Transport, Logistics, and Salvage Industry

The use of technical appliances in various industries proves to be an important aspect of enhancing efficiency and service delivery. Technologies have wide applications in transport, logistics, and salvage industry. Though there are shortcomings associated with technology implementation in the industry processes, benefits tend to outweigh the few concerns raised in association with the use of technological devices. The paper identifies the overarching supply chains of the transport logistic and salvage industry, existing technology mixing in the industry, and the impact of technology on sustainability and opportunities available in the investigated field.

Overview of Sector and Major Stakeholders of the Industry

Transport, logistics, and salvage encompass a wide range of functions. The integration of technology in the industry promises widespread benefits especially due to the emerging demands posed by increases in e-commerce activities (Bowersox et al., 2002). Technology has been employed in different logistic areas such as supply chain visibility, pallet tracking, inventory control and management, container management, and tracking returnable transit goods (Patterson et al.,2003).The major stakeholders in transport, logistics and salvage industry include business organizations, regulators, suppliers, logistic firms, and their customers. Business organizations manufacture goods. As a requirement, the distribution of products to customers is done through a defined supply chain (Grant et al., 2017). Business organizations work towards increasing their assets in the every stage of the process. Technologies used in transport, logistics, and salvages are focused on optimizing critical processes in the supply chain since to provide the most efficient outcomes.

Logistic firms own the means through which inventory reaches the destination. They provide needed visibility within the supply chain as they can seamlessly pinpoint the location of the shipments. The companies are engaged in transporting raw materials from suppliers or finished goods to consumers. It is considered to be very complicated for the businesses to monitor and manage what they cannot see. Thus, it’s essential to have the comprehensive transparency that provides more effective, timely solutions, and reduced delaying. Customers are the end users of goods manufactured by business organizations. The clients’ ability to access products is dependent on the availability of the goods at the desired location. Suppliers provide raw materials applied in the manufacture of finished products. In turn, regulators ensure the compliance with law and regulation governing different stakeholders of the supply chain.

Main processes of the industry

The main processes in the industry include procurement of raw materials, inventory management, and supply of finished products. The procurement of raw materials allows business organizations to effectively meet market demand.

Figure 1: Procurement of raw materials (Mentzer et al., 2001).

Receive shipment and conduct inventory count

Figure 2: Inventory management (Mentzer et al., 2001).

Figure 3: Supply of finished products (Mentzer et al., 2001).

Existing Technology

Transport, logistics, and salvage involve the flow of resources between the manufacturing areas along with the sphere of supply to meet the requirements of the business clientele (Ballou, 2007). The overall desire of the players in the industry is to ensure that they improve the results, safety, and the quality of the processes and, thus, increase their ability to save on the costs (Sauvage, 2003). The emergence of different technologies has resulted in a major rise in the production efficiency and process management, management of material flow, retail and distribution, logistics and transport among other fields (Piplani et al., 2004). There are numerous technologies that are used in the every part of the industry to ascertain the effective inventory management, data analysis, and transportation and supply chain visibility.

The incorporation of RFID systems in the transportation and the logistics industry helps to solve several problems including rising costs of inefficiencies, lack of transparency, and inaccuracies (Tibus & Brennan, 2013). These measures have an impact on the costs and the overall profitability. The benefit of RFID technology also lies in its extensive application. It can be adopted in the cargo management of the intelligent warehouse (Dey et al., 2011). The technology not only processes the cargo that goes into storage, leaving the warehouse as well as management of stock, but also promotes the supervision as well as management of all the information relating to the cargo (Van et al., 2012). Further, the introduction of the RFID technology in transport and logistics leads to the effective saving of the artificial cost, promotes the accuracy of work, ensures the quality of products, and accelerates the speed of processing.

Data analysis is done using data analytic tools. The process involves the evaluations of facilities, transportation, inventory costs, prices, and customers and is essential in the organizational success in the supply chain (Angeles, 2005). Machine learning and optimization algorithms are critical in the procurement process (Zhang et al., 2012). Point Of Sale, RFID, and Barcodes are some of the technologies used in inventory tracking throughout the supply chain.

Impact on Sustainability

Technology in the mentioned industry has an impact on societal, economical, ethical, and environmental sustainability. The integration of technology in logistics contributes to increase in efficiency, reduction of costs, reduction of errors, and improved profitability (Prajogo & Olhager, 2012). Other benefits include reduction in larceny and out of stock situation, improved self-service, and minimization of inspection time (Eng-Larsson & Norrman, 2014). The effective management of inventory or cargo is an essential factor in gaining the long-term success of an organization. Transportation visibility enables relevant stakeholders to track inventory transported from one location to another in the supply chain and includes combination of regimes and tracks, each possessing their individual features (Stank et al., 2001). Supply chain transparency delivers the data about the process that enables the determination of the physical position of the supply chain network where the goods get stored, packed, or altered.

Ideas and opportunities for technology in this industry

Future technology has the ability to modify the transportation, logistics, and salvage industry by increasing transparency and efficiency throughout the supply chain. An opportunity to resolve several problems encountered in the industry still exists in the areas of forecasting the maintenance and monitoring the condition of the inventory, safety and security auditing, and reporting the key performance indicators (Fernie & Sparks, 2014).

Conclusion

The increasing global competition and advances in technology impact on the way businesses conduct their operations. There has been significant use of intelligent technologies that transform the way transport, logistics and salvage are done in day to day operations. The introduction of technology in transport, logistics, and salvage leads to the effective saving of the artificial cost, promotes the accuracy of work, verifies the quality of products, and accelerates the speed of processing.

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