The purpose of this article is to present logistical indicators for assessing the functioning of transport in industrial enterprises. Along with these, economic indicators should also be used.
The logistics system of an enterprise is a purposefully organized and integrated flow of materials and corresponding information, enabling optimization in management. The transport operating within it constitutes a key subsystem for moving material goods in time and space using appropriate technical means, maintaining technical, organizational, and economic independence.
In industrial enterprises, we have internal and external transport directly linked to the entire production and distribution system. External transport takes place from the supplier to the enterprise and further to its customers. Internal transport handles material needs within the enterprise. The transport process includes: external transport of raw material supplies, internal transport, and external transport of finished products. Its activities proceed sequentially: supply market, delivery warehouse, collection point, supply warehouse, warehouse (production, transit, sales, commercial), and sales market.
The efficiency of transport processes is a fundamental requirement for enterprise performance and a condition for transport effectiveness. Maintaining this efficiency requires systematic assessments, which can be done using logistical indicators for transport. Performing indicator assessments at the right time allows for the early identification of positive and negative trends, which enables rational control of the transport process. One should evaluate time utilization, incurred costs, quality of services performed, and the efficiency and effectiveness of transport. To assess both activities and the system as a whole, selected metrics and indicators listed in Table 1 can be used.
The system of logistics indicators for transport assessment is shown in Fig. 2. Among them, four stand out: transport time, reliability of timely and careful transport, and its flexibility. The qualitative assessment of transport consists of elements or factors influencing delivery service. Quantitative assessment indicators include the number of shipments, ton-kilometers performed, actual working time, and the mass of goods transported.
The article comes from the journal “Logistyka” 2/2004.