The Transporter

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2009-02-10T09:22:00.000-08:00

This is the crisis!!

Nowadays, the economic environment is …gloomy! This is mainly for the car industry. But one manufacturer still has a 2 digits growth on its sector: Let’s have a look at the situation of Mazda in Russia. As a matter of fact, the Japanese manufacturer grows month after month in the Russian market where the demand is pretty large. Mazda wants to improve the car delivery in the country of Tsars, because the particularity of Mazda is that they entirely produce their car in ... Japan!

So now let’s see what we have for a situation:
- An island (Japan)
- A 9000 km wide country (Russia)
- 73 700 cars

… What could be used?

If I tell you the plane … you’re going to laugh out loud and trucks aren’t the ideal solution neither. So we definitively have three solutions left:
Japan has one of the biggest harbors in the world, so transportation per ship could be interesting. Moreover, as an island, they don’t really have a choice. The question is, where could the ships dock when the final destination is Moscow? As you may know, the main Russian harbors are Novorossiysk, Primorsk and Sankt-Petersburg. But except for Novorossiysk (113MT in 2007) all this harbors are either tiny or too far away from the economic centers.

- If the ship docks in Novorossiysk we have to transport the car over 1500km to reach Moscow and transit time will be longer than a month … not very interesting.

- - If the ship docks in Sankt-Petersburg 700km with good infrastructures … but transit time between Yokohama and Sankt-Petersburg is awful.

- - So we have a last solution (which was choosen). Use the old soviet installations, the Trans-Siberian Railway! The ship docks in Vladivostok and the cars use the trans-Siberian to Moscow. Transit time between Vladivostok and Moscow lasts 10 days! Mazda finally has its solution.

One other advantage of this transportation mean is that the cars are inside wagons, protected against weather and robbery.

Mazda case is a good example of how to have a new efficient Supply Chain through old infrastructures.

The Empire strikes back!!

2009-01-14T11:57:00.000-08:00

Nowadays one of the inevitable check points for the goods transportation is the Suez Canal. The Horn of Africa is yet a hostile zone. Somali pirates are prowling along the coast and attacking the merchant ships approaching or just cruising along the shores.

Last year, more than a hundred merchant ships were accosted, hijacked and overpowered. The amount of the ransom reached more than 30 million Euros!

But now, exporting countries are not willing to accept this situation anymore. The first of them is China, one of the main exporters to the Aden Golf. During the year 2008, 7 Chinese merchant ships have been attacked. A task force was created in order to secure the area and to escort the Chinese merchant ships. This task force consists of two destroyers Haikou and Wuhan, a supply ship, 800 crew members and 70 Special Forces.
But this has a political aim. China, with this demonstration, shows to the other countries that they became a global player. Last time that the Chinese Navy shipped fare away from its shores was during the 15st century under the command of Admiral Zheng He. So it's pretty much an event in itself! The mission of this task force could last 3 month.

With what happened to the Sirius Star (3 million euro ransom plus 8 weeks of negotiations), we can imagine that other countries will adopt the same policy against the piracy.

Ecologistic and Supply Chain.

2009-01-06T11:23:00.000-08:00

Climate changes!! And one of the reasons of the changes is the industrial pollution.
The logistic has a significant role to play in the amelioration of the situation.
In fact not only gas consumption could be reduced, but also packing and warehousing should be improved.

The "Green Logistic" or "Ecologistic" will be one of the top priorities of the companies in few years.
Managers will face the costs increase of energy and we can imagine that the road transportation will be taxed, as it is already the case since 01/01/2005 in Germany with the "Maut". This tax could increase the price of 0,14 euro per kilometer. e.g. for a transport between Paris and Berlin the tax could reach 90 euro for an 8 tires tandem axles truck.

New stakes concern the "reverse logistic". Products have to be ecological and wastes and trashes have to be recycled. But the matter is that it is not a "symmetrical" Supply Chain anymore. The reverse logistic includesa lot of administrative papers and accreditations because goods could be classified as hazardous for instance. So there are different agents for the transportation and the delivery. The transportation companies have to built recycling centers or outsource them. French companies are late compare to the German neighbor.

