Dive Deep into Fundamental of TRANSPORT & LOGISTICS Industry

E-BOOK

A BRIEF ON T&L Stakeholders | Segments | Processes | Equipment | Documentation

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Contents 1.

BASICS.................................................................................................................................................... 5

2.

SUPPLY CHAIN ECOSYSTEM .......................................................................................................... 6

3.

TRANSPORTATION ............................................................................................................................ 9 3.1 Transport Industry Terms: ............................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

4.

LOGISTICS ...........................................................................................................................................11 4.1 Temperature Controlled Logistics................................................................................................. 13 4.2 White Glove Logistics .................................................................................................................... 13

5.

WAREHOUSE .....................................................................................................................................14 5.1 Types of Warehouse...................................................................................................................... 14 5.2 Warehouse Operations ................................................................................................................. 15 5.3 Warehouse Services ...................................................................................................................... 15 5.4 Warehouse Equipment ................................................................................................................. 16

6.

NVOCC .................................................................................................................................................17 6.1 NVOCC basic Process ..................................................................................................................... 18 6.2 NVOCC Equipment......................................................................................................................... 19

7.

AIR CARGO .........................................................................................................................................20 7.1 Air Cargo Process ........................................................................................................................... 20 7.2 Air Cargo Equipment ..................................................................................................................... 23

8.

E-COMMERCE LOGISTICS/ POST AND PARCEL/ MAIL SERVICES: .................................25 8.1 Process of E-commerce Logistics in Forward Direction ............................................................... 25 8.2 Reverse Logistics/ Reverse Supply Chain ..................................................................................... 27 8.3 Reverse Logistics Process .............................................................................................................. 28

9.

RAIL CARGO.......................................................................................................................................30

10.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT ...................................................................................................................33

10.1 Public Transport Operations ....................................................................................................... 34

11.

CUSTOMS SERVICES ...................................................................................................................36

11.1 Customs Documents ................................................................................................................... 36 11.2 Customs Process .......................................................................................................................... 38

12.

EXIM .................................................................................................................................................39

12.1 Objective of the EXIM Policy....................................................................................................... 39

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12.2 Import and Export Procedures.................................................................................................... 39 12.3 Documentation in Export Import................................................................................................ 39

13.

SUPPLY CHAIN FINANCE ..........................................................................................................41

13.1 Freight Payment Audit ................................................................................................................ 42 13.1.1 Process: ................................................................................................................................. 42 13.2 Cargo Insurance .............................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.

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FUTURISTIC DISRUPTIVE SUPPLY CHAINS .........................................................................45

15.

SUMMARY ......................................................................................................................................54

DISCLAIMER: This document and any files with it are for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, please destroy all copies of the document. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure, dissemination, forwarding, printing or copying of this document or any action taken in reliance on this document is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. Visit us at www.dilx.co

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PREFACE DiLX is a Gateway Group Company headquartered at Zoetermeer, The Netherlands with 16 other international footprints globally. DiLX focuses on providing state-of-the-art & innovative software solutions and services for the Supply chain industry. We combine global experience, multiple success stories, a vast solution portfolio, technology expertise and domain knowledge into successful projects that transform strategy into solid results. It was during the late 90s’, during which the economy grew rapidly. There has been an incredible economic transformation in the supply chain sector. Thus, DiLX made recognition in SCM and logistics by creating a competitive advantage for European business in this buoyant period of export-driven economic growth. DiLX is involved in a wide range of SCM and Logistics solutions providing, including business consultancy, research, innovative concepts and awareness creation. It has worked in all major sectors including NVOCC, trucking, warehousing, logistics service providers, retail and e-commerce. In the process, the staff has developed great expertise and unrivalled experience of SCM and logistics and in particular, its role in improving competitive capability in a rapidly changing economic and business environment.

This book provides a glance over the process of Transport and Logistics. The pace and the uncertainty of the evolution of the market has made it increasingly important for companies to be aware of the supply chains they participate in and to understand the roles that they play. The companies that build and participate in strong supply chains have a competitive advantage. Supply chain management (SCM) helps firms seamlessly collaborate their business with other value chain partners to meet the unpredictable demand in the market.

We, as a team have collaborated to finalize the manuscript. Inevitably, there will be some overlap between sections and subsections. This is a result of the nature of the supply chain, where no individual link or element can be dealt with in isolation. Everyone/ everything in the supply chain is inter-dependent. We hope that this book will be read with equal enthusiasm by students, researchers and practising SCM and logistics professionals.

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1. BASICS Before we dive in the details of the Transport and Logistics ecosystem, let’s learn the difference between them.

Logistics is a part of Supply Chain Management that deals with management of goods. The process that integrates the movement of goods, services, information and capital, right from sourcing of raw materials, until it reaches its end consumer is known as Logistics Management.

Transportation a part of Supply Chain Management that refers to the movement of product from one location to another as it makes its way from the beginning of supply chain to the customer. Transportation provides greater visibility and lower occurrence of supply chain errors.

Supply Chain Management is a series of interconnected activities related to the transformation and movement from raw material to the finished goods until it reaches the end-user. It is the outcome of the efforts of multiple organizations that help in making this chain of activities successful. Thus, a number of organizations are involved in Supply Chain Management. .

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2. SUPPLY CHAIN ECOSYSTEM

Supply Chain is a sequence of processes involved in the production and distribution of commodity/ goods. The number of third party organizations work together to deliver product to customers including Vendors, Transportation, Providers, Warehouse Providers and others.

Here is a brief on individual segments of the Supply Chain Eco-System:

Supplier: It falls under a supplier’s duty to produce and supply a quality product that meets the manufacturer’s needs, and deliver the product on time.

For example, A X company manufactures high-end furniture, and that a supplier provides metal handles and other attachments. The metal components need to be durable so they can be used on the furniture for years, and the metal parts shipped to XYZ should work as intended. The supplier must be able to fill the manufacturer’s orders and ship metal parts to meet XYZ’s production needs. These steps are necessary to produce a quality product that is shipped to a customer in a timely manner.

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Manufacturer: Manufacturer converts the raw materials into the final products. A well managed supply chain system can reduce the cost and complexity of the manufacturing process, particularly for a manufacturer who uses many parts.

For example, A garment manufacturer will first move raw materials into production, such as fabric, zippers, and other required pieces. The manufacturer then incurs labour costs to run machinery and perform other work using the materials. Once the items are completed, they must be packaged and stored until they are sold to a customer.

Procurement: Procurement is the process of getting the goods and/or services your company needs to fulfil its business model. Some of the tasks involved in the procurement process include maintaining quality standard, financing purchases, creating purchase orders, negotiating price, buying goods, inventory control, inventory management, and disposal of waste products such as packaging.

In the overall supply chain process, procurement stops once your company is in possession of the goods. To make a profit, the cost of procuring your goods must be less than the selling price of the product minus the costs that are associated with processing and selling them.

Inventory: Inventory supervises the flow of goods from manufacturer to warehouse and from warehouse to the point of sale. The main function of Inventory is to keep a detailed record of each new or returned product as it enters or leaves the warehouse or is at the point of sale. A ton of data such as lot number, serial numbers, cost of goods, quantity of goods, and associated dates with the movement of these goods has to be tracked.

Performing deliveries just within a day or two have put new hurdles for shippers that have to manage e-commerce and Omnichannel sales across multiple channels, meet their customers’ growing demands for a better buying experience.

To overcome such pain points, we incorporate tools like barcode scanning, inventory optimization for complex operations. Large systems were traditionally run on-premises; but are now also deployed in public cloud, private cloud and hybrid cloud environments.

Small and midsize companies typically don't need such complex and costly systems, and they often rely on stand-alone inventory management products, generally through SaaS applications.

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Distribution: Distribution management refers to the process of overseeing the movement of goods from supplier or manufacturer to point of sale or end-user.

A distributor is typically an organization that takes ownership of significant inventories of products that they buy from producers and sell to consumers. In addition to product promotion and sales, the distributor performs other functions such as inventory management, warehouse operations and product transportation as well as customer support and post-sales service. A distributor can also be an organization that only brokers a product between the producer and the customer and never takes ownership of that product. This kind of distributor performs mainly the functions of product promotion and sales. In both of these cases, as the needs of customers evolve and the range of available products changes, the distributor is the agent that continually tracks customer needs and matches them with products available.

