Logistics: what it is and career options

Logistics is an important function that is becoming an increasingly important part of business management, perhaps as a result of the growth of e-commerce, or as a result of phrases from the most important CEOs in the business world.

What is logistics?

Logistics is the ability to implement processes in the supply chain. The main objective is to plan, organise and control the shipment of goods and the storage of products in an efficient way, and to control the service provided and information.

Whenever a company has a logistics professional to organise shipments and storage of products, the margin of error decreases, as these experts are the ones who meet the requirements of customers and suppliers.

Career development can be in land, air, sea or rail, which means that there are several employment options. It is even possible to work in the area of import and export or foreign trade.

Functions of the department

Within the logistics department there are 5 functions that are basic to achieve an adequate level of customer service, which are:

• Inventory control: Any company that has an adequate inventory control allows it to provide customers with a service guarantee, a factor that is highly valued nowadays.
• Warehouse processes: These are all those operational activities that are clearly developed within the warehouse by a set of human and material resources, especially the unit loads that make up an order.
• Transport and distribution: working on the improvement of delivery processes to customers, seeking to do so more quickly and efficiently in terms of costs and environmental aspects is one of the great challenges facing the logistics area.
• Traceability: This is the geographical location of products over time, which allows the reconstruction of the purchase, production, storage, sale and distribution process at any time.
• Reverse logistics: it is the establishment of quantifiable objectives in the recovery operations. Selecting the appropriate process and the detailed design of the product, which contributes to the success of the project.

Necessary training

Although logistics is a relatively new branch of knowledge, there are already quite a few alternatives for studying it. With logistics degrees, masters and postgraduate courses standing out.

However, if a more flexible and concentrated training is desired, without the need to go through all the barriers to university entrance, there are also professional courses, which allow