WEEK 10

LOGISTICS

Overview: Pressure to create direct fulfillment functions and to reduce costs of traditional fulfillment models is likely to create a wide range of new logistic service solutions. As readers become increasingly “wired”, where delivery can be achieved electronically, the tangible transport of physical goods won’t compete.

Trends within the logistics sector

The pressure to reduce the costs of long and complex product distribution systems is likely to increase substantially in the years ahead, especially when the impact of a carbon emissions trading scheme will be felt. There is potential for media and publishing organisations to partner with logistics and other organisations to offer direct fulfillment solutions in a number of different and innovative ways.

Extending current warehousing and logistics functions

Many print organisations have diversified their service offering to provide warehousing and logistics fulfillment functions to service the print management needs of their customers. These opportunities are being generated by the increasing use of on-line inventory management systems. There is potential to extend these service offerings in through broadening such approaches at business-to-business and business-to-consumer levels.

Business-to-business logistics services

Print management organisations can use their IT infrastructure systems to diversify their business to business logistics services. For example inventory management systems could be adapted to cover a larger range of items other than print. There is no difference in managing the logistics functions of print versus other physical products. Print management systems can easily be modified to extend this service range if the business opportunity presents itself.

Business-to-consumer logistics services

The development of business-to-consumer and e-commerce solutions would first require the creation of cascading website facilities management including the integration of web-publishing and print publishing of catalogues for a wide range of different customers. Technological convergence would become a key instrument of innovation. End consumers would access information about products from websites, from printed brochures from visiting show rooms. And, products can be shipped directly to end consumers, thereby eliminating costly, in-efficient and lengthy distribution and warehousing systems.

Establishing entirely new logistics e-fulfillment systems

The integration of inventory management systems into print management systems infrastructure could lead to many other positive and unforeseen benefits. First there is potential for new and larger print on demand production systems to be located close to the source of demand – for example in the warehouses of large mail and postal service organisations. Or there might be greater uptake of enterprise-wide scanning functions to enable the flow of letters to occur via internal IT infrastructure systems rather than via physical logistics.

Other types of futuristic applications

With a shift towards linking print management and logistics functions, other opportunities could also emerge for innovative media and publishing organisations. For example, the adoption of enterprise-wide publishing systems is likely to create skills in the area of document managing, version control and capturing the paper trail of change initiatives. These same systems have the potential to be rolled out further into capturing information and data about managing change in, for example complex engineering an construction projects where it is essential to properly document all aspects of change management.

KEY IMPLICATIONS

• The impact of technological convergence on logistics management in the future is likely to create a wide range of new opportunities for innovative media and publishing organisations.
• New service models will develop for those organisations able to create new solutions to problems in alliance with other organisations, including in the area of logistics and warehousing.
• Opportunities could emerge in linking distributed publishing systems infrastructure with physical logistics services, or new commercial models associated with e-fulfillment might also flourish.
• The principles of enterprise-wide publishing with its focus on version control and authorized change management has potential to be merged with warehousing and logistics functions to create completely new services associated with administering the documentation of change management in large complex engineering environments.