First mile Logistics: When the shipper receives the goods/ parcel from the distributor, it is called the first-mile Logistics / Delivery.

Transportation: Transportation refers to the movement of product from one location to another as it makes its way from the beginning of a supply chain to the customer. Any supply chain’s success is closely linked to the appropriate use of transportation.

Walmart has effectively used a responsive transportation system to lower its overall costs. At distribution centres, Walmart uses cross-docking, a process in which product is exchanged between trucks is so that each truck going to a retail store has products from different suppliers.

There are four modes of transportation: Road (Truck), Rail, Air, Sea. Various terms related to Transport industry: Consigner is the person who sends the shipment.

Consignee is the persons who receive the shipments.

Shipper either Sender or Receiver maybe both.

Last Mile Logistics: The final step of the delivery process from a distribution center or facility to the end-user (goods delivered to end-user).

Consumer: Consumers are any organization/people that purchase and use a product. A customer organization may be an organization that purchases a product in order to incorporate it into another product that they, in turn, sell to other customers. On the other hand, a consumer may be the end-user of the product.

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3. TRANSPORTATION The operation of transportation determines the efficiency of moving products. The progress in techniques and management principles improves the moving load, delivery speed, service quality, operation costs, the usage of facilities and energy saving. Without a well-developed transport system, logistics can’t bring its advantage into full play. Thus, the transport system is the most important economic activity among the various components of the supply chain.

There are two types of Transport: Multimodal Transport is the transportation of goods under a single track but performed with at least two different modes of Transport. E.g.: Road - Sea, Air-Rail.

Intermodal Transport is the transportation of goods with two modes i.e. Road and Rail.

3.1 Transport Industry Terms: ●

LTL means less than Truck Load. This term is used in road freight shipping for the transportation of consolidated freight. While shipping LTL, the shipper pays for the portion of a standard truck trailer based on their freight occupancies, while other shippers and their shipments fill the unoccupied space.

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FTL means Full Truck Load is the transport of goods that fills up a shipment that occupies the entire truck. FTL is contracted to one dedicated customer.

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LCL means Less Container Load. The term usually refers to the container shipping industry under the sea freight movement. If a shipper does not have enough goods to

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accommodate in a fully loaded container (partial container load), they arrange a consolidator to book the cargo. This type of shipment is called LCL shipment. ●

FCL means Full Container Loadall goods in the container are listed on a single Bill of Lading, and as such are owned by a single party. It does not matter how full the container is. Payment is made on the basis of a full container.

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Bill of Lading is a legal document issued by a carrier to a Shipper that details the type, quantity and destination of the goods being carried in Vessel/ Ship.

Carrier: An individual or firm to whom freight is shipped. A freight receiver. Firm that provides transportation services (through Land/Air/Sea), typically owning and operating transportation equipment. Examples include trucking company, railroad, airlines, shipping lines, parcel/express company.

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Freight Forwarder: A freight forwarder acts as an aggregator value chain in the logistics network. They arrange to move a cargo from Supplier/Mfg./Shipper/4PL to Carriers by a variety of modes including ships, aeroplane, truck and rail.

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A Non-Vessel Operating Common Carrier (NVOCC) is an ocean freight forwarder/consolidator that transports goods under its own House Bill of Lading, or equivalent documentation, without operating ocean transportation through the vessels. Rather, an NVOCC can contract leased space on the vessel of other ocean carriers, that they sell to their own customers. An NVOCC can be described as anendto-end logistics provider from shipper to carriers and vice versa.

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4. LOGISTICS Logistics is the management of the flow of things between the point of origin and the point of destination to meet the requirements of individual customers or corporate clients. The resources managed in logistics may include tangible goods such as materials, equipment, and supplies, as well as food and other consumable items.

The logistics of physical items usually involves the integration of information flow, materials handling, production, packaging, inventory, transportation, warehousing, and often security.

There are different types of Logistics Providers:

1PL: Manufacturer 1PL refers to manufacturer or a company having their cargo, freight or transportation of goods from one place to another. 1PL Logistics comprises of two parties benefitting from the transaction: i.) the seller/trader ii.) the buyer Apart from them, there is no other party involved.

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2PL: Carrier It’s an intermediary between buyer and seller i.e. the asset-based carriers that bridge the gap between the buyer and seller. Supply chain includes railways, roadways, air and marine. These assets-based carriers possess ships, airlines on lease which are extensively used for transporting heavy and wholesale goods overseas.

3PL: Freight Forwarder/Logistics Service Provider Just like 2PL, it also involves the transportation and administration of all the services that are carried out, however, it includes other services such as inventory management, warehousing, labeling, product packaging, customs brokerage, IT services such as tracking products, ascertaining delivery status and many more. 3PL is common due to combination of all the aforementioned services carried out by a logistics solutions provider that also specializes in domestic, as well as, international warehousing. They provide the service under the name of your company.

4PL: Integrated Logistics Provider 4PL logistics comes into play when the services provided by 3PL are exhausted. The array of services that are covered in 3PL are also present in this model, with the exception of operational handling of the transportation and inventory management is also outsourced to the logistics solutions provider. In 3PL logistics, the seller or manufacturer takes care of the operational handling. Whereas, in 4PL logistics, the solutions provider administers the entire supply chain.

This associates the logistics solutions provider with supplier, retailers, producers, financers, along with IT service providers.

5PL: Logistics Aggregator 5PL logistics further adds to the services provided by 4PL. On top of the services carried out by 3PL and 4Pl logistics, the seller is provided with a framework with shrewd planning and implementation of diverse sections of the supply chain. These sections incorporate procurement of stock, services, data and the flow of capital needed for planning, delivery and tracking of the transportation. A 5PL logistics provider aggregates the requirements of the 3PL model and others, into bulk volumes for a favorable negotiation of tariffs with shipping companies and airlines. A 5PL logistics provider is referred to as a Logistics aggregator.

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Few logistics categories which have different conditions and requirement for transport, are listed below:

4.1 Temperature Controlled Logistics Temperature Controlled Logistics is a chain of logistics which include all of the means to ensure a constant temperature for a product that requires specific temperature conditions to be stable. Temperature Controlled Logistics are leveraged for health products, food and other perishables. All products are sent through different freight.

4.2White Glove Logistics White-Glove Logistics refer to the handling of the products while moving them in which movers or shippers wear white gloves to protect the product. In shipping, this translates to extra precaution taken and sparing no expense to deliver what a consumer wants. Products like refrigerators, large household appliances, furniture or any expensive electronics usually avail white-glove service.

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5. WAREHOUSE

A warehouse is a commercial building or space that is used to store the goods. In warehouse, raw materials or manufactured goods may be stored prior to their distribution for sale.

5.1 Types of Warehouse Private Warehouse: Warehouse constructed by farmer/producer/manufacturer near their production unit.

Public Warehouse: These warehouses are owned by government or semi government bodies and are made available to private firms to store goods on rent. The public warehouses are usually set to help small traders who are not in position to have their own warehouse due to financial constraints. For example, before festival and marriage season, retailers may order extra merchandise to avoid out of stock situations.

Bonded Storage: This warehouse is owned, managed and controlled by government as well as private agencies. Bonded warehouse is storage facility used to store imported goods for which import duty is still to be paid. The bonded warehouse run by private agencies have to obtain license from the government. They are subject to two types of taxes: a) Excise duty b) Custom duty.

Co-operative Warehouse: These warehouses are owned, managed and controlled by cooperative societies. These societies provide storage facilities on the most economical rates to their members only. The basic purpose to run such warehouses is not to earn profits but to help their members.

Distribution Centers: This type of storage facility usually has large space, which enables fast movement of large quantities of stores for short period. The goods are procured from different suppliers and quickly transferred to various customers. These centers have computerized control, which make movement of goods fast and reliable.

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5.2 Warehouse Operations Layout of the warehouse is planned according to the operations performed. Traditionally warehouses were regarded as places for long-term storage of goods, and their main function was considered as warehousing, consisting of the maintenance and preservation of stocks.

Currently, the role of warehouses has changed, they are now used as a means through which the material flow is converted and moved as quickly as possible, that justifies expansion of the operations in the warehouse activities. Basic functions of the warehouse are as under: • • • • • • •

Receiving of goods Organizing and storing inventory Attaching asset tracking solutions (like barcodes) to assets and inventory Integrating and maintaining a tracking software Establishing sorting and packing practices Maintaining the warehouse facility Developing racking designs and warehouse infrastructure

5.3 Warehouse Services ● ● ● ●

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Asset Management: Managing Warehouse assets like racks, palates, Ramps, Trucks etc.

