be compensated by improving efficiency. In the past, unexpected demand problems led to higher inventory to make up for uncertainty and maintain customer service.

The company knows that a single service location will have more predictable traffic than several small service locations, and now random demand will be widely shared in the whole market field, so that the improvement in one field will reduce the demand level in another field.

The transportation cost is made up by the turnover rate of inventory. In fact, Delphi found that the single-center system actually reduced the transportation cost by reducing the total amount of cross-shipments. From the American warehouse to the retail store immediately, although the delivery cycle from ordering to delivery is roughly the same, the products only need to be transported once, instead of being transported and processed in many different locations.

Delphi has gained more than just knowledge of cost reduction. The company's goal is to increase opportunities for service and flexibility, and plans to re-supply stores around the world within 24-48 hours. Advanced systems and communications will be used to monitor and control global stocks. FedEx's global transportation network will ensure that the goods arrive at their destinations in time. Delphi also plans to launch a mail order service, which is characterized by delivering goods to the door of end customers anywhere in the world within 48 hours. At present, its mail-order business of $6.5438+million has become more and more powerful, but until now, the company must limit its development because it is difficult to keep up with the expanding orders. The new superior location network will make this development possible and profitable.

Second, the inventory management

Case 2

DRP: an application example

MMH has three distribution centers in the United States and a central supply facility in its manufacturing plant in Quebec, Canada. This paper introduces how their distribution resource planning (DRP) system works in eight weeks.

Boston distribution center has a safety reserve level of 55 units of gadgets. When the reserve is lower than this level, the distribution center will issue an order to supply more than 500 gadgets. The delivery time from the central supply facility to the Boston distribution center is 2 weeks.

According to the DRP of Boston Distribution Center, there is an eight-week demand forecast called total demand. At the beginning, there were 352 gadgets left in the existing inventory, and the distribution center predicted that there were only 42 gadgets in the fifth week (the existing inventory was 122 gadgets minus 80 gadgets in the total demand).

This will be lower than the safety reserve level, so DRP will start the planned order of 500 gadgets within three weeks (the fifth week minus the two-week lead time). As predicted, as soon as the goods are ready, the distribution center will return to the safe operation level.

Gadgets are high-selling goods in Chicago, so the total demand of Chicago distribution center is higher than that of Boston distribution center. It orders more equipment at a time.

The DRP of the Chicago distribution center shows that 800 gadgets are already in transit (received regularly) and should arrive within one week. They arrived as scheduled, arranged the order for the next 800 gadgets in the sixth week, and have already dealt with the situation that will be below the safety reserve in the eighth week.

According to experience, the San Diego distribution center expressed its safety reserve as safety time (2 weeks).

According to DRP, the distribution center in San Diego understands that if there is no replenishment, there will be 30 gadgets (60 minus 30) left in the fifth week, 5 gadgets (30 minus 25) left in the sixth week, and the inventory left in the seventh week is-10 (5 minus 15). Therefore, the San Diego distribution center plans the order number from the third week to the seventh week, reducing the safety time and lead time (four weeks in total), that is, 150 gadgets.

The total demand of central supply facilities is provided by the distribution center. The distribution centers in Boston and San Diego generated demand for 650 gadgets in the third week, while the distribution center in Chicago generated demand for 800 gadgets in the sixth week. The central supply facility found that the existing inventory balance will be negative in the sixth week. Therefore, in the third week, it launched a master plan with an order quantity of 2,200 gadgets to make up for the shortage.

Third, transportation management.

Case 3

Glass transportation partnership

Nowadays, shippers are more concerned about cost and service when looking for transportation suppliers. LOF is a manufacturer of architectural and automotive glass, and its challenge is to handle and transport a large number of difficult products. LOF company's commitment to customers makes it need such a carrier with competitive price and excellent logistics service. These service demands require LOF to find innovative operators and powerful channel partners.

In the past, LOF used as many as 534 transport ships for import and export transportation. Glass transportation usually requires the use of special equipment to minimize glass damage. However, if special equipment is used, this means that LOF company cannot provide the return transportation of products. Therefore, the carrier can either obtain the return transportation products at a competitive low price, or LOF company can pay the no-load return fee.

Fortunately, LOF solved this problem by forming an alliance with two operators. All inbound and outbound LTL cargo arrangements are undertaken by Rodway Logistics Service Company. Although the company is responsible for all the daily business, tracking and payment related to delivery, it is not necessary to transport all the goods. This arrangement enables LOF to provide free telephone numbers to its suppliers and cooperate with all imported goods. This "etiquette route" system chooses the lowest cost transportation mode and carrier for import and export transportation. The system reduced the transportation budget of $3 million by $500,000 and reduced 70,000 paperwork. In addition, Case Logistics Company provides third-party payment services and is responsible for processing all billing information electronically.

Although cost is a factor to be considered by LOF Alliance, there is still a strong sense of quality in the whole vehicle transportation of architectural glass. It takes 18 months for professional truck operation in Schneider countries to be approved as one of LOF carriers. Don Snyder, president of Schneider National Company, claimed that this was one of the most rigorous reviews he had ever experienced. Schneider National has a partnership with Wabash Nation, a trailer manufacturer. They applied for a patent for a professional trailer, which is specially used to transport LOF glass. This trailer is A-type design, which changes the structure of standard flatbed and eliminates the problems caused by special equipment, but it is not suitable for the return transportation of other goods. The exclusive arrangement between LOF, Schneider National Company and Wabash National Company ensures that all the equipment can be used by three partners, and no company will bear the risk of disorderly development or financial risk. Due to the unique transportation partnership, these three companies enjoy their respective competitive advantages in their respective industries.

In addition to technology, LOF has set very high service expectations and requirements in other commitments. LOF company is not using price to stimulate business, but is committed to reducing the total cost. Although LOF recognizes that its partners must have sufficient returns in business, it believes that excessive profits will damage the cooperative relationship. LOF maintains extensive communication with all partners at the organizational level, which helps to further understand the value and status of partnership. LOF believes that it will create great value for its customers when dealing with this cooperative relationship.

Four. Procurement and supply

Case 4

Industrial products wholesale company

Walter Negri is the purchasing director of industrial products wholesale company. He needs to set the purchase quantity of high-value products. After purchasing these high-value products, companies usually store them in inventory and sell them to industrial customers in a fairly short order cycle.

The spare engine used in the conveyor is one of these products.

Spare engines are mainly sold to customers in North America, and the sales situation is stable throughout the year.

These engines are produced in western Germany, imported from Baltimore and transported by truck to the company's self-operated warehouse in Chicago.

Although the price of German manufacturers includes the freight from Baltimore, Germany to the United States, the company has to bear the transportation cost of goods from Baltimore to Chicago. To help make a decision, Walter also collected the following information:

information quantity

Quantity/cost

sources of information

Average annual sales volume

1 1,500 units

sales department

Replenishment lead time

one month

Supply section

Paper cost per order

20 USD

accounting department

Inventory holding cost

30% per year

Finance Department

Gross weight of each machine

250 pounds

department of Transport

Warehouse unloading cost

0.25 USD /CTN

accounting department

Storage capacity of warehouse

300 sets

Warehouse Manager

Express delivery fee per order

Five dollars

department of Transport

Storage rate of public warehouses.

Each set per year 10 USD

public warehouse

Note: The company warehouse can only store 300 engines. If the order quantity of the replenishment order exceeds 300 pieces, the part exceeding 300 pieces will be stored in the public warehouse.

Order quantity per order

Unit price (USD)

Head 100 unit

700

Followed by 100 sets.

680

More than 200 sets

670

The manufacturer has just released the new price list of Baltimore Port. Walter found that trucking companies can transport the whole car at the rate of $65,438+02 per load, or at the rate of $65,438+08 per load.

Question:

If the manufacturer adopts a special price strategy, at what level should the order quantity of replenishment orders be set?

If the manufacturer's price strategy is that the price of each quantity cut-off point applies to all the goods ordered, should Walter adjust the size of the replenishment order?

