Outsourcing in logistics – status and prospects – part 2

However, considering the increasing importance of the information aspect of logistics, a division of logistics activities into two fundamental categories should be considered particularly useful.

The first contains physical activities required to create form, time, and quantity utility that satisfies customer needs. This sphere includes warehousing, transport, and customer service operations. The second category contains transactional activities that follow or initiate the physical activities described above. These activities focus on the negotiation aspect of transactions (i.e., interactions between companies in the context of purchasing materials and products) and on the area of order cycle management (e.g., managing and controlling the flow of information necessary to create customer service within the logistics system).

Most studies indicate that progress in the sphere of information flows (the use of information technology) contributes to cost reduction as a result of lowering the level of tangible assets (e.g., inventory and warehouse infrastructure). The components of a company’s logistics system are presented in Fig. 3. As a result of the above classification, the basic potential functions of the subject of outsourcing contracts can be indicated. These are:

– transport – information aspect, e.g., carrier selection, negotiations, freight payments,

– transport – physical aspect, e.g., fleet management,

– warehousing – information aspect, e.g., inventory management,

– warehousing – physical aspect, e.g., warehousing operations,

– customer service – information aspect, e.g., ordering process,

– customer service – physical aspect, e.g., product returns.

A complementary component of logistics systems is also the logistics information system, which performs a coordination function in managing information flows within the system and the supply chain (see Fig. 3). An extremely important feature of outsourcing is the externalization of a bundle of logistics functions derived from both the information and physical areas.

The logistics services market is developing according to reported market demand. Public warehousing is considered the oldest form of outsourcing in logistics. Subsequently, these services were enriched with transport or packaging. The list of these services is constantly expanding, primarily with value-added activities such as assembly and quality control. Some companies are not involved in the physical movement of products at all, but deal with the sale of consulting and IT services that help their clients develop, for example, their own transport networks. Many logistics companies offer services such as:

logistics information system, shipment consolidation, warehouse operations management, carrier selection, fee negotiations, fleet management, handling product returns, document completion, spare parts logistics, supplier selection, and purchasing. Analysis of the logistics services market allows for the classification of operators and their division into four groups.