In the article, Holt, Hill, Smith, and Haskins (2015) looked at the issues that supply and logistics departments of various companies face. In their submission, it is necessary for the departments to eliminate delays caused by additional transportation costs. Sometimes, manufacturers are well aware of their transport situation but choose to inform buyers/suppliers on short notice that they may not beat the agreed deadlined. This hampers the smooth running of business operations in logistics companies. In essence, the logistics costs will be increased. As a result, it will cause inefficiencies related to delays and hampered service delivery.
The needs of the customer are seen to affect the decision-making the process of the company concerning transportation modes. Therefore, the demand spikes caused by the client adversely affects suppliers and providers must incorporate systems to handle instances like these in future. Spikes are present for logistics managers and need to be looked into using the system because it will help in improving their levels of productivity. Moreover, the safety of the drivers will also be enhanced once optimal decisions are made because the reduction of long hauls decreases the time that the truck will use on the road (Holt, Hill, Smith, & Haskins, 2015).
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The article gives a comprehensive look at VMI system that many companies have adopted in their management of inventories. It is clear it is possible to attain a saving cost intermodal option in transportation. Future research looks at the other areas the VMI concept can be expanded like the water transportation arena and facilitate real-world application and effectiveness of the system. As such, this expansion is geared at promoting the implementation of VMI to a variety of other customers and situations needing the cost saving intermodal (Holt, Hill, Smith, & Haskins, 2015).
Reference
Holt, R., Hill, T., Smith, D. & Haskins, S. (2015). Supply Chain and Inventory Management through Intermodal Logistics Analysis. Proceedings Of The 2015 Industrial And Systems Engineering Research Conference : 979-986
