Training in Logistics and the Freight Transport Industry

The Experience of the European Project ADAPT-FIT

Alfonso Morvillo, Gennaro Ferrara

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781351729710
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Transportation & Navigation
• Index: Technology & Engineering

This title was first published in 2002. In the last few decades, relationships within the transport and logistics industry have become more complex due to the rising importance of information and communication technology, the growth of just-in-time delivery and increasing globalization. Such changes call for new forms of training, both managerial and vocational, for the continued development of the industry. This detailed and enterprising volume focuses on the transnational integrated training FIT Project (Formazione Integrata Transnazionale) set up within the European Programme ADAPT, which brought together academics and professionals to boost transport and logistics in Southern Italy. The project highlights cultural, motivational and training differences among the companies studied and suggests proper strategies for human resource development. Through an original methodology, it advocates an innovative and modular training programme to meet the needs of expertise and flexibility within the sector. The results can be used by the industry in general as best practice operative guidelines.

Part I
Training in Logistics and Freight Transport: Background

Chapter 1
Trends in Logistics and Freight Transport in Italy: Implications on Training Needs

Alfonso Morvillo

Introduction

The issues related to training in the transport industry should be supported by a thorough analysis of the strategic and innovative elements that have marked the evolution of freight transport. Since the demand for transport is of a derived type, structural modifications in the sector are influenced by significant changes which have affected the manufacturing and distribution processes.

The globalisation of sourcing and consumer markets, the decentralisation of production, the concentration of warehouses and distribution centres and just-in-time have made the economic system highly transport-intensive. Indeed, in the last few decades the role of transport in the context of production processes has grown considerably, above all in Western countries. More recently, in the light of innovations relating to the development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), the concept of transport has gone further in the widest sense of logistics.

Transport facilitates the flow of materials between diverse nodal points in the logistics cycle of the manufacturing firm, in three separate stages: inbound, internal and outbound. While on the one hand its economic importance is reduced because of lower costs and greater strategic weight is given to other logistics activities, on the other hand the impact of just-in-time has increased its importance.

Just-in-time forces companies to produce and deliver exclusively in 'response to demand', with the aim of reducing stocks and, hence, lead time along the entire logistics chain. To this end, timing in raw materials' supply for production purposes and the delivery of finished goods becomes fundamental. The time factor is crucial and, consequently, so is transport (de Langen, 1999). Reliability, flexibility and frequency are increasingly viewed as critical success factors in transport which, in turn, influences the quality of supply and production time, and also how the service is perceived by customers.

On the supply side, the transport system is becoming increasingly complex, with more and more agents and activities interacting to ensure the swift and efficient flow of freight. Within this context, what emerges is that the business philosophy adopted by firms on the demand side is also undergoing radical change. Traditionally, relations between supply and demand were steered by the concept of effectiveness, and the objective of the transport operator was to manage freight handling according to the contractual terms (time delivery, costs, etc.). Today, there is greater complexity in the demand for transport, in the sense that logistics services other than transport are widely required. This has led to dramatic changes in the negotiations and contractual relations between shipper and carrier. Service efficiency, including all its components, is gaining ever-increasing significance.

The aim is therefore to offer a service which integrates the whole supply-production-distribution cycle by including support activities and managing the information flow, with a view to minimising costs in the logistics chain. Thus, the more complex the system becomes, the greater the need for transport operators who are professionally trained and are capable of understanding and managing the ever-changing demands of the market.

The Role of Logistics in the Transformation of Transport Business

The first logistics approaches were adopted by manufacturing and commercial firms of mass consumer goods, where logistics costs tended to have a high impact on total running costs. Subsequently, they were extended to other firms on the strength of the following factors (Ferrozzi et al., 1985):

• ♦ a higher number of products and increased competition, leading to greater attention to consumer needs and the quality of service;
• ♦ globalisation of markets and decentralisation of production;
• ♦ stock reduction for just-in-time and gradual movement upstream of stocks, with a consequent increase in logistics problems;
• ♦ technological innovations in the field of ICT and transport which have lowered management costs of physical and information flows. Lower transport costs, together with stock reduction, have made the economic system progressively transport-intensive.

In the 1960s, as a result of the increased number of references and the fall in demand, company strategy focused on sales and on physical distribution. It was here that the conceptualisation of logistics began, though it was limited to the management of warehouses and deliveries to customers (outgoing transport). The crisis of the 1970s, which led to the rise in the cost of raw materials, highlighted the importance of procurements. Accordingly, the concept of logistics as a cross-function became increasingly significant in the search for efficiency, not only in distribution but also in procurements and production. The intense global competition of the 1980s forced companies to pursue the quality differential factor of products and services. In this respect, logistics moves from a tactical (cost optimisation) to a strategic role, adding value to products via service elements. Finally, from the 1990s onwards, the mission of companies has focused on the creation of value for the customers, giving rise to the need for the integration of logistics activities in a system designed to achieve both efficiency and effectiveness.

Logistics, therefore, has taken on a cross-functional role which, in making use of ICT, co-ordinates different company functions which until then were complementary yet separately managed (Stevens, 1989). The concept of integrated logistics begins to assert itself first in large enterprises, and then in smaller ones. The systemic and integrated approach of logistics becomes widespread and leads to the development of the concept of Supply Chain Management (SCM).

According to this approach, integration goes beyond the single company to include all the companies in the supply chain, from the raw materials supplier to the end consumer, with a view to identifying and exploiting the integrated management capability of the activities along the entire chain. In other words, the actors involved (suppliers, producers and distributors) converge in a single chain, the final aim of which is to provide customers with high value added products, services and information (Christopher, 1992).

SCM, therefore, is an even wider concept than logistics itself; it concerns not only the logistics process of a firm but all the organisations that take part in the management of the chain flows and related processes (Schary and Larsen, 1995).

SCM can be seen as a network or firms which interact to provide the final customer with the product and/or required servi...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• List of Contributors
• Foreword
• PART I: TRAINING IN LOGISTICS AND FREIGHT TRANSPORT: BACKGROUND
• PART II: PLANNING AND EXECUTION OF A TRAINING PROJECT IN THE INDUSTRY: METHODOLOGY, RESULTS AND IMPLICATIONS
• Index