Order Fulfillment: Order Processing, Packaging & Labelling and Shipments.

Contract Warehousing: A Service given to companies designing to establish distributions centres in certain regions.

Inventory Control: Warehouse inventory "includes the products, raw materials, work-inprocess goods and finished goods that make up the inventory that is or will be for sale by a company.

Loading and unloading operations in a mechanized and manual way Sorting: In order to simplify and accelerate transportation and logistics processes, sorting of goods as requested by a customer.

Repacking: If goods are delivered to the warehouse in a damaged packaging, repack it for further storage and delivery.

Document support. To prepare all proper documents, including electronic acts, waybills etc.

Packing: Order strapping, banding, stretch wrapping of your goods for a safe and secure transportation.

Marking and labelling: Locate products, reduce picking errors and update inventory quantities.

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5.4 Warehouse Equipment

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• • • • • • • • • • • •

Pallet: is a flat transport structure, which supports goods in a stable fashion while being lifted by a forklift, a pallet jack, a front loader, a jacking device, or an erect crane. A pallet is the structural foundation of a unit load, which allows handling and storage efficiencies.

Pallet Jacks: Move heavy loads. Its handle includes a three-position (raise, lower, neutral) lever for fingertip control and one-hand operation. For example, lights, fans.

Yards Ramps/ Ramps: Used to load and unload trucks or trailers easily.

Cranes and Hoists: Free-standing bridge cranes reduce operator fatigue when operating hoists, balancers, or manipulators continuously over multiple shifts.

Dollies: Move heavy equipment and boxes.

Utility Carts: Make transportation of tools and material easy.

Trucks/ Wooden Steel: Kind of platform truck, stocking truck, wagons, self-propelled, security truck, and wire truck. Which use for moves high quantity of Goods.

Totes and Bins (Baskets): Reusable containers used for shipping, distribution, order picking and storage of materials.

Floor Scales: Used to measure pallets and skids for both shipping and receiving.

Small Ports Scales: Used to verify inventory, packing parts in containers, or shipping.

Pallet Scale: Used for on the spot weighing of loads. Selectable scale adjusts to the size of your load.

Barrier Rails: Protect valuable equipment and workers from hazards in the workplace.

Strips doors/ Air Curtains: Reduce the loss of heated and cooled air while preventing the flow of dust and contaminants from parking or loading areas with these energy-efficient doors.

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6. NVOCC

NVOCC (Non – Vessel Operating Common Carrier) is an ocean freight forwarder/consolidator that transports goods under its own House Bill of Lading, or equivalent documentation, without operating ocean transportation through the vessels. Rather, an NVOCC can contract leased space on the vessel of other ocean carriers, that they dedicatedly sell to their own customers.

An NVOCC is a company that organizes shipments for individuals or corporations to move goods from the manufacturer or producer to a market, customer or final point of distribution.

NVOCC operation comprises of sales, stuffing and transport of the containers to gateway ports.

NVOCC signs contracts with shipping lines to guarantee the shipment of a certain number of units each year. They are transport goods in Ships/ Vessels. They act as a carrier to Shippers.

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6.1 NVOCC basic Process ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

You hire a shipping company and they collect the goods from your supplier.

Your goods are cleared through their origin country’s customs.

If your goods are LCL, they will then be loaded into a shared container. If they’re FCL, they’ll be loaded into one container.

The containers are loaded onto the next available vessel and will be sailed around the world to you.

Once they reach the destination port, they will be processed by respective country customs.

If your goods are LCL, they’ll be unpacked from the shared container and shipped to you either as pallets or loose cartons.

If your goods are FCL, the container will be loaded onto the back of a lorry and delivered to you in sealed condition.

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6.2 NVOCC Equipment

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Container is a shipping equipment with the strength to withstand shipment, storage, and handling and is used to transport cargo.

It is a large metallic box designed to hold many smaller boxes or packages, and used for convenience in loading and unloading large quantities of freight, such as on ships, trains, or aeroplanes.

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The truck is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo. In NVOCC truck is used for transport goods from port to end-user via Road.

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Warehouse and its Equipment: Assets based NVOCCs have their own warehouses at the port so that they can store the goods at the port.

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Trailering Equipment is used for loading and unloading heavy-duty goods/container from ships.

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7. AIR CARGO Air cargo is any property carried or to be carried in an aircraft. Air cargo comprises air freight, air express and airmail.

Aircraft types: Passenger aircraft uses the spare volume in the airplane’s baggage hold (the “belly”) that is not being used for passenger luggage—a common practice used by passenger airlines, which additionally transport cargo on scheduled passenger flights. Cargo can also be transported in the passenger cabin as hand-carry by an “on-board courier”. This practice can often be used to cross-subsidies loss-making passenger routes that would otherwise be uneconomical to operate.

Cargo aircraft are dedicated for the job—they carry freight on the main deck and in the belly by means of nose-loading or side loading.

Combi aircraft carry cargo on part of the main deck, before or after a passengers’ section, with side loading, and in the belly.

7.1 Air Cargo Process Shipping: • • •

Assembling the Shipment: Collecting goods for consignee and preparing the packing materials and the packing list.

Making RFT (Read for Transport): Label packages clearly.

Ordering Transport: Send package to the Freight Forwarder warehouse and leave at storage ready for pick up.

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Forwarding Out: • • • • • •

Give POA (Proof of Acceptance) after order received.

Incoming check is performed and sorted according to flight dates.

Recheck for labelling errors, re-label if required, and make necessary security declarations.

Prepare all relevant customs documents and clear for customs.

Consolidate all goods according to all regulations of necessity and prepare a master AWB (Air Waybill).

Arrange transport to airline and inform receiving end of the incoming package.

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Air Transport ➢ At Source (From where goods are shipped) • Prepare and plan for handling and storage shipments based on confirmed bookings.

• Perform incoming and administration checks.

• Sort goods and documents.

• Perform outgoing and administration checks.

• Prepare ULDs (Unit Load Devices) according to specific instructions.

• Prepare ramp transport and security checks.

• Load onto aircraft and prepare for flight. ➢ At Origin (Destination) • Once landed prepare for ramp transport of cargo.

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Receive ULDs and breakdown ULD according to instructions.

• • •

Check incoming shipments against documents.

Prepare for warehouse storage and clear flight manifest.

Load goods onto truck and dispatch.

Forwarding In (At Destination side Freight Forwarder) • • • •

Picking up documents once notified by the airline and arranging local pickup of the documents.

Preparing customs documents, aiding with clearance and printing the customs release note.

Arrange local pick up of the package from the airline.

Arrange delivery to consignee with all relevant documentation and receive POD (Proof of Delivery).

Consignment (Consignee) • • •

•

Receiving shipment – once the shipment is received. It is checked for the number of goods and if any visible damage can be identified. Once cleared, provide a POD. Unpacking goods– unpack goods and thoroughly check for any damages that have occurred during transportation.

Check goods with administration – count present goods with the packing list or procurement order to verify any missing items. Arrange for any warranty claims along with payments for transport supplier where necessary. Make arrangements for customs declarations when required.

A Customs Declaration is an official document that lists and provides details of goods that are being imported or exported.

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7.2 Air Cargo Equipment Slave Dollies provide an economical ULD transfer mechanism where typical warehouse fork-lifts are available. Note that because the fork-lift operator's view past the ULD is very restricted when driving forward, the fork-lift is usually driven backward over long distances.

Slave Pallets are devices that allow fork-lift trucks to lift-and-carry ULDs while properly supporting the fragile container base. A fork-lift truck with appropriate load capacity is required.

Slave Pallets are specifically built for half size ULDs, are compact and only require the lighter capacity fork-lifts for most warehouse operations.

Ball Decks provide a multi-directional transfer medium to allow staff to manually manoeuvre, redirect and reorient ULDs. Small deck areas may be installed as junctions between conveyors and other equipment, while in more extensive installations large Ball Decks act as prime mover, used to manually transfer and manipulate ULDs between an array of interfacing equipment.

Castor Decks provide a high-performance alternative suitable for lighter weight ULDs typical of express operations. Castor Decks fully encapsulate the castors with treaded walkway plate, providing a safe surface on which staff can manipulate the containers.