Verb (abbreviation of verb) position selection

Case 5

Super medical equipment company

The electronic equipment produced by Super Medical Equipment Company is a part of medical diagnostic equipment such as MRI, CAT scanner and PET scanner. Super Medical Equipment Company has production plants in Phoenix, Arizona and Monterrey, Mexico. Customers who need these parts are located in parts of the United States and Canada. At present, a warehouse in Kansas City is responsible for receiving all the parts produced by the factory and distributing them to customers.

Due to the intensification of competition and the change of customer sales level, the company's sales volume has declined, and the company's management began to consider the location of warehouses. The lease term of the existing warehouse is about to expire, and the management wants to consider whether to renew the existing warehouse or find another lease location. The warehouse has promised that if the contract is renewed, the rent will be extremely favorable, which is $2.75 per square foot per year, and the warehouse area is 200,000 square feet. It is estimated that renting a warehouse of the same size anywhere else will cost $3.25 per square foot.

The term of new lease and renewal is 5 years. Transfer of inventory, relocation of key personnel and other site selection costs will result in a one-time expenditure of $300,000. The operating costs of warehouses everywhere are basically the same.

Last year, the sales of super medical companies reached $70 million. The transportation cost from the factory to the warehouse in Kansas is $265,438+062,535, and the transportation cost from the warehouse to the customer is $4,865,438+095,69. The rental cost of the warehouse is $654.38 million per year. See table 1 and table 2 for the data collected for studying the warehouse location.

Table 1

The volume, rate, distance, coordinate values and other data of the whole vehicle (100 goods) transported from the factory to the Kansas warehouse in the last year.

Factory location

Annual demand (ton)

Transportation rate (USD /CTN)

Distance (miles)

Coordinate x

Coordinate y

phoenix

6 1500

16.73

1. 163

3.90

Monterey

120600

9.40

1. 188

6.90

1.00

be equal to

182 100

Table 2 Volume, speed, distance and coordinate data of 5000-pound trucks (100 goods) transported from Kansas City warehouse to customers in recent years.

Customer location

Annual demand (ton)

Transportation rate (USD /CTN)

Distance (miles)

Coordinate value (x)

Coordinate value (y)

Seattle

17000

33.69

1858

0.90

9. 10

Los Angeles

32000

30.43

1496

1.95

4.20.

Denver

12500

25.75

598

5.60

6. 10

Dallas

9500

18.32

560

7.80

3.60

Chicago

29500

25.24

504

10.20

6.90

Atlanta

2 1000

19.66

855

1 1.30

3.95

New York

4 1300

26.52

1340

14.00

6.55

Toronto

8600

26. 17

1 1 15

12.70

7.80

Montreal

10700

27.98

1495

14.30

8.25

be equal to

182 100

The average rate of transportation from the warehouse is 0.0235 USD/ton/mile.

According to this year's information, is Kansas City the best location? If not, what are the better site coordinates? What cost savings can the new coordinate system bring?

The management predicts that in the next five years, the markets in Seattle, Los Angeles and Denver will increase by 5%, while other markets will decrease by 65,438+00%. Transportation costs remain unchanged. The output of Phoenix will increase by 5%, and that of Monterrey will decrease by 10%. Will you change the location decision of the warehouse? If so, how will it change?

In the fifth year, the warehouse outbound transportation rate increased by 25%, and the warehouse inbound transportation rate increased by 15%. Will you change the location decision of the warehouse?

What are the advantages and limitations of using gravity method to analyze data for warehouse location?

Six, logistics demand forecast

Case 6

World oil company

World oil company is a global enterprise that processes and distributes fuel for cars, planes, trucks and ships. Distribution points are service stations and bulk oil supply facilities. How to supply more than 1000 distribution points is the main problem in enterprise management. Because fuel income constitutes its main income, and its requirements for customer service level (product availability rate) are high, the main consideration of enterprises is to ensure that automobile gas stations have sufficient inventory. One of the key factors of good distribution operation is the use of products by these gas stations. In particular, tanker should accurately predict fuel consumption to arrange delivery to gas stations to avoid shortage.

