In today’s dynamic, omnichannel economy, customers demand last-mile delivery as well as the convenience of buying anywhere. In order to meet customers’ expectations, it’s crucial to optimize and streamline logistics and supply chain operations. Any breakdowns in delivery pipelines quickly threaten your bottom line and brand reputation.
The compounding factor is that today’s supply chains are increasingly complex, necessitating end-to-end visibility. Other factors vital to supply chain success include good vendor and supplier relationships and effective cost control. At the center of all this is logistics management.
The terms logistics and supply chain management are often used interchangeably. However, supply chain management is an overarching concept involving collaboration between multiple partners, including manufacturers, distributors, suppliers, and customers. On the other hand, logistics involves the optimization of physical, informational, and human workflow processes.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LOGISTICS AND SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT?
In essence, supply chain management involves the movement of goods and information between different entities, while logistics focuses on the flow of goods and information within an entity; therefore, logistics functions as part of supply chain management.
Companies emphasize supply chain management to improve their competitive advantage, while the aim of logistics management is to enhance customer satisfaction. Ultimately, both processes are vital to a business’s bottom line and competitive edge.
The concept of supply chain management is based on two core ideas:
- Management of all processes that transform raw materials into finished goods
- Optimization of an enterprise’s supply-side activities to deliver products to customers at a competitive price
By optimizing the supply chain, companies can reduce unnecessary waste of resources and deliver products to the consumer faster. Supply chain management is a way to link major work processes within and across companies. It involves production planning and management of goods and services from the point of origin to the point of consumption.
As a subset of supply chain management, logistics can help improve operational efficiency and reduce costs. It involves strategic planning to meet consumer demand by managing the movement, storage, and handling of an organization’s goods, services, and information. The process can be divided into inbound logistics and outbound logistics.
Inbound logistics relates to the procurement of goods and involves the inflow of goods from suppliers to the warehouse, materials handling, storage, and transportation. However, if the movement of goods is from the company to its customers, it’s referred to as outbound logistics.
The role of logistics in supply chain management is to minimize enterprise expenses by increasing the overall value of a product, reducing actual losses while improving the quality of customer service. Logistics determine how well a business functions within a supply chain.
ENHANCING LOGISTICS AND SUPPLY CHAIN OPERATIONS
It’s impossible to imagine a logistics system that can function well without a warehouse management system (WMS). A WMS optimizes your warehousing operations right from suppliers to order fulfillment. DATASCOPE WMS can help manage supplies effectively by optimizing your inventory levels, making inventory management a faster, easier, plus a more efficient task. It allows you to manage inventory in real-time and helps to manage both inbound and outbound logistics processes.
Logistics management requires visibility into your business’s entire inventory so you can deliver products at the right time to the right place. DATASCOPE WMS is a software solution that offers real-time visibility, scalability, and market reactivity. It’s a tool designed to boost all your warehouse operations, from placing an order to timely delivery of the end product.
Warehouse management acts as the bridge between the customer and supplier. Your supply chain only functions as quickly and efficiently as your warehouse operations. With DATASCOPE WMS, you can effectively monitor the flow of goods and services. It provides good inventory management features and allows for order fulfillment optimization.
What’s more, DATASCOPE WMS integrates with several systems to connect all your logistics operations from end to end. The primary focus of supply chain management is to match supply with demand. If your internal logistics operations aren’t efficient, then your entire supply chain suffers for it. Your warehouse processes are an essential component of your supply chain. It’s crucial to manage, coordinate and monitor resources to ensure goods, services, and information move in a timely, cost-effective and reliable manner.
DATASCOPE WMS gives enterprises the tools needed to stay competitive by providing business intelligence solutions that allow you to keep up with customer demands while maintaining operational costs at a favorable level. Schedule a demo today.