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Manual Roller Conveyor is one of the simple conveying equipment that works on the principle of force of gravity for hauling and moving the packages and boxes.

It requires little friction and is integrated with caster to affect the movement of material from one place to another.

An elevator or lift is a vertical transport vehicle that efficiently moves people or goods between floors of a building. They are generally powered by electric motors that either drive traction cables and counterweight systems or pump hydraulic fluid to raise a cylindrical piston.

A Dock Leveler is used to bridge the difference in height and distance between the warehouse floor and vehicle in the most efficient way. It is a height-adjustable platform used to ensure a smooth transition between dock and truck which helps prevent forklift accidents that can cause serious injuries and forklift damages. It is usually comprised of a simple metal plate that is raised from a stowed position and then lowered onto the back of the truck.

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8. E-COMMERCE LOGISTICS/ POST AND PARCEL/ MAIL SERVICES: E-commerce Logistics is the process of shipping order to customer or transporting an inventory to a merchant.

A logistics company functions in two directions: Forward Direction: Distribution and delivery of goods from seller to buyer.

Reverse Direction: Exchanging or replacement of defective, damaged or wrong shipments from buyer to seller.

For an e-commerce company logistics in the forward direction involves receiving an online order, arranging for the item, packaging, preparing its invoice, arranging the payment, dispatching, and delivering the item to the customer’s doorstep. The time between receiving the order and its distribution depends on the availability of the material and location of the consignee. For specific locations, a separate delivery charge could be applicable.

From the time of dispatch until delivery of a consignment, it is the responsibility of the seller to notify the exact location of a shipment to its respective consignee through tracking SMS or email notifications.

8.1 Process of E-commerce Logistics in Forward Direction

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There are four basic components of the E-commerce fulfilment process: 1. E-commerce store and fulfilment centre integration: E-commerce store should integrate seamlessly with the fulfilment centre. Orders should flow directly to the people who will pack and ship them. Here are three important features of a good e-commerce fulfilment centre: ●

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3PL company should integrate with every platform on which they sell their products.

Fulfilment centre should create a custom app to connect incoming orders for any sales channels it doesn’t support.

Extensive inventory systems are just as important as the people who pack and ship orders to ensure accurate fulfilment.

Look for a fulfilment centre with minimal downtime. In addition, look for responsive support to smoothen any glitches quickly.

2. Receiving and Inventory Management: Pallets stacked with inventory are shipped to fulfilment warehouse. Then, those pallets get logged into inventory and are placed on shelves, ready to fill orders. Many fulfilment warehouses fall short in receiving the pallets. When pallets sit on a loading dock, products aren’t in inventory.

Following are the qualities in order fulfilment provider: ● ● ●

E-commerce fulfilment centre should place stock into inventory within one to two days of receiving it.

The consumer should be able to log into their inventory management system.

3PL provider should have a low shrinkage allowance. Some fulfilment centres make inventory management a top priority. These providers are responsible for items lost or broken while on the shelves. In this case, the consumer doesn’t have to account for shrinkage when they calculate ideal stock levels.

3. Order Fulfillment: Pick, Pack, and Ship: When an order comes in, the fulfilment warehouse will pick the right items to put in the box. A floor worker will pack them in the perfect box. Your 3PL provider will ship them to the customer. This is the pick, pack, and ship process. With centrally-located fulfilment warehouses, shipping to customers is speedy.

It’s important that the 3PL provider turn orders around quickly, too. Otherwise, shipper will lose the benefit of that shorter shipping time.

Here are three ways your e-commerce fulfilment centre can help you meet customer expectations for fast and low-cost shipping: i.

Look for a 3PL provider that offers next-day turnaround, or even same-day shipping.

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ii. iii.

Choose a fulfilment warehouse, or warehouses, that are centrally-located. The fulfilment centre should ship to most of the customers within two days or less.

Ask for data on the fulfilment centre error rates.

4. Returns Processing: Reverse Logistics: We can’t avoid e-commerce returns. Ease of returns is important to e-commerce shoppers. This can be a major factor to drive your sales. Logging in returns is an important function of e-commerce fulfilment.

The faster the fulfilment provider processes returns, sooner the customer will get a refund. Efficient returns also get stock back on the shelf so it’s available to sell again.

Here are three ways e-commerce fulfilment partner can make returns a breeze for distributor and customers: ●

● ●

Find a warehouse that will put returns back on the shelf within one to two days.

Returns that sit on receiving docks are a drag on business as well as consumer confidence.

Let 3PL provider handle customer service for returns, so distributors can focus on increasing their sales.

Create a process for handling damaged goods. Consider setting up a secondary site to sell returned merchandise at a discount. Make sure e-commerce fulfilment provider can help evaluate returns and process orders for discount goods.

8.2 Reverse Logistics/ Reverse Supply Chain Reverse Logistics refers to the movement of goods from customer to vendor.

Reverse logistics is the process of planning, implementing and controlling the efficient and effective inbound flow and storage of secondary goods and related information for the purpose of recovering value or proper disposal.

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8.3 Reverse Logistics Process

Reverse Logistics requires some specific processes of supply chain management, and return management ensures optimally efficient reverse logistics through activities such as gatekeeping and avoidance. ● First, the transport company is allotted for the returns pick up from the designated source to the local warehouse. ● The local warehouse then sorts out the returns as per designated logistics where the returns will be delivered through shipping/rail/road/air with many other goods. ● Further, the returns move from the logistics to the particular seller or will be sent to the manufacturer as per the place from where the order was picked. ● At the returns are in the process of reaching their desired seller/manufacturer, the logistics company has contracted with the transport company for such returns pick up and drop. ● Gatekeeping involves decision making to manage the number of products or materials that are allowed to enter the reverse flow of the supply chain. This activity is very important for cost management since it eliminates the costs for returning materials that shouldn’t have been returned or were returned to the wrong place. If you can control (and reduce) return rates without negatively impacting customer service, you have a successful gatekeeping system. The point of entry is the ideal spot in the reverse flow to operate your gatekeeping and screening process. ● Avoidance is a process that works similarly to gatekeeping to screen products before they enter the reverse flow, but instead of eliminating returns, avoidance minimizes the returns that must happen. Some of the successful avoidance techniques include quality control, user-friendliness, and strategic promotional programs. ● A significant portion of returns are made because of damage or inaccuracies with the shipped product. This may have occurred in the warehouse prior to shipment and the damages went unnoticed until the product was delivered, or they may have happened in transit.

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Remanufacturing and refurbishing activities handle products on this track of reverse logistics, landing in one of five categories

Repair: Fixing applicable damages in order to re-integrate the inventory into the warehouse or the distribution chain for re-sale.

Remanufacturing: Using new, repaired or reused parts to rebuild the product in order to meet the original product specifications, and repairing or replacing obsolete or worn-out components.

Refurbishing: Improving old or outdated products to meet the manufacturer’s new specifications and standards.

Cannibalization: Recovering reusable parts from used products in order to facilitate remanufacturing or refurbishing activities..

Recycling: Reusing materials from another product or sub-assembly to create new products or refurbish others.

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9. RAIL CARGO Rail Cargo is the use of Railroads and Trains to transport Cargo/ Goods.

Large Shippers build factories and warehouse near rail Lines and have a section of track on their property called a siding where goods are loaded on to on unloading from rail cars.

Other Shippers have their goods hauled (delayed) by Wagon or truck to/from a goods station.

Smaller locomotives transfer the rail cars from the sidings and goods station to classification yards.

Rail Freight Uses many types of goods Wagon/ Freight Cars: ● ● ● ● ●

Boxcar Covered Wagons: Covered with some objects Flat Cars/ Flat wagons: for heavy or bulk goods Well Wagons or Low Loader Wagons Refrigerator Vans

Bulk Cargo is a commodity (raw material or product) cargo that is transported unpackaged in large quantities.

Containerization is a system of intermodal transport using standard shipping containers that can be loaded with cargo, sealed and placed onto a container ship, railroad cars and trucks.

Special Cargo: These types of cargo transported in special cars custom design for cargo.

Rail Cargo Equipment: Wagons and other common LSP equipment.

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9.1 Rail Cargo Process

Shipping: ● ● ●

Assembling the Shipment: Collecting goods for consignee and preparing the packing materials and the packing list.

Making RFT (Read for Transport): Label packages clearly.

Ordering Transport: Send the package to the Freight Forwarder warehouse and leave at storage ready for pick up.

