Production Logistics

Manufacturing industry make the use of production logistics and it is a link between
procurement and distribution activities. It involves planning, management, handling and
goods mobility, finished and semi-finished goods, raw material, operating material, control of
internal storage, spare parts and other product acquired for the production within a company.
The business environment is actually evolving and the yesterday’s strategy become obsolete
today or evolve and adapt to imposing economic changes. It is the case with “production
logistics”; it is newly set up term, which already exists in the first industrial revolution when
come to mass production. One common history of the production logistics would be the year
1908, Henry Ford begins production on the Model T Ford. He uses the assembly line to build
the first affordable automobile. He was the first to pioneer the logistics system into assembly
line production and it was consider as the first image of supply chain.
Production logistics such as Logistics involves various logistics activities. These activities are
keys for effective and efficient flow within the production process. These manufacturing and
logistics activities are purchasing, procurement, demand management, manufacturing flow
management, and packaging.
The procurement and purchasing in the production are critical because the activities consists
of sourcing raw material for production. In fact, manufacturing industry uses supplier
relationship management to help forge relationship with suppliers and sometime a criterion is
apply for selection. Purchasing activities or department will mostly focus on prices of the raw
material and whether will it still be profitable after process completion. They do take
purchase order to the financial department for them to disapprove or acknowledge it. The
demand management intentionally focus on the forecasting demand of products; therefore
determine the production length and it suffice the whole market. The sales history is gain
from retailers through a contractual agreement and then manufacturing industries are able to
position toward market tendency.
The manufacturing flow management (MFM) is mostly concern with the production line and
whether operation are within the schedule planning. The different stages process may take
place the same company but in different countries that why an MFM is put in place. There are
four process strategies and they are process focus, repetitive focus, product focus, mass
customization. The process strategy help to establish prices that meet customer requirement
within cost and other managerial constraints.
Process strategy help identify the key processes of the business success and then facilities are
implemented to more effective and efficient flow. Repetitive strategy is based on assembly
line production, this whereby modules input (modules are parts of the product that need to be
process) are combined to produce many output options. The product focus strategy are
implementing facilities based onto the product specificities and could take long hours
production. The fourth and last strategy is mass customization; mass customization is
whereby customer get to have personalized product with lost cost according mass production
system.
Production logistics are inevitable for manufacturing business because it is facilitate the
product processing through well-revised access planning of the logistic embodiment, and this
create better structures, agility and dynamic within the whole supply chain.