Operation of gas stations

Gas stations operate three or four kinds of fuels, including octane number 87, 89, 92 and diesel oil. These fuels are stored in underground storage tanks. Due to the different traffic flow of each gas station, the capacity of the storage tank is limited, and the frequency of replenishment varies from 2 to 3 times a day to only a few times a week. Each fuel tank can only hold one fuel. The staff of the gas station regularly put the graduated stick into the oil storage tank to measure the remaining fuel quantity. Other advanced gas stations are equipped with electronic measuring instruments in storage tanks. A refueling machine used for replenishment generally has four oil storage compartments.

Prediction problem

Different grades of fuel at each gas station represent a specific forecast. What we are going to discuss here is a gas station with a small sales volume, which sells 87 octane numbers. Gas stations only need to replenish several times a week, and it is enough to predict the daily consumption. Because the consumption changes with each day of the week, the forecast of one day of the week will be different from that of any other day. Table 1 lists the historical usage of No.87 octane every Monday in this gas station in recent two years. Graph 1 is a time series graph drawn by consumption.

Question:

1. Please make a prediction process for this gas station and tell me why you choose this prediction method.

2. When forecasting, how to deal with the situation that the fuel consumption deviates from the normal mode during the promotion period, holidays or other time?

3. Forecast the consumption on Monday, and explain the accuracy of the forecast.

Seven, logistics information system

Case 7

Shenlong automobile company

At the beginning of 1992, Shenlong Automobile Co., Ltd. was established in Wuhan, Hubei Province, and was jointly funded by Dongfeng Motor Group, Citroen Automobile Group, National Bank of France and Societe Generale (70% by the Chinese side). After several years of development, Shenlong Company now has a complete set of equipment, facilities, personnel and machinery organization for parts processing, assembly, packaging, transportation and sales. With the increasingly fierce competition in the domestic car market, the company feels that the original management mode has curbed the further development of enterprises, especially in the communication with cooperative enterprises, there are major problems.

There are some problems in DPCA's information management system, which affect the efficiency of supply chain operation. Key data needed in production planning (such as manufacturing list, ordering information, inventory status, shortage alarm, transportation arrangement, materials in transit, etc.). ) is only a partial integration and * * * event, decision makers can't get effective data quickly when making production plans. The information systems of various departments within the company have difficulties in networking, system interface, sharing and external contact of the company, and lack unity and coordination. The existing sales system focuses on cash flow management and after-sales service tracking, but for the company's external information, the functions of collecting, analyzing and processing customer data are not perfect, and there is a lack of fast and effective customer information feedback mechanism, so the supply department and the production department cannot fully obtain market feedback information. Therefore, there is a lack of necessary communication between supply, production and demand, and there is not enough information inside and outside the company, so it is difficult to really arrange production according to market demand. In addition, the information flow between DPCA and other cooperative enterprises has not yet established a standardized system, and there is no working standard that * * * abides by. For example, the business between DPCA and Citroen is data exchange through EDI, and both parties stipulate that the standard format of documents must be strictly observed. If either party changes the format without authorization, the other party's system will not work normally. 1February, 1992, Citroen changed the format of the delivery contract, and did not make technical preparations in advance, resulting in the inability of the translation software of Shenlong Company to obtain data.

Therefore, from the point of view of the supply chain core enterprise where DPCA is located, DPCA's management information system should not only receive information from different systems, but also process it to plan, organize and control the behavior of the enterprise, and then feed back the existing status to different enterprise members. Therefore, the management information system of DPCA must be highly integrated to provide reliable guarantee for achieving business objectives through supply chain management. To this end, we should consider taking new measures from the following aspects:

Information must be standardized, with a unified name, clear definition, standard format and field requirements, and the relationship between information must also be clearly defined.

Information processing procedures must be standardized, and information processing must follow a certain process, which cannot be different from person to person.

Information collection, processing and reporting shall be the responsibility of a special person with clear responsibilities. There is no redundant information collection and processing to ensure the timeliness, accuracy and integrity of information.