Forwarding Out: ● ● ● ● ● ●

Give POA (Proof of Acceptance) after order received.

Incoming check is performed and sorted according to flight dates.

Recheck for labelling errors, re-label if required, and make necessary security declarations.

Prepare all relevant customs documents and clear for customs.

Consolidate all goods according to all regulations of necessity and prepare a master Rail Bill (Receipt).

Arrange transport to Rail and inform the receiving end of the incoming package.

Rail Transport ⮚

At Source (From where goods are shipped) ● Prepare and plan for handling and storage shipments based on confirmed bookings. ● Perform incoming and administration checks. ● Sort goods and documents. ● Perform outgoing and administration checks. ● Prepare ULDs (Unit Load Devices) according to specific instructions. ● Prepare ramp transport and security checks (if required). ● Load onto rail wagon and prepare to depart.

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⮚

At Origin (Destination) ● Once landed prepare for ramp transport of cargo. ●

Receive ULDs and breakdown ULD according to instructions.

● ● ●

Check incoming shipments against documents.

Prepare for warehouse storage and clear railcars.

Load goods onto truck and dispatch.

Forwarding In (At Destination side Freight Forwarder) ● ● ● ●

Picking up documents once notified by the airline and arranging local pickup of the documents.

Preparing customs documents, aiding with clearance and printing the customs release note.

Arrange local pick up of the package from the airline.

Arrange delivery to consignee with all relevant documentation and receive POD (Proof of Delivery).

Consignment (Consignee) ● ● ●

Receiving shipment – once the shipment is received the check for all number of goods and if any visible damage can be identified. Once cleared, provide a POD. Unpacking goods– unpack goods and thoroughly check for any damages that have occurred during transportation.

Check goods with administration – count present goods with the packing list or procurement order to verify any missing items. Arrange for any warranty claims along with payments for transport supplier where necessary. Make arrangements for customs declarations when required.

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10. PUBLIC TRANSPORT Public transport is a system of transport, in contrast to private transport, for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public, typically managed on a schedule, operated on established routes, and that charge a posted fee for each trip. Public transport includes city buses, trolleybuses, trams (or light rail) and passenger trains, rapid transit (metro/subway/underground, etc.) and ferries. Public transport between cities is dominated by airlines, coaches, and intercity rail. High-speed rail networks are being developed in many parts of the world.

The public transport modes are as follow: Air Line, Bus and Coach, Train, Maritime (Ship), Taxi

ADVANTAGES

➢ Financial benefit to communities Transit agencies and organizations generate employment. ➢ Reduce Air pollution By moving people more efficiently, public transit produces significantly less air pollution per passenger mile than a standard car carrying a single driver. Buses emit less carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and nitrogen oxides per passenger mile than an automobile with a single occupant.

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➢ Increased fuel efficiency Along with reducing air pollution, public transportation is also more fuel efficient per passenger mile, which contributes to an overall decrease in the amount of energy necessary for transportation. ➢ Reduced traffic congestion When people switch to public transportation then the usage of private vehicle/ transport will lessen, reducing traffic congestion. It will also reduce the air pollution. It will help people to avoid stress from daily driving. ➢ Saves money: Taking public transportation instead of owning a second vehicle can help save (on average) money. Individuals who ride in public transport instead of driving the primary vehicle can save them a significant amount of money each month in exchange of avoided gas, maintenance, parking, and other expenses. ➢ Increases mobility: People who don’t want to drive and don’t know how to drive vehicle, public transportation allows them to get to work, to school, to the grocery store or doctor’s office, or just to visit friends, without having to engage a friend or relative to do the driving.

10.1 Public Transport Operations ➢

Infrastructure: All public transport runs on infrastructure, either on roads, rail, airways or seaways. The infrastructure can be shared with other modes, freight and private transport, or it can be dedicated to public transport. The latter is especially valuable in cases where there are capacity problems for private transport. Investments in infrastructure are expensive and make up a substantial part of the total costs in systems that are new or expanding. Once built, the infrastructure will require operating and maintenance costs, adding to the total cost of public transport. Sometimes governments subsidize infrastructure by providing it free of charge, just as is common with roads for automobiles.

➢

Interchanges Interchanges are locations where passengers can switch from one public transport route to another. This may be between vehicles of the same mode (like a bus interchange), or e.g. between bus and train. It can be between local and intercity transport (such as at a central station or airport).

➢

Timetables Timetables (or 'schedules' in North American English) are provided by the transport operator to allow users to plan their journeys. They are often supplemented by maps and

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fare schemes to help travellers coordinate their travel. Online public transport route planners help make planning easier.

Mobile apps are available for multiple transit systems that provide timetables and other service information and, in some cases, allow ticket purchase, some allowing to plan your journey, with time fares zones. ➢

Financing The main sources of financing are ticket revenue, government subsidies and advertising. The percentage of revenue from passenger charges is known as the farebox recovery ratio. A limited amount of income may come from land development and rental income from stores and vendors, parking fees, and leasing tunnels and rights-of-way to carry fibre optic communication lines.

➢

Safety and security Relative to other forms of transportation, public transit is safe (with a low crash risk) and secure (with low rates of crime). The injury and death rate for public transit is roughly onetenth that of automobile travel.

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11. CUSTOMS SERVICES Customs is an authority or agency in-country responsible for collecting tariffs (Tax) and for controlling the flow of goods.

Customs authority charges Custom duties and other taxes on import and export goods.

Customs Clearance: Custom Clearance is the act of passing goods through customs so that they can enter or leave the country. A document given by Customs to Shipper to show that Customs duty has been paid and the goods can be shipped.

Customs duties are paid at the time of import and export the goods.

11.1 Customs Documents ➢ Export Document • Purchase order from Buyer • Sales invoice • Packing List • Bill of Lading (If shipment done through Sea/ Ocean Freight) Or Air way Bill (AWB) • Certificate of Origin • Other Specific Documentation as specified by the buyer or as required by the financial institution or LC (Letter of Credit) or as per importing Country regulations ➢ Import Documents • Purchase Order from Buyer • Sales invoice of Shipper • Bill of Entry • Bill of Lading or AWD • Packing List • Certificate of Origin • Other Specific documentation required by the buyer or financial institution or the importing country regulations Customs agents prepare the document of shipping bills in the house for submission while the rest of the documents are obtained from the client. Customs clearance agents are also called carrying and forwarding agents.

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Custom Clearance Area of Operations and Authorities: o o o

Sea Ports Air Ports Border gateways (which are essentially the exit and entry points for people and cargo movements into and out of the country)

Shipping Bills: Shipping Bill/ Bill of Export is the main document required by the Customs Authority for allowing shipment. A shipping bill is issued by the shipping agent and represents some kind of certificate for all parties, including ship's owner, seller, buyer and some other parties. Shipping Bill involves classification of Cargo under a specific classification that is a critical activity in the entire process.

Bill of Lading: A bill of lading (BL) is a legal document issued by a carrier to a shipper that details the type, quantity, and destination of the goods being carried. A bill of lading also serves as a shipment receipt when the carrier delivers the goods at a predetermined destination.

Packing List: A Packing list is a detailed document that states all of the product and packaging details contained in each shipment. Shippers must create a compliant packing list document to be used by parties along the supply chain.

Certificate of Origin: A certificate of origin (CO) is a document declaring in which country a commodity or good was manufactured. The certificate of origin contains information regarding the product, its destination, and the country of export. Required by many treaty agreements for cross-border trade, the CO is an important form because it can help determine whether certain goods are eligible for import, or whether goods are subject to duties.

Bill of Entry: A bill of entry is a legal document that is filed by importers or customs clearance agents on or before the arrival of imported goods. It’s submitted to the customs department as a part of the customs clearance procedure. It states the exact nature, precise quantity and value of goods that have landed or are being shipped out.

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11.2 Customs Process

Shipping Agents: ● ● ●

Forward ship arrival reports, manifest and container list.

Customs officer validate data and issue ship arrival report number.

Receive ship arrival report number

Importer/ Broker ● ●

Forward import declaration.

Bank receives payment and verify data then issue declaration and payment number.

At Port: ● ● ●

Shipper contact warehouse owner for release of goods.

If the green line is indicated (all ok) then warehouse owner release the cargo.

If Red Line is indicated (something wrong/incomplete) then go for cargo inspection and later release the cargo.

