Essential Functions of Inbound Logistics Management

Key Functions of Inbound Logistics

Inbound logistics encompasses several critical activities necessary for managing the flow of materials and information into an organization. These functions ensure efficiency, cost control, and timely production.

1. Production Scheduling

   Scheduling of production is done with the assistance of the logistics staff. Production is scheduled in an attempt to balance demand for products with plant capacity and availability of inputs.

2. Procurement (Purchasing)

   Closely related to production scheduling is procurement (or purchasing), since many of the inputs needed for production must be procured from outside sources, known as vendors.

3. Returned Products Management

   In domestic markets, there are many categories of returned products. A few are subjects of product recalls, meaning that a safety defect or hazard has been discovered and the products are removed from the shelves. Both retailers and consumers attempt to return them to the manufacturer or to some intermediary. Some products are returned to be recycled in some way or another.

4. Inventory Management

   This logistics management function deals with the management of inventories. In some firms, it is the single most important decision, since decisions concerning the locations of inventories and their directions and patterns of flow do, in fact, reflect the design efficiency of the total system.

5. Transportation Management

   Planning, arranging, and buying the international transportation services needed to move a firm’s freight is known as transportation management. It is probably the single most costly element of international logistics. The transportation manager is concerned with freight consolidation and charges.

6. Materials Handling

   This term is used in several different ways. Materials handling often covers movements of goods that are under the firm’s immediate control, such as within a plant or warehouse complex or between plants. The term is also associated with procurement, that is, what to do with materials after acquiring ownership.

7. Warehouse and Distribution Center Management

   This logistics activity involves the management of the locations where the firm’s inventories are stored.

8. Salvage and Scrap Disposal

   Management of waste materials is important as part of material management. Normally one describes scrap disposal as a domestic activity. Many firms sell their scrap to other firms which specialize in disposal and recycling. However, there are a few international aspects of scrap disposal.