Short-term logistics management at a multinational corporation

Abstract Nowadays, many companies still operate without any process standardization in relation to short-term logistics management, which leads to a lack of control of both times and costs of logistical operations. This paper starts from a study that has been performed at a multinational corporation which manufactures fiber-reinforced plastic boxes and cabinets with doors, where the final product-storage area and the picking section frequently become overloaded. In addition, warehouse operators do not follow standardized procedures and usually carry out too many movements to complete their tasks. Finally, there is not a suitable daily logistics planning system to make sure that capacity and demand are in balance. This paper proposes a solution to this problem by means of a Methods-Time Measurement (MTM) study as well as a daily workload planner to control short-term logistical operations. Thanks to the implementation of this system, the company has been able to plan the day-to-day workload in an accurate way and to precisely determine the necessary resources for the picking and shipping orders. Moreover, the company has gained flexibility in order to better match demand and capacity and has experimented significant cost savings and a better delivery service to its customers.