logistic

Confronted with intensive product price competition in China, industrial firms are forced to invest in extending the service business. Extending the service business is far from easy. Chinese competitors offer faked spare parts. Local service skills are very poor and service requirements force industrial firms to invest in logistic infrastructure. This article offers a guideline for managers seeking to professionalize the human resource management in the service organization, to adapt service offerings to the local customer needs, and to set-up a logistic infrastructure.

High dynamics and structural complexity in current and future logistic systems are complicating central planning and control. For enabling a more decentralised and autonomous control, communication between the elements of the logistical network are necessary for the provisioning of the information needed. This article details the modelling of the communication between the components. This modelling contains source and sink of the information as well as the amount of data, frequency of transmission, quality of service and the moment of transmission for a reasonable usage of the information. The technical feasibility with current and upcoming communication systems is evaluated under consideration of the model.