All kinds of management information come from a unified database, which not only can be enjoyed by managers of relevant departments of enterprises, but also has access rights and security measures. All departments make management decisions according to the information provided by unified data and the criteria for handling management affairs, so as to realize the business objectives of the president of the enterprise.

Case 8

China Shipping: A Perfect Logistics Information System

According to Xiao, assistant general manager in charge of marketing and information business of China Shipping Logistics, China Shipping Logistics can stand out from the fierce competition with companies such as COSCO Logistics, Sinotrans, China Merchants and Logistics, largely because it has established a relatively complete information system before others.

Transformation: Realizing Three-level Management

China Shipping Group, COSCO Group and Sinotrans are known as the three giants of China shipping market. In 2002, when the volume of containers increased by leaps and bounds, China Shipping Logistics came into being. According to the development plan of China Shipping Group, the logistics industry is the key and pillar industry, forming a large logistics development framework with shipping as the core, shipping agency, freight forwarding, yard, container truck, barge, air transport and sea-rail combined transport.

In the novel, the adjusted China Shipping Logistics adopts a three-level management mode, with the headquarters managing the area and the area managing the port. Headquarters leads, manages, plans and coordinates the logistics business of China Shipping on behalf of the Group, strengthens the control of the total cost of the whole logistics business and establishes the logistics supply chain; Under the leadership and management of the headquarters, regional companies operate distribution business, warehousing business, fleet business, cargo collection business, etc. In their respective regions, establish sales outlets in their respective regions to control regional costs; Under the management of regional companies, port companies carry out specific business operations of cargo collection and distribution, and are responsible for business data collection.

To do this, it is impossible without strong information system support. Mao, the general manager of China Shipping Logistics, pointed out in the early days of the company's establishment that to be a first-class logistics enterprise, we must first have first-class IT. In order to implement the "Big Logistics" strategy formulated by the Group, China Shipping Logistics finally chose China Merchants Chen Di as the software supplier.

Mode: "heartbeat"

Although China Merchants Chen Di is the first software supplier in China to integrate geographic information (GIS), satellite positioning (GPS), Wireless communication (Wireless) and Internet technology (WEB) and apply them to logistics, transportation and supply chain management. However, there is no precedent for an enterprise of this scale to establish a nationwide logistics information system in China. The general manager of China Merchants Shanghai Company once said: "Now it is not a single logistics system to look at a point, but to design a whole system from the perspective of supply chain connection from the height of the whole logistics network."

After repeated argumentation, the two sides agreed to apply enterprise-level integrated system nationwide, which can realize information sharing and exchange and keep data consistent. Zeng said that the core of the system is driven by market demand and centered on planning and scheduling, so that all links of logistics can work together. It needs to comprehensively manage enterprise plans, indicators, reports and accounts. , which can be refined and monitored layer by layer, has a unified enterprise document, report and account format, and has good expansibility and open structure. More importantly, the system should be an order-oriented information system. There should be a smooth information flow from accepting orders entrusted by customers to order management, making logistics plans around orders, implementing related logistics resources such as transportation capacity or warehousing, scheduling to logistics operations and quality monitoring.

It has been admitted that the biggest difficulty of software projects lies in business changes. The logistics business of China Shipping is complex, with numerous and ever-changing demands, and the information system must be improved accordingly. He clearly remembers that the initial research of the project was mainly aimed at shipping business, and the main concern was to drag goods from this port to that port. There is very little real project logistics involved. After the strategic transformation last year, China Shipping Logistics has divested its shipping and freight forwarding business, specializing in third-party logistics.

"Heartbeat", the Ceng Hui military used an image metaphor to describe the existing business model of China Shipping. He explained: "The headquarters of China Shipping Logistics Group is a profit center, and the following eight regions are used as cost centers to allocate resources in a unified way and play a chess game nationwide. Now that there is a list of third-party logistics, it is entirely up to China Shipping Logistics to decide how many goods are delivered to what city and what warehouse. Unified allocation of warehousing resources, transportation resources and human resources. At present, China Shipping Logistics operates in full accordance with this model. The third party logistics emphasizes a beating heart, centralized management, centralized scheduling and unified accounting. Customers come in not to face one of your branches, but to face your entire logistics system and work together through an information system. "

What makes Guo Liang proud is that there is no similar logistics enterprise in China that can do this.

