Ask any distribution company about their logistics solution, and you’ll end up with a different answer for every one you ask. Each one claims to be more efficient and faster than the systems used by their competitors. Any logistic solution, however, should contain three components: warehousing and inventory management, kitting and assembly, and communication not only on the verbal level but also through tracking and management software. While logistics solutions vary with each company, an effective strategy should contain a combination of these features.
Warehousing and inventory management, the base of all logistics solutions, go beyond storing and transportation. While these two components are certainly important, they keep a strategy stagnant and stuck in the past. A warehouse should incorporate these two features but also development, research, procurement, management, and distribution to take its system to the next level.
Communication should also be another component in effectively running a warehouse and inventory management system. Communication should exist between the warehouse and the purchasing authorities or program managers for regular clients who use inventory and storage, particularly in regards to maintaining supplies to meet mission requirements.
With a warehouse and inventory fully maintained, the next step – kitting and assembly – should run smoothly. After all, all supplies are already in place. Packages that are put together by the distributor through kitting and assembly often need to meet certain requirements. In the case of tactical gear needed by this military, these are mission requirements. Kitting and assembly should be done quickly and accurately. Any package that is shipped must be double checked and inspected first.
These two components can work together to make an effective logistics strategy, but what sets certain logistics solutions from others is the technology involved. On a basic level, this may include tracking a package from start to finish. Total asset visibility software, on the other hand, provides more than this. Used to shorten the logistics pipeline, such software increases requisition efficiencies, reduces order redundancies, automates validation, delivers visibility and standardization to internal inventory, and monitors the requisition and funding processes. Additionally, such a system may be configured to be used with a customer’s or client’s business model.
