Directions for the informatization of logistics management in a transport company

The author of the study conducted an assessment of solutions in the field of IT support for logistics management at the company “Wega A” sp. z o.o. based in Kalisz. The aforementioned enterprise has been a long-term partner (since 1991) of General Motors. From 1991 to the present, “Wega A” has transported all Opels imported by General Motors Poland to Poland from Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Since its inception, “Wega A” has adopted a multi-industry concept, allowing it to react flexibly to changes in the economic situation on the Polish and foreign markets, as well as to profound systemic changes in management. Logistics management is a complex concept covering a wide range of issues and processes. From a semantic point of view, the first part, i.e., the word – management – can be identified as a system of actions regulating the manner and principles of an organization’s functioning in accordance with set goals. Hence, it is often equated with management by objectives and the conscious formulation of the latter. In this sense, an organization, as an objective and subjective sphere of management, is:
• a group of people having a common goal, tasks, plan, program, e.g., a socio-political organization
• a form, system, or way in which something is organized, e.g., a school, hospital, department with good or bad organization – as a system of ways of acting for individuals, subgroups, and institutions, the goal of which is to ensure the order of social life
• organizing, which is an action aimed at arranging something, binding people and resources together, taking into account the methods of managing and directing people.

In short, management in its essence includes functions such as: planning, organizing, motivating, and controlling. The second part (logistics) is perceived as a scientific and research field concerning the organization of processes of moving and storing raw materials, materials, and finished products in a systemic approach, aiming at the optimization of supply chains (currently, there is increasingly talk of logistics chains), i.e., from the acquisition of raw materials to the consumer, as well as dealing with the management of post-use products.

A combination of both terms can be the assumption that logistics management consists of formulating strategy, planning, controlling, and monitoring (carried out in an effective manner that minimizes global costs) the processes of flow and storage of raw materials and materials, inventories, and work-in-progress. Finished products and relevant information from the point of acquisition to the point of consumption in order to best adapt to and satisfy customer needs. All cited terminological aspects must relate to the dimension that exists in theory, in practice, and above all to technical progress, which is the driving force compelling enterprises to make specific adjustments. A key issue is looking at logistics management through the prism of modern standards in the field of management, where the model can be the idea of well-understood quality of what is being done. The application of the quality system in the objective and subjective layout is shown in Figure 1.

The article comes from the magazine “Logistyka” 2/2003.