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12. EXIM EXIM Policy or Foreign Trade Policy is a set of guidelines and instructions established by DGFT (Directorate General of Foreign Trade) in matters related to the import and export of goods.

Exim banks are government or semi-government agencies that ensure the safety and growth of countries foreign trade.

12.1 Objective of the EXIM Policy Government imports control on-essential items through the Exim policy. At the same time, all efforts are made to promote exports.

Two aspects of Exim policy: o o

The Import policy, which is concerned with the regulation and management of imports The Export policy, which is concerned with exports not only promotion but also regulations

12.2 Import and Export Procedures 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Establish company, open business bank account and apply for export, import license Contact with buyers and make offers Send Samples to your overseas buyers Confirm the order from buyer and receive money a. Issue the“Performa Invoice” and request the first payment Prepare order to your customer Final inspection by buyer before shipping and Final Payment Receive balance payment against Bill of Lading and test report copy Send all the original docs to your customer and support him

12.3 Documentation in Export Import 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Performa Invoice (PI): State the value per unit for the goods Sale – Purchase contract: Proof of purchase – sale between parties Packing List Bill of lading/ Air way bill Certificate of Origin: Lower the import duties. It is required by some countries for all or only certain products

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a. A certificate of origin (CO) is a document declaring in which country a commodity or good was manufactured. The certificate of origin contains information regarding the product, its destination, and the country of export 2. CE Certificate: CE marking is a certification mark that indicates conformity with health, safety, and environmental protection standards for products sold within the European Economic Area (EEA) 3. Material Safety Data Sheet (MSD): Material Safety Data Sheet issued by the exporter and must confirm that product is not harmful to humans and nature. This doc is usually required for liquid as well as semi liquid products.

4. Freight insurance certificate

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13. SUPPLY CHAIN FINANCE

Supply Chain Finance is set of solutions that optimizes cash flow by allowing businesses to lengthen their payment terms to their suppliers while providing the option for their large and SME (Supply Chain Management Expert) shippers to be paid early.

It allows the parties to optimize payment terms, make better use of working capital, shrink the cash-conversion cycle and provide crucial liquidity in the face of economic uncertainty.

Liquidity Planning is part of the near-term finance planning with the task of the exact, daily coordination between in and out payments. This exists at the liquidity planning intersections to success investment, production and storage planning.

Advantages ● ●

●

●

●

The supplier has its invoices paid earlier; therefore, it gets easier to manage the cash flow and reduce the errors in cost receivables management.

Useful for small companies that have large groups of clients. It helps develop long term durable business relation as the big company helps the smaller ones, and avails monetary benefits by doing so.

For ordering party: The reverse factoring permits all the suppliers to gather in one financer and this allows to pay one company instead of many, which makes invoicing management easy.

For Finance: You can work directly with big ordering parties; it means that instead of going after each and every supplier of that company, you can reach all the suppliers faster and do business easily.

It allows the parties to optimize payment terms, make better use of working capital, shrink the cash-conversion cycle and provide crucial liquidity in the face of economic uncertainty.

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13.1 Freight Payment Audit Freight bill auditing provides companies an immediate return in investments.

A freight audit vendor is, therefore, the one who examines, adjusts and verifies freight bills for accuracy.

13.1.1 Process:

The shipper negotiates contracts with one or more carriers to ship products around the country or around the global world. Then hire Freight bill payment as well as auditing companies to review contact, rates and tariffs and audit incoming invoices.

The audit ensures the bill’s validity, check mileage, accessorial charges and tariff usage verifies if it is correct customer’s invoice to pay, and confirms that the bill is not duplicate.

Freight Claim Settlement: A Freight claim or cargo claim is a legal demand by a shipper or consignee against a carrier in respect of damage to a shipment or loss.

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13.2 Cargo Insurance Cargo Insurance provides coverage against all risks of physical loss or damage to freight during the shipment from any external cause during shipping, whether by land, sea or air.

Also, known as Freight Insurance, it covers transits carried out in the water, air, road, rail, registered post parcel, and courier. Cargo insurance is important in international trade.

Businesses need cargo insurance to reduce the risk of importing and exporting. Cargo insurance is covered under risk policy or floating policies.

Importance of Cargo Insurance: Cargo insurance has coverage of loss or damage caused by war, civil war, revolution, rebellion, insurrection or civil strife or any hostile act, capture, seizure, arrest, restraint detainment, general average and salvage charges, strikes, riots, etc.

Trade coverage covers the insurance needs of the various type of cargoes of general nature.

Advantages of Cargo Insurance: ● ●

●

Cargo Insurance or Freight Insurance benefits local and international trade.

90% of international cargo transportation is carried out by the sea. Again, the overwhelming amount of sea transportation is handled via containers utilizing state of art container vessels.

In export-import business every time, you need to invest a big chunk of money to ship the product but it is quite often seen that business owner ignores the importance of cargo insurance due to which sometimes they have to suffer from the loss.

Aspects are covered under the benefits of this insurance: ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Damages due to inappropriate packing Infestation (Damage due to insect or animals) Cargo abandonment (not accepted/ rejected) Customs rejection Damages due to Collison Damages due to Heavy weather, Sinking, Derailment Non-delivery Theft Fire

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Risks Covered by Cargo Insurance: ● ● ● ● ● ●

Fire Lightning (Electric Shock) Explosion Riot, strikes, malicious damage Impact by any rail /road vehicle Storm, cyclone flood, inundation ● Earth-quake, burglary of accidental physical loss or damage

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14. FUTURISTIC DISRUPTIVE SUPPLY CHAINS From the implementation of Industry 4.0, the increased importance of being sustainable, the rise of supply chain technology or blockchain, the 2010s saw some significant changes to the supply chain.As we enter 2020, we begin not just a new year but a new decade. However, no matter what side of the argument you agree with, we can expect to see new and existing technologies continuing to play a significant role within the supply chain in the coming years. For this reason, we have dug out a few technology innovations to see what the supply chain technology trends in the industry could be for the coming year.

1. Big Data: With the world moving towards the Industry 4.0 Standard, the number of machines, processes, and services generating and collecting large quantities of data will increase greatly in the future. Big Data, processes enormous amounts of data that cannot be processed with conventional computation techniques. To uncover patterns in the huge amounts of data and gain valuable insights on it, Big Data Analytics is devised.

Supply Chain is a significant contributor to Big Data wherein the diversity of information is huge. The data accumulated by Supply Chain contains information from the key entities such as manufacturing, logistics, and retail. The use of Big Data Analytics on a collection of such copious data sets can cultivate a proactive decision-making approach for predicting key opportunities and risks in Supply Chain. Prescriptive Analytics finds application data from processes such as Manufacturing, Logistics, Transportation and Warehousing along with newly introduced processes such as Cyber-Physical Systems in the Industry 4.0 trend.

Application: Predictive analytics helps in Procurement, Risk assessment, Risk Management, Forecasting. Predictive Analytics in Big Data can help in identification of Supply Chain risks by analyzing large volumes of historical data and risk mapping techniques. Appropriate predictions of the risks can help develop tools and techniques so as to minimize the effect of the potential risk. •Improving Traceability in Supply Chain: Improved Traceability ensures better tracking of goods from Improved traceability can help in integrating the different supply chain entities and maintain a better flow of goods. Better tracking capabilities give better control over the

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supply chain processes. The ability to quickly and flexibly meet customer fulfilment objectives is rated the second most important driver of competitive advantage across all industries. Embedding Big Data analytics in operations can have an impact on organizations’ reaction time to Supply Chain issues and can lead to a 4.25x improvement in order-to-cycle delivery times Descriptive Analytics has the widest scope in terms of the number of processes in a system. Descriptive analytics helps in the development of effective and summarizing reports on raw data that is easy for human interpretation. The data used for descriptive analytics is mostly the historical data customer demands. Moreover, a company’s reputation can be affected due to partial fulfilment or not improving predictions on customer needs: Companies can lose their customers if it fails to fulfil the fulfilling orders.

In the age of the customer, offering the right product, to the right person at the right time and place is key to gaining (or retaining) customer satisfaction and loyalty. Smart organizations will leverage Big Data to get a full 360-degree view of your customer to better predict customer needs, understand personal preferences, and create a unique brand experience. •Improving Efficiency of Supply Chain: Making use of Big Data analytics for appropriate, a Cost efficiency, Cost reduction and spend analytics will continue as top business priorities in Supply Chain ecosystem, which is achieved through working on the data and creating comparison from the whole market.

2. Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning: Artificial intelligence is already powerful, and continuing to grow. In the supply chain and logistics industry, AI/ML is proving to be a gamechanger. When bundled with associated technologies such as ML, the Internet of Things (IoT), and predictive analytics, algorithms become more powerful. Access to additional data gives companies a better picture of their global logistics networks. This degree of transparency is critical because it acknowledges that the way we think about supply chain management and logistics is changing.

Application: Predictive Capabilities are helping Demand forecasting. When inventory lags demand, companies suffer losses. AI is ramping up efficiencies in network planning and predictive demand, allowing merchandize to become more proactive.

Chatbots are redefining customer support. Customer engagements can be handled by bots through AI. AI can personalize the relationship between customers and logistics providers.

Demand Sensing is used by suppliers of transportation where the app use Machine learning to better incorporate competitor pricing data, weather data to improve demand

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forecasts, also these systems have a natural feedback loop which improvises the data accuracy.

Smart Warehouses with fully automated facility where most work is done through automation or software. Thus operations become cost-effective. For machines are being trained to box the customer order.

DataAlgorithms are improving delivery times and reducing cost. In the logistics business, time is money. Companies can use a route planner based on genetic algorithms to map out optimal routes for deliveries.

3. Block Chain: Blockchain has been applied to many challenges of the Supply Chain industry such as complicated record-keeping and tracking of products. As a less corruptible and better-automated alternative to centralized databases. The blockchain technology has properties of decentralization, transparency, and immutability. As such, it is the perfect tool to use for the disruption of the supply chain management industry.

Application: Provenance Tracking: In a blockchain-based supply chain management, record keeping and provenance tracking become easy as the product information can be accessed through the help of embedded sensors and RFID tags. The history of a product right from its origination to where it is in the present time can be traced through blockchain.

Moreover, this type of accurate provenance tracking can be used to detect frauds in any part of the supply chain.

Cost Reduction: The real-time tracking of a product in a supply chain with the help of blockchain reduces the overall cost of moving items in a supply chain. When blockchain is applied to speed up administrative processes in supply chains, the extra costs occurring in the system are automatically reduced while still guaranteeing the security of transactions.

The elimination of the middlemen and intermediaries in the supply chain saves the risks of frauds, product duplicity and saves money too. Payments can be processed by customers and suppliers within the supply chain by using cryptocurrencies rather than customers and suppliers rather than relying on EDI. Moreover, efficiency will be improved and the risk of losing products will be reduced with accurate recordkeeping.

Establishing Trust: Having trust in complex supply chains with many participants is necessary for smooth operations. For example, when a manufacturer shares his products with suppliers, he/she should be able to depend on them for following factory safety standards. Also, when it comes to regulatory compliances such as custom enforcers, trust plays a vital role. The immutable nature of blockchain in the supply chain is well-designed to prevent tampering and establishing trust. One of the most appealing benefits of using blockchain for data is that it allows the data to be more interoperable. Due to this, it

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becomes easier for companies to share information and data with manufacturers, suppliers, and vendors. Transparency in Blockchain helps reduce delays and disputes while preventing goods from getting stuck in the supply chain. As each product can be tracked in real-time, the chances of misplacements are rare.

Scalability: Blockchain offers scalability through which any large database is accessible from multiple locations from around the world. It also provides higher standards of security and the ability to customize according to the data feed. Moreover, blockchain can be created in a private manner too which will allow the data to be accessed explicitly between the parties who have the permission for it.

Other than these, a few other benefits of adopting Blockchain technology in the supply chain industry are: ● ● ● ● ● ●

Reduce or eliminate fraud and errors Improve inventory management Minimize courier costs Reduce delays from paperwork Identify issues faster Increase consumer and partner trust

4. Cobots: A Cobot is a collaborative robot, one that works with a human to help that human complete tasks. Cobots are becoming more prevalent in e-commerce distribution and fulfilment, as organizations look to make their warehouses more efficient and shore up labour gaps, especially going into the busy holiday season.

Application: The most common use of Cobots in distribution and fulfilment is to improve efficiency by picking. Instead of workers walking long paths around a warehouse to make their picks, the robots "cover the travel distance". Goods-to-robot picking uses 2D, 2.5D, or 3D vision along with End-of-Arm tooling to create picking solutions. The robot more efficiently identifies and pick items than humans performing the same tasks.

Cobots are being used in e-commerce to improve delivery times. Same-day delivery, even delivery in a few hours is now achievable, thanks to Cobots. Distribution centres use artificial intelligence to help predict demand and be ready. ● ● ● ● ● ●

Save associate travel time between product zones.

Cluster items for delivery to associates.

Allow for hand-free packing as the associate doesn’t need a scanner.

Woodworkers getting a break from the tedium of sanding.

Dairy farms using cobots to prepare cows for milking.

Farmers using cobots to harvest hydroponic or cannabis crops.

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5. Extended Reality XR (AR/VR/MR): XR is an umbrella term that includes virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR). XR technologies are no longer just gimmicks for generating buzz. They’re widely used in many business solutions. XR has the potential to solve major challenges in supply chain management. Mixed reality simulations help train employees and get everyone on the same page. New technology can shorten how long it takes to develop a product, lower the cost of managing a factory, and organize how orders are fulfilled. With unified, well-trained staff, the companies can meet market demands and increase its’ productivity.

Application: Shorten Product Development Cycle: Keeping up with fast-changing market demands while staying competitive can be difficult. Products must be released when the market has an interest. To do so, manufacturers have to shorten the time it takes to develop a product. XR enables a hands-on, visual way for teams to communicate and act smartly on any mishaps.

Lower Manufacturing and Operating Costs: It takes time and money to update and maintain a factory. Sending personnel in for upgrades or maintenance has safety risks. By using XR, workers can see the factory before entering the space. In the XR environment, engineers can test an upgrade without shutting down production. Additionally, workers can learn the space before entering it, reducing safety risks.

Streamline Warehousing and Fulfillment: Today’s consumers expect fast shipping. To keep up with customer demand, companies might have warehouses in many locations.

Knowing the warehouse is often key to making it run smoothly. With XR visuals, managers can monitor the distributor centres and warehouses at different locations. When using visual reality, managers are able to see the space. This visual helps them coordinate the warehouse’s stock without being in-site. Additionally, XR can help warehouse employees manage their jobs. Smart glasses can recognize products, identify barcodes, show the factory layout, and more. Even an untrained worker can efficiently navigate the warehouse.

Increase Employee Productivity: Employee training, especially in manufacturing, can be a time-consuming and costly process. Too often, companies have to buy new equipment or close down the plant to train the employees. Having inexperienced workers operate complicated, costly, and something dangerous equipment can impact productivity. Using XR, more employees can be trained at the same time.

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6. Autonomous Vehicle: Autonomous Vehicles have shown great potential for improving existing, high-demand transportation services, moving everything from passengers to packages. It is certain that the transportation technology is in the midst of a revolution and autonomous vehicles are now the buzzword in the logistics industry. Advanced technologies are constantly improving the effectiveness of current transportation methods and these new developments re-shape mobility. A combination of developments in sophisticated computer navigation, GPS technology, camera technology, and sensor technology have made it possible for vehicles to be driven without human intervention.

Application: Cost reduction: The digitization and automation of processes and delivery vehicles will reduce logistics costs for standardized transport drastically. These savings will be attributable to the reduction of personnel in the transport and logistics industry.

Furthermore, there is a huge increase in inefficiency. For example, Autonomous lorries will be able to travel more from 2030 onward since there will be no breaks for drivers and idling time will be reduced through the use of algorithms.

Impactful distribution: Autonomous vehicles also significantly impact distribution and production centres. Previously, distribution centres were built on cheaper land where highways and human resources were easily accessible. However, with the changing consumer requirements, speedier delivery times are needed. Hence, these large centres need to be closer to the end consumer. In fact, distribution centres are becoming smaller since companies want to be located close to multiple cities instead of just distributing from one central location. It has been estimated that rent costs will increase, which will most likely be offset by reducing costs in implementing autonomous transportation during the final mile of delivery.

Improved Safety: People were quick to jump to the conclusion that using such technology in the logistics industry is unsafe. However, that would be ignoring the real success rate.

Hence, by eliminating driver-related errors, autonomous cars significantly improve vehicle safety and ensure that the goods reach the destination safely.