Hisense: Winning the First Battle

In a sense, the reason why China Shipping has to make strategic adjustment is because it has signed a large project logistics bill like Hisense. At the end of 2002, hisense electric held the first third-party logistics tender. After a month's bidding, investigation and implementation plan formulation, China Shipping Group Logistics defeated many well-known domestic logistics enterprises in one fell swoop and won the bid for the national distribution logistics service project of TV products in hisense electric.

Xiao proudly said: "We can win nearly 45% share of Hisense, surpassing COSCO and Sinotrans, and the key is IT system. At present, this system is all paperless, and all the customer needs of Hisense are sent to the local sales company, then to the sales center at headquarters, then to the logistics department at headquarters, then to our logistics center and then to our operation point. The whole process can be said to be all paperless and seamless. From their system to ours, the whole process is perfect. Our commitment to Hisense is 2 hours, but in fact it only takes a few minutes at the earliest. In the past, it was a fax operation from the customer's instructions to our list, and it took half a day to go back and forth. "

At the same time, China Merchants Chen Di, as a strategic partner of China Shipping Logistics, also appears in the customers of China Shipping from time to time to complete the "close contact" of IT for them. However, China Merchants Chen Di Company lost no time in inviting China Shipping Logistics to participate in some seminars on logistics informatization. Therefore, there is an interesting phenomenon, that is, many customers choose China Shipping Logistics as the third-party logistics supplier and China Merchants Chen Di as the logistics system supplier, such as Jianlibao and Coconut Tree Group.

Expansion: flexibility and rigidity

The successful operation of Hisense project has enhanced the confidence of Chinese people. At present, China Shipping Logistics is trying to actively develop logistics cooperation at home and abroad, integrate social resources and build an integrated supply chain management model with the help of first-class network services and advanced e-commerce.

Xiao said that with the in-depth application of information systems, China Shipping will gradually provide customers with personalized value-added services such as order operation and cargo tracking through the Internet, and establish an electronic data exchange system with the customer's own management system according to the needs of VIP customers to ensure the timeliness and accuracy of information exchange.

Business expansion brings more and more system flexibility requirements, from logistics level to supply chain level, which becomes a part of customer business model. He once said: "Of course, this needs optimization, including the optimization of logistics and transportation, the optimization of warehousing and the optimization of manpower. The information base at the top level of the system must rise to the level of decision analysis. Through data comparison, what kind of goods I make are the most profitable and what kind of goods I make are reasonable. Data such as bicycle profit rate and warehouse turnover rate must become the decision-making level. An important basis for reference. "

Xiao also believes that the system currently applied by China Shipping has good flexibility, and the whole system is universal, which can be used by both beverage enterprises and home appliance enterprises. The platform ability of the system is very strong, but it needs to be a bridge with the customer system.

It should be said that the system of China Shipping Logistics is not a very complete system. Since its development last year, the existing warehouse management system, transportation system, container management system and GPS tracking system have been put into use one after another. Xiao revealed that at present, China Shipping Logistics has invested more than 20 million in IT projects and will continue to invest in the future. Recently, there are also group headquarters management module, container operation module, financial and business promotion module, automatic stowage system and so on. Not long ago, the newly developed GPS system of China Shipping Logistics has been put into operation in China.

The pain of CIO

The development of logistics enterprise information system is not a one-off event, but should be based on the long term. As far as China Shipping is concerned, the whole process is quite painful. If our requirements change again, so will the developers. Large logistics enterprises must develop their own information systems, and smaller companies can take the form of leasing, such as renting GPS systems, or cooperating with large logistics companies. Logistics enterprises should gradually implement informatization according to their own financial strength and the ability of developers. The process of selecting logistics developers is particularly important. Never choose a company with small financial strength and frequent personnel turnover.