Worldwide Logistics  

ADGO-6431 (Fall 2003)

Course Outline

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Dr. Salim Y. Lakhal, (Associate Professor) ¹

Instructor

Dr. Salem Y. Lakhal Faculty of Business administration, Room MAD 342 ( lakhals@umoncton.ca )

Tel: (506) 858 4601 http://administration.umoncton.ca/lakhals

GENERAL INFORMATION

. ADGO6431: Worldwide Logistics

· Session: Spring-Summer 2003

· Number of credits: 3

· Intended for: Students at the Masters level

· Professor: Salem Y. Lakhal, Ph.D.

· Office: MAD 432

· Telephone: (506) 858 4601, E-mail: lakhals@umoncton.ca

· Consultation hours: 6 hrs / week (see course website for schedule)

· Web address for course: www.administration.umoncton.ca/lakhals

Students

This course is intended for tripartite MBA students from University of Moncton (Canada) , Quéretaro University (Mexico) and Illinois University (USA).

Introduction

The courses focus on current best practices through a combination of class discussion, individual research projects, case analysis, and interaction with supply chain management professionals.

Why study logistics? Here are several good reasons:

1) Logistics is a huge industry. The logistics bill in the U.S. today is more than $840 billion per year. According to the Cass Annual State of Logistics Report, that’s more money than the federal government budgets for social security and for defence in normal situation. Furthermore logistics costs represents up to 25 cents of every dollar sold in the US. Worldwide logistics expenditures is more 2 trillion $US (approximately 16% of worldwide GNP).

Per year American companies spent about 10.5% of the GDP to wrap, bundle, load, unload, sort, reload, and transport goods growing by 6% annually.

2) Logistics is a growing field. Ten years ago, there were virtually no contract logistics companies. Today, there are hundreds of them. Companies-like Ryder Integrated Logistics, FedEx Logistics, Caliber Logistics, UPS Worldwide Logistics, and dozens more are changing the way businesses are competing and succeeding worldwide.

3) Logistics is changing. Careers in this field offer it all-explosive growth, expanding opportunities within corporations, strategic roles within companies, lucrative compensation, and the challenge of creating and leveraging new logistics technologies and practices.

4) Logistics is rewarding. Inventory control managers earn an average of $49,818; distribution/logistics managers, $72,692; and supply chain managers, $77,062. (Source: Inventory Reduction Report, New York City). Average starting salaries for undergraduate logistics majors from other academic programs average more than $31,000-ranging from $23,000 to $42,000 per year.

Specific Course Highlights

Covers the strategic, mathematical and economic principles of the movement of materials, and information through the whole distribution network, from suppliers to end-users.

Considers both the engineering and the business and management contexts of transportation logistics activities.

Global logistics focuses on the management of the flow -- from obtaining raw materials to delivery of the finished product to the customer. The process can be divided into two segments: inbound logistics, which has to do with providing all the materials and goods required for making the products, and outbound logistics, which is how the manufactured products are moved from the factories to the hands of the customer.

Relentless optimization of manufacturing in the last two decades -- and application of new managerial approaches such as JIT, TQM, FMS -- have resulted in significant improvements in performance. However, it has also been associated with an increase in the logistic activities. Products need to be moved from more international origins to more scattered market destinations faster and more efficiently.

Management of global logistics is thus a major and growing challenge. The opportunity for further cost reduction in manufacturing is now smaller than the potential cost reduction in logistics. Clearly, improving the efficiencies in logistics is now as important to strategic planning as improvement in manufacturing and marketing.

This challenge is demanding new answers. The researchers continue to suggest new models based on application of concepts like delocalisation, modularization, delayed differentiation and postponement. The practitioners are creating new organizational units and experimenting with applying some of these models.

Framework

The complexities of managing logistics on a global level can be captured by a simple conceptual framework. According to this framework management of logistics involves solving problems along three key dimensions: geographical, functional, and sectorial.

The functional dimension or intra-firm integration deals with the relationship among the different functional areas of an organization such as marketing, finance and manufacturing. The functional division is created by the arbitrary separation of a firm's activities into a limited number of organizational divisions. The logistics process cuts across all functional areas thus creates important critical issues in management of the interfaces. Managing the interface activities by one function alone can lead to suboptimal performance by subordinating broader company goals to the goals of the individual function.

The sectorial dimension or inter-firm integration refers to the coordination among the various players in the supply chain, particularly those in the distribution channel. The chain consists of many suppliers and customers or, more generally, by buyers and sellers.

The geographical dimension is the most natural one for logistics: distances, transportation, and regional markets, all influence logistical decisions significantly. Dealing with international logistics introduces more issues such as where to produce, store, and transport various products. Worker productivity, process adaptability, governmental concerns, transportation availability, culture and many other issues will have to be considered.

Grading

Evaluation	Percentage	Comments
On-line tests, quizzes, exercises and assignments and Lab.	30 %
Progress and participation	10 %
Mid semester exam	25 %
Final exam	35 %
Total	100 %

Scale: (anticipated)

Mark	Notes
A- / A+	90 - 100
B- / B+	80 - 90
C / C+	70 - 80
E	< 70

Course Policies and Procedures

1. Assignments handed in late

Students have to do assignments and handle them to the class. On the due date, several students are randomly chosen to submit their work to be graded. Unless otherwise stated, a penalty of 10 % per day will be applied to all assignments that are not handed in on time. After being late for 5 days (Saturdays, Sundays and holidays included) an assignment will no longer be accepted.

2. Where it is applicable, on-line tests and exercises are to be completed at the end of each chapter either as multiple choices, true or false questions or an exercise.

3. There is no make up for the exams. If you have a very good raison to be absent in one exam, you would wait till the course will be scheduled to attend another exam.

Mandatory Documents

The course WebPages, on which you will find all the necessary information (overhead pages, reading references, exercises, certain software used) is accessible at the following web address: www.administration.umoncton.ca/lakhals

Lakhal S. World Wide Logistics, Textbook available in the University’s bookstore (price @ $65)

Course Schedule

The students prepare by reading the chapters, completing the required assignments and asking their questions during the designated available times.
The students are also responsible for consulting the course website for readings and work assignments.

Contents
	Introduction
	Supply-Chain Management: Strategy and Analysis
	Worldwide Locations
	Logistics and Facility Decisions: Network Design in a Supply Chain
	Warehouse Layout
	Inventory Management
	Special Inventory Models
	Worldwide Transportation in a Supply Chain
	Term of sales and terms of payment
	Future Challenges in Supply Chain Management
	E-Business and the Supply Chain
	Information Technology in a Supply Chain

Final comments

To help you to prepare and succeed your course please note the followings:

1) This is a quantitative course and probably, there persons without a quantitative profile should pay more attention in the class and practice more.

2) You have not to memorize mathematical formulas, you should only understand how to apply them and during the exam you can use a personnel formulas sheet.

3) If I were you I will start by reviewing the lecture notes, redo the assignments, do the solved problems, read the chapters Highlights and understand the signification of the Key Terms at the end of each chapter.

4) As some of you will note, I will stress a logical and systematic approach to problems and problem solving rather than focusing on the absolute numeric answers.

Have a nice semester

Dr. Salem Y. Lakhal

¹ Office: 342; e-mail: lakhals@umoncton.ca; télephone : (+ 506) 858 4601.
       Web Page: http://administration.umoncton.ca/lakhals/

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