Maximize The Potential By Better Implementing Our Supply Chain

The Supply Chain has gone from being a function that was externally associated as a series of warehouses, lorry, vans, trains, shelves with numerous items and boxes of multiple volumes, etc. to be the same and expand their horizons. The Supply Chain today, the key function, because it has the ability to reach all corners of the company, suppliers, manufacturers, customers, is able to make a global vision through coordination, collaboration, and integration of all parties involved.

We must be aware that the Supply Chain, deals with procurement, purchasing, technology, software programs, human resources, financial indicators, inventory, distribution, reverse logistics, etc. Being the Supply Chain the key function that has the ability to reach all corners of the company, we must be excellent managers of it and therefore maximize its potential, this will mean between 10% to 50% increase in productivity, which translates into a more solid growth of the company.

If you have lost the motivation or forgot the goal, to do more and better, also for those who want to undertake, for anyone who is semi-conscious that the key is in the Supply Chain, that Logistics is part of the process of Supply chain.

To implement a better Supply Chain, we must enter into inventory management concepts, purchasing functions, supplies, warehouse management, transportation means and logistics platforms, new logistics technologies, inverse logistics, and logistics indicators, I do not forget them. We will see in future entries.

In a context of economic recession in Western markets and an increasingly global business landscape, internationalization ceases to be an option to become an authentic question of survival. More and more companies to which the local or national market is no longer enough to cover their needs, before that they only have one option, jump to the international market.

"In the current context, opening up to the foreign market ceases to be an option for most companies and becomes a matter of survival."

Emerging countries, or so far called developing countries, stop being mere industrial workshops to become huge consumer markets full of business opportunities. Many companies are beginning to replace the lack of demand in Western countries for this burst of consumption in countries such as China, Brazil, India, and so on.

The most affected companies facing this new global panorama are without a doubt the SMEs. Large corporations have their diversified activity in different markets and also have a greater ability to maneuver globally. Small and medium-sized companies, however, tend to be much more linked to national or even local markets, which makes them experience the economic recession from a much more pessimistic point of view. How can an SME open up to the foreign market taking into account its small budget for logistics expenses?

Advantages Of Maritime Transport For SMEs

Maritime transport is the most used worldwide to move goods, mainly because of the good value for money it offers. It is true that transport by sea requires longer transit times than other transport routes such as air or land, however, this waiting time is usually more than compensated by prices, which is a factor for most SMEs.

In addition, maritime transport also makes it possible to transport large volumes of merchandise regardless of their size or weight. This means that 75% of international trade is made through this route, generally by renting entire containers.

It is very common for SMEs to encounter the problem that when it comes to exporting the goods, their orders are not large enough to rent an entire container transportation solutions to a freight forwarder. What to do with this barrier? Very simple, currently freight forwarders usually offer maritime groupage services for SMEs, where different companies can share containers, renting only a part and paying the proportional part.

Maritime Groupage For PYMES

The term groupage (also called combined or fractional cargo) refers to the procedure for the issuance of merchandise by different shipping companies, which alone could not occupy an entire container. Thus, the different shipments of each SME are grouped so that they are treated as a single physical unit of handling and transport, simplifying and making it possible to send them to a common destination.

This technique, increasingly used among SMEs operating globally and especially in maritime transport, allows the shipment of goods to other destinations with a considerable reduction in the cost of transport. If it were not for this type of delivery, the SME should hire an entire container, even if half the space remained empty, with the increase in cost that this implies.