But the reason why we are behind in France is that the managers don't see the opportunity of making benefits. It is true that all those regulations need expenses, but a long term strategy is to be designed. New warehouses which are most efficient and new products with new packing and packaging.

But the Ecologistic could change the philosophy of the Supply Chain.
One of the golden rules of the SCM is "Just in Times" rule. But to achieve the just in time strategy, companies use a lot of small shipments. That means a lot of trucks in this case. With the Ecologistic and the rationalization, it's better to operate one truck than three.

Managers still have in mind the necessity of the Ecologistic, because they anticipate laws and regulations. But This new environmental policy will certainly radically change the way of carrying goods, especially with trucks.

Logistics as an exigency.

2008-12-14T09:14:00.004-08:00

Let behind us the slaughter of the World War II . Yet, fortunately, no more conflicts like this. But Humans still are Humans and with them the war. But the forms of wars change, the logistics adapt itself to the new challenges.

"Clearly, logistics is the hard part of fighting a war."
Lt. Gen. E. T. Cook November 1990

Nowadays, conflicts still exist, but them aspect have change. No more trenches wars, no more million soldiers, but more something like guerilla and maintains of the public order.
The modern armies need projection, in huge distance with lot and fragile material. Do you remember that in 50 BC needed a soldier 1kg supplies per day (mainly food), now he needs 140kg (1% foods, 99% materials).
As Lt. Gen. Fredrick Franks said during the Desert Storm Operation: "Forget logistics, you lose."
Next time, after this military approach of the logistics, I will write an article about the civil logistics.

I hope that this article interested you, please if you have questions don’t hesitate to ask me.

The professionalization of the logistics

2008-12-14T09:14:00.003-08:00

We are travelling together across the centuries. Now we are at the beginning of the 20th century, and wars with important changes are waiting for us …

“Logistics...as vital to military success as daily food is to daily work.”
Captain A.T. Mahan, Armaments and Arbitration, 1912

The 20st century was, humanly speaking … calamitous, but it must be recognized that war permit progresses in several fields like medicine, technologies and theories.
The first WW introduced the utilization of trains, trucks instead of horse’s carriages, and the beginning of airplanes. All this new instruments improve dramatically the possibilities in logistic (mass transport with train, flexible deliveries with trucks and rapidity with airplanes). Now goods could crossed a country in 2 days instead of 2 weeks, so in 1914 it was soldiers and ammunitions, but it opened the possibility to transport any types of goods.
The second WW improve the theoretical approach of the logistics. This was a real globalization of the transport, the “Liberty Ships” crossed the Atlantic Ocean to deliver just in time the weapons and the necessary supplies. Just-in-time, again an important word in the actual logistics.
The logistics played again an huge role during this conflict and all Generals and Marshals were aware of it importance.

“You will not find it difficult to prove that battles, campaigns, and even wars have been won or lost primarily because of logistics”
General Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969) Supreme Commandant of the Allied Forces in Europe

"Eine Schlacht wird von Logistikern geschlagen bevor sie begonnen hat."
General Erwin Rommel (1891-1944) German Field Marshal and Commander of the Afrika Korps.

The structuring of the logistics in the armies

2008-12-14T09:14:00.001-08:00

We just saw that at the beginning the logistics was only the “art” to transport military necessities.
Now we will see the moment when the General saw that logistics could also “win” battles.

“Logistics is the “practical art of moving armies”
General Antoine Henri de Jomini (1779-1869) General of Napoleon the First and Marshal Ney.
But the significant change in terms of logistics was without hesitation Napoleon the First (1769-1821).

During the centuries before, some Generals won battles due to the logistics, for example Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden ( 1594-1634) who won a battle during the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) due to a smart utilization of the river system, but it was only exception and sometime just a lucky choice.
Napoleon change the data: no more short campaign, important distance (Paris-Moscow 2847km) and more soldiers (during the Russian campaign Napoleon’s army was 691000 soldier!).
He created L’Arme du Train a special corps which had (have because still exist) for mission to collect, transport and dispatch the weapons, foods. This was the first time that we could observe a process, a chain. After Napoleon, all armies of the world occidental world evaluated.