Solving the driver shortage issue: The logistics industry suffers from a shortage of drivers.

Even though many worries that self-driving vehicles will take human jobs, statistics indicate there currently aren’t actually enough people to fill those available roles.

Actually, companies that rely on trucks to ship their products throughout the nation and the world are likely to encourage the increased production of these vehicles. Due to the desire to save money combined with a lack of drivers, it seems that there will be more enthusiastic demand for autonomous trucks in the near future.

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7. UAV: While personal drones are still in its experimental stages, companies in the supply chain in general and in the logistics industry, in particular, have already been using drones for years now. UAVs are equipped with wireless communications and data analysis software, allowing them to track the location of a person using data from their smartphone before completing the delivery.

Application: Yard management: Drones are used to identify the location of trailers, shipping containers, and other assets in hard to reach areas. Equipped to carry GPS, RFID, OCR, and barcode readers, the drones can fly overhead to quickly locate and identify assets that have been tagged in a yard or port.

Healthcare Supply Chain: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) can be strategically used to increase the availability and access to lifesaving health commodities and fill significant service gaps in the public health supply chain. UAVs can address some of the most common health logistics challenges by circumventing problematic infrastructure on the ground, speeding up delivery processes, and making supply chains more responsive. The majority of UAVs used in health supply chain delivery have been small or mini-sized devices weighing approximately 5-15 kg.

Warehouse: In warehouses, drones are used for accelerating inventory counting, optimizing paths around a warehouse when pulling inventory, and for improving worker safety. Scanning inventory, particularly on high shelves, is much faster with a drone scanning RFIDs/Barcodes. And it is much safer as it eliminates the need for workers to scale industrial shelving.

Delivery: The last mile of delivery can be the most expensive and problematic. Drones seem a natural fit for getting packages to customers in that last mile. Several companies are trying using drones in tandem with delivery trucks to reduce gas costs and speed up deliveries. This concept could be used as well with railway lines, with drones taking off for a delivery without a rail-car needing to slow or stop.

Surveillance: Drones are being used in surveillance to perform facility and warehouse safety inspections. They are also used to inspect cargo ships as they are easier and faster to manoeuvre than workers, particularly on the outside of the hull. Corrosion and damage can more readily be identified and fixed - with drones themselves at times used to carry out repairs. UAVs may offer a cheaper alternative to conventional aircraft where shipments of high-frequency, low-weight items are concerned. Capitalizing on this for cold chain products seems like an obvious move. Of course, the technology is the limiting factor: battery life and low payload prevent goods of reasonable size being delivered any meaningful distance. Improving Risk Assessment in Supply Chain: Predictive Analytics is a major part of Big Data Analytics.

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8. Digital Twin: A digital representation of the end-to-end supply chain enables you to fully explore options, assess risks and evaluate trade-offs to speed or automate decisions. The digital twin concept combines the ideas of modelling and the Internet of Things (IoT). The digital twin concept has most often been applied to assets. A piece of machinery generates data on vibrations, heat, pressure, and other things as well. That data is used to predict asset failure and to apply preventative maintenance to make sure that an unplanned failure does not occur. A digital twin allows companies to realize the theoretical ability to sense, shape and respond to customer-demand variability in real-time.

Application: On the supply side, the twin can predict and prescribe planning remedies such as freeing up capacity or booking additional external capacity. In a cost-intensive, high precision industry, the twin considers factors as compliance and supplier quality.

On the fulfilment side, companies are already piloting driverless trucks that are outfitted with operational sensors, radio frequency identification (RFID), electronic parts catalogues and barcodes. Using digital twin technology, logistics partners can apply predictive maintenance techniques to ensure better fleet management, minimize supply disruptions, and ensure timely deliveries. ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Understanding supply chain dynamics and behaviour Bottleneck discovery Testing supply chain design changes and development Monitoring risk and testing contingencies Transportation planning Inventory optimization Cash to serve and cost to serve analysis Forecasting and testing operations over the coming days and weeks

9. IOT: In the supply chain, Internet of Things devices are an effective way to track and authenticate products and shipments using GPS and other technologies. IoT devices have revolutionized supply chain ecosystem. They can also monitor the storage conditions of products which enhances quality management throughout the supply chain. It’s much easier to understand where goods are, how they are being stored and when they can be expected at a specific location.

Application: Authenticate the Location of Goods at Any Time: IoT devices can be attached to specific storage containers or to raw materials or products themselves. The IoT device will transmit its location, which can be picked up by GPS satellites and used to track the movement of goods.

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Track Speed of Movement and When Goods Will Arrive: Tracking speed of movement and the traffic flow of products makes it much easier to predict how goods will move through the supply chain. Suppliers, manufacturers and distribution centres can prepare to receive goods, which reduces handling times and ensures the efficient processing of materials.

Locate Goods in Storage: Goods can remain tagged with IoT devices when they are in a distribution centre. This can make it much easier to find specific products within a large warehouse and ensures accurate identification and management of goods.

Monitoring Storage Conditions at warehouses: Some goods like food and chemicals need to be stored in ideal conditions. Specialist IoT devices can monitor areas like temperature, humidity, exposure to an atmosphere, light intensity and other environmental factors.

These devices may even trigger an alarm if certain thresholds are breached. This makes it much easier to track the quality of goods through the supply chain and to reduce spoilage.

Track and Trace: Supply chains that require a high degree of synchronization will see significant improvements with 5G. Consider inbound-to-manufacturing in the automotive industry. Today, companies employ significant manual controls around the sequencing of goods to reach the assembly line.

Managing Shipment Exceptions: Goods tracking and route planning through IoT devices can identify where and when goods are delayed in transit. This allows for contingency planning and alternative routes to speed up the supply chain.

Product Monitoring: Network slicing capability allows 5G bandwidth to be divided among devices that don't require the entire capacity. 5G can connect in a highly dense environment, up to 1 million sensors per square kilometre, according to Gartner. 5G enabled sensors will allow for tracking smaller items than what can be economically monitored with current technology.

Administer Goods Immediately Upon Receipt: Verified tracking through IoT devices means that SCM can validate exactly when goods arrive. This can trigger other administrative tasks like supplier payments or onward shipping requests.

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15. SUMMARY Many people believe the operating core of supply chain management is that of relationships with the suppliers and buyers including the end consumers. Hence, the external business relationship management for a company has become the centre-piece of today’s and arguably the future’s supply chain management. In recent years, Transport and Logistics service providers have watched markets deteriorate in Europe, North America and Japan due to trade lanes with long histories of profitability suffer weakening volumes, adapting to emerging markets.

Transport and Logistics are very important in the overall development of any country and they are very crucial in the production process, which is not complete until the products are in the hands of the final consumers. Generally, the importance of transport and logistics in the overall development of any country cannot be overemphasized since it is a key factor in all aspects of development. There are hardly any aspects of a nation’s development in transport and logistics are not an essential ingredient since there is always the need to collect, assemble, transfer and distribute goods, services and people from one area to another. Their roles are very crucial and a phase in production process, which is not complete until the commodity, is in the hands of the final consumer. Transport and logistics industry in every society be it underdeveloped, developing and developed are both concerned with the safe and efficient movement of people and products from one geographical location to another. Every product that is imported and exported passes through the logistics supply chain. Researchers have identified the availabilities of transport and logistics facilities as a crucial investment factor that stimulate economic growth through increased accessibility, its efficiency and effectiveness all of which affect the basic function of production, distribution, marketing and consumption in many ways and also influence the cost of commodity consumed and the purchasing power of consumers. When the transport and logistics facilities are in place, it will ensure an efficient movement of agricultural products, industrial raw materials, finished and semi-finished products from the point of production to the market centres as well as people from their home to work, market, recreation and religious centres among other places.

Every mode of transport, from planes, helicopters, trains and luxurious buses to large goods vehicles, vans, ships, private cars and taxis, requires a driver or pilot. In addition, a vast number of people in these industries work in support roles, including operational, distribution and transport managers, planners and schedulers all of whom are involved in co-coordinating people and goods; safety specialists suchas air traffic controllers, driving instructors and examiners, railway station assistants, conductors and signalers who all ensure that vehicle operators are following strict health and safety regulations; customer service personnel who take reservations, answer queries and act as the public face of the transport and logistics sector; warehouse personnel who select, package and prepare items for delivery.

Thus, the Transport and Logistics Industry in sync, can boost supply chain which results in the better economic growth.

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