Browsing: Logistics & Supply Chain

Recruiting, retaining and motivating staff is a long-standing problem for logistics operations, made more acute, in the UK at least, by the current relatively high levels of employment. What makes a company good to work for?

This month acquisition activity has focused around global Swiss logistics provider Kuehne + Nagel International.

Inventory management used to be about lean systems and JIT but accurate real time information is now more essential as demand-driven supply networks come on-stream. Perhaps one day, stock-outs really will be consigned to history.

The engineering sector is late on the supply chain bandwagon but the challenge of low cost overseas manufacturing means logistics is fast moving up the agenda. What does the future hold?

The Engineering and General Manufacturing sector has made a comeback this year, with Rexam Beverage Can Europe & Asia taking the top prize in The European Supply Chain Excellence Awards 2005.

‘Managing a business is really about managing the supply chain,’ says the global operations director of De La Rue Cash Systems.

In recent weeks I have been able to meet a broad cross-section of European logistics professionals during the autumn round of conferences in Central and Western Europe.

After the hype, many feel disillusioned with RFID but the technology continues to move ahead as prices fall and trials proliferate.