"There is nothing more common than to find considerations of supply affecting the strategic lines of a campaign and a war."
Carl von Clausewitz (1780-1831) Prussian General.

Twitter

2008-12-09T08:51:00.000-08:00

The Twitter experience.
What I'm doing know ?? I never supposed that it will be so hard to answerd this question !!
But due to this website http://twitter.com/, I could ask me this question any time...
Personal brain storming ...

Logistic as a brake

2008-12-09T08:36:00.001-08:00

Logistic what for a meaning full word. The origin of the word comes from the ancient Greek ""λόγος" (logisteuo) and mean manage. But the first who use this word were the conquerors and them generals.

I will write you 4 articles about the logistics across the centuries.
The logistics had at the beginning a military utilization, that is why I’ll focus the article of the military point of view.

"Behind every great leader there was an even greater logistician."
M.Cox

At the beginning, the logistics was only the art to transport the goods, foods, and bivouacs.
Sun Tzu (600 BC) wrote “the Art of War” and was the first General who saw the importance of logistics: "The line between disorder and order lies in logistics…". Since this opus, all conquerors take in consideration the logistics. But it was a brake for the campaigns, just a need, not yet a potential advantage compare to the opponent.

Alexander of Macedonia (356-323 BC) burned all his carriages to improve the mobility of his army. "My logisticians are a humorless ... they know if my campaign fails, they are the first ones I will slay."

In 50 BC, a soldier needed 1kg per day for supplies (mainly food).
During all the Antiquity and the Middle-Age, to avoid logistics problem, emperors, kings, princes, lords … fight only during spring and summer times, when the climate is not another enemy. This type of wars without taking in consideration the logistic as an advantage was only possible because campaigns were short in time, of short distances, with few soldiers.
Some leaders wanted to improve the logistics; in France Richelieu (1585-1642) created a special corps only to care about the supplies of the army.

About me

2008-11-11T04:17:00.000-08:00

My name’s Bond, James Bond! No I’m kidding; I’m Willy Gauthier, a 4^th year student at the ESCE (Ecole Supérieure de Commerce Extérieur), a French Business school located in Paris. But let me explain how it turned out like this.

To understand how I end up here, let’s go back in the year 1999.

I graduated from middle school with German as my major. Yes you’ve heard me well, German. Now you start filling the blanks? Passed my “Brevet des colleges”, this diploma means nothing more today, but the particularity of mine resided in is special option: German language. You’ll understand the influence of my German in few sentences.

Few years later in 2005 I passed my Baccalauréat in a High School (François1er) in Le Havre with a specialization in economy, sociology and … German language as my major… again.

At the end of the school years in 2005 like every graduated students I could automatically go to the university, but the university of Le Havre is, with all the respect I have, not very famous, or I also could apply for a Business School. I prepared tests for several Business School and fortunately, I could choose the best one.

September 2005 I officially became a “ESCEen”. Few months later, I applied for a French-German cursus with permit to have both the French Master and the German “Diplom Kauffman”. My German takes a sense.

As a student of this program, I study both in Paris and in Berlin in the FHW. I also have to trainee. So why I trained in Munich by a logistic company named Heppner.
In fact, my specialization is the logistic. I really want to work in the logistic branch, certainly because I come from the most important French harbor. And logistic will years after years be most important because companies could not reduce them cost with the production or with the human resources because it is already done, but companies forgot the strategic importance of the logistic.

Since last years I have a BA in business, in few month I’ll have my “Diplom Kauffman” of my German university and next year I’ll probably have a master in logistic.

That’s enough concerning my background, I’ll tell you about my hobbies.

I have two main passions: fencing and motorbikes.
Fencing because it is one of the oldest and noblest sport.
The second one is motorbikes. I’ve my motorbike driving license and of course my motorbike which I traveled across Europe, from Carcassonne to Copenhagen, from Le Havre to Bratislava… I love the feeling of freedom, speed, that bring motorbike.

Of course I like other occupation, like the cinema, cooking, reading some good books, and doing nothing …