We are facing the age of advancements in communications and it seems that logistics is booming continuously. That is the factor which drives the industrial development to keep up with the changes.
According to the survey of the industrial growth in the automobile business, TOYOTA Motor has surpassed the big companies like Volkswagen and General Motor (GM) in terms of sales, making it the world’s No. 1 bestselling car company since 2012. Even now, TOYOTA is the most successful Japanese car company with many products to serve diverse markets because each market is unique in its characteristics. Moreover, there are differences among TOYOTA, Lexus and Scion which require different supply chains and this means that TOYOTA is one of the top car manufacturers which are often used in case studies on how to use the concepts of supply chain and logistics in the car manufacturing process in a successful manner. TOYOTA’s manufacturing system focuses on the reduction of manufacturing cost and the removal of excess in the warehouse after the manufacturing process. In other words, the focus is on the saleable products because TOYOTA sees any unsaleable product as one kind of cost. Therefore, the philosophy of manufacturing so that there is no surplus or excess enables TOYOTA to manufacture cars with lower manufacturing cost than other automobile companies and to reap the highest profit, even before 2012 when other car companies had more sales than TOYOTA.
One important idea of TOYOTA in terms of supply chain and logistics has been used in various industries, especially in leading companies in Japan and in many Thai companies and that is “Just In Time” which is based on the principle that “only what is needed, when it is needed, and in the amount needed.” This is a way to manage and organize the warehouse to meet the demand and supply of the manufacturing process in terms of Zero Inventory (a minimum amount of items or none in the inventory) which is done alongside Kanban System or Lean Production. In terms of TOYOTA Production System (TPS), this is “Supermarket Method” or attaching barcode and item description (including price) on the product. In this system, a code is created for every item so that there will be a description about each item before shipping it to other department (both inside and outside).
(ที่มา: www.toyota-global.com)
Technological developments in logistics
The most important thing in logistics is that the work must be done within the specified timeframe in both quantitative and qualitative manners according to the customers. Logistics is one element which plays a significant role in supply chain. The use of “Just in time” system to manage supply chain and the reduction of storage space and labor means that logistics is a key factor. Therefore, a new technology is needed to manage the cost and the effectiveness of the system, resulting in the ability to deliver and ship the products from the source of production to the end user or the customer. Still, when people think about technology in product delivery, they tend to focus on the IT of logistics such as EDI ebXML and the like which is the technology to manage the information flow in the supply chain. However, there are other new technologies for delivery including GPS (Global Positioning System) which is a system to monitor and manage the product delivery via satellite, GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) which is a technology to send signals from GPS to the center via telephone signal carrier. Nowadays, the transportation system is linked to cargoes distribution in order to control the vehicle in the specified route and timetable. Moreover, it helps control the expense of fuel, machine parts and the misuse of cars as well as wasted time such as turning on the engine for a long time, a detour, and driving above the speed limit. All of these are aimed to provide service within the timeframe of the JIT system and to reduce the logistics cost to the minimum.
