The Bundesvereinigung Logistik (BVL) e.V. has drawn up a top ten list of priority logistics topics for 2014 based on the results of its latest member survey.
According to the survey, growing cost pressure, increasing customer requirements and a growing shortage of skilled workers are the three issues that are causing logistics companies the most headaches. Together with the factors “establishment and expansion of cooperations”, “increasing number of participants in the supply chain” and “globalization”, the aspect of growing customer requirements represents a network of factors that is increasing the complexity of logistics even more.
Standardization and automation processes, which enable employees to maintain an overview even in complex value chains, should also be seen as possible solutions.
Automation and standardization of logistics processes contribute to improving value streams precisely because the increasing number of participants in a supply chain makes it more complex: By establishing and optimizing collaborations with suppliers and customers, you can automate and standardize processes here too. This improves communication, can help to reduce inventories and at the same time improve delivery readiness.
As we know from our own projects, suitable automation and standardization of planning and scheduling processes can also counter the growing shortage of skilled workers. So-called MRP rule sets ensure that the MRP settings of articles are configured correctly and thus improve the quality of the planning results and MRP proposals generated by the ERP system. In this way, planning and scheduling can be carried out more efficiently and with less manpower, and even inexperienced employees can handle scheduling tasks more reliably.
If you would like to view the results of the survey, please follow the link to the website of the Bundesvereinigung Logistik (BVL) e.V. (German Logistics Association).
