LOG 320 Grantham University Contemporary Logistics Discussion
Based on the chapter reading for this week, in a 3-5 page paper, please discuss the following:Discuss the speed of airfreight transportation in terms of its line-haul and accessorial service.Why is the reliability of airfreight transportation somewhat problematic?How do truckload operations differ from less-than-truckload operations?How do speed limits and hours-of-service rules potentially affect motor carrier service?Discuss the drawbacks to rail transportation.Discuss the positive attributes of inland water transportation.The requirements below must be met for your paper to be accepted and graded:Write between 750 – 1,250 words (approximately 3 – 5 pages) using Microsoft Word in APA style, see example below.Use font size 12 and 1” margins.Include cover page and reference page.At least 80% of your paper must be original content/writing.No more than 20% of your content/information may come from references.Use at least three references from outside the course material, one reference must be from EBSCOhost. Text book, lectures, and other materials in the course may be used, but are not counted toward the three reference requirement.Cite all reference material (data, dates, graphs, quotes, paraphrased words, values, etc.) in the paper and list on a reference page in APA style.LECTURE: Transportation Operations in Support of Logistics ManagementTransportation is the executable action – within logistics management and in support of a supply chain – that physically moves goods from one location to the next. The APICS dictionary (14th edition) defines transportation as, “The function of planning, scheduling, and controlling activities related to mode, vendor, and movement of inventories into and out of an organization (Blackstone Jr., 2014). The primary objective of transportation is to carry goods and materials between supply chain partners and customers at a minimal cost in time and money that cause minimal harm to the environment. Transporting goods efficiently to minimize cost can be costly as there is a tradeoff between shipping and inventory costs. For example, frequent deliveries can not only result in higher transportation costs but also a reduction of on-hand inventory.Supply chain partners have the option to choose its own fleet of vehicles to control or subcontract out to a trucking or freight brokerage company to pick up goods from its supplier and deliver product to its customers. The cost to manage a fleet of trucks – labor, maintenance, and depreciation, and insurance cost must be considered regarding the strategy of owning a fleet of vehicles. Decisions to utilize or adopt fuel-efficient vehicles assist in minimalizing the harm to the environment.As a logistic manager, you will have to determine (along in agreement with the receiver of the product – the customer) which mode of transportation is the best way to ship items quickly and safely to its customers. The modes of transportation are: rail, air, water, roads, and pipelines. Shipping goods via the railroad is an option for heavy loads of low-value goods due to the damage of cargo usually caused by the rough ride over the steel tracks. Trains have an advantage over other modes of travel in bad weather which is great in terms of safety.However, more packaging may need to be applied to protect the goods while in transition. Although railroad transport is rather slow, trains can also carry virtually any product: from raw material, goods in need of refrigeration, to finished product requiring cushioned rail cars. Air travel is suitable for fragile and perishable items that must reach its destination in a rapid, timely fashion. Companies like FedEx and UPS have capitalized on the ability to ship goods within one to two days from the originator to its receiver. The U.S. postal service is in direct competition to regain the market share it has lost to these businesses. In general, air freight shipping is usually the most costly option in terms of all the modes of transportation. Water carriers, such as barges, can handle large and heavy cargo. Typically, a barge can hold about 200 times the weight of a fully loaded semi-trailer truck (doubled stacked). As with trains, barges are a best option when shipping low-value, high density cargo over a long distance. The truck transport of goods is a main option when shipping low to high valued items with a short to medium travel distance. Motor carriers offer speedier delivery than rail and water transport. The trucking industry is comprised of three segment: truckload (TL), less than truckload (LTL), and small packaged shipment. A truckload is typically a truck with a 53’ trailer with a cargo weighing over 15,000 pounds. The truck can be double-stacked with pallets – about 48 in total (contingent upon the pallet size and the height of goods stacked on each pallet). General maximum weight for less than truckload shipments are between 12,000 and 15,000 pounds. Small packaged shipments are light package and parcel deliveries by companies such as UPS and FedEx. Pipeline transportation of product is standard for water, petroleum products, chemicals, and sewage.At Trinity Industries, a manufacturer of railcars, all finished and completed railcars were lifted by crane and placed on a railroad track in our facility that was connected to the main railroad track leading outside of the city. BNSF railway would hook up all of the finished railcars to its railway engine (locomotive) and haul the railcar to the customer’s destination hub. Raw material and supplies were delivered to the warehouse on a daily basis. Most deliveries were by motor carrier; 53’ trailers stacked with heavy steel components or sheets of steel used to produce the railcars. Supplies such as nuts, bolts, and tools where delivered usually by less than truckload carriers.As logistics center managers of a distribution center of consumer product goods, we utilized motor freight companies to ship our goods to customers that did not have or use its own fleet line to pick up its product. CH Robinson, American Freight, and Yellow Freight (now YRC) were carriers we used to ship truckload and less than truckload shipments to our customers. Big box retailers, such as Walmart and Target managed its own fleet of trucks. Due to the consistency and volume of orders for each retailer, we agreed that Walmart and Target would drop off and leave a minimum of two 53’ trailers at all times to allow us to proactively load their shipments onto the trailers awaiting pick-up. This strategy allowed additional staging space for outbound shipments. When the fleet drivers arrived at my facility to pick up a 53’ trailer full of product, they would drop off an empty 53’ trailer for upcoming orders.In conclusion, the executable action in logistics management to move goods from one point to the next is transportation. Moving goods and materials between supply chain partners at minimal cost, time, and environmental harm is the logistics manager’s objective. The main modes of transportation are rail, air, water, roads, and pipelines. Choosing the best mode of transportation must align with your logistic strategy.ReferencesBlackstone, J. H., & Cox III, J. F. (2014). APICS Dictionary – 14th Edition. Alexandria, Virginia: APICS.Murphy Jr., & Wood D. (2011). Contemporary Logistics – 10th Ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall