Article – winner of 1st place in the 4th edition of the “Piórem logistyka” competition.
Modern logistics is currently taking on the dimension of logistics networks. This is facilitated by, among other things, the rapid development of globalization phenomena, which by definition consist of the spatial expansion of economic activity, and consequently, the creation of networked business connections. These phenomena do not bypass postal operators either. By expanding their operations, through the inclusion of the potential of other entities in their network (e.g., through acquisitions or alliances), a postal operator can better satisfy the increasingly individualized needs of customers and utilize its logistics resources in a more optimal way, thereby creating infrastructure for other types of connections (economic, business, social, cultural). The more connections there are, the more physical flows there are, along with the accompanying information flows, requiring appropriate synchronization in time and space. This creates the need to change the approach to conducting postal operations and to integrate logistics chains towards a logistics network, i.e., a collection of mutually complementary logistics skills and capabilities.
Logistics networks facilitate the spatio-temporal transmission or transformation of the flows passing through them, provided that they are optimally configured, taking into account a number of exogenous and endogenous factors of an economic and technological nature of the logistics systems that create them.
It is worth looking at the functioning of Poczta Polska from this perspective. The main logistics process of the public postal operator in Poland – Poczta Polska (PP), based on the physical flow of postal items from sender to recipient, takes place in a network which, on a national scale, is created by:
- its own logistics system: supply subsystem (provision of necessary technical, technological, material, and other support), distribution subsystem (sending and delivering items), production subsystem (logistics operations where the objects are items or their collections forming entire loads), transport subsystem (physical movement of loads),
- logistics potential: White Eagle Aviation SA (domestic air transport), Centrum – Pocztex (PP business unit responsible for domestic road transport), PKP SA (domestic rail transport), and road transport vehicles belonging to PP employees (collection and delivery of items).
This network functions on the basis of infrastructure:
- linear: transport corridors used for the transport of postal loads,
- point-based: points of sending and receiving items (post offices, sending/receiving boxes, and customer premises) as well as postal hubs connected by transport corridors, performing complex logistics operations – the leading role here is played by Expedition and Distribution Centers (CER),
- communication, using the public air, rail, and road transport network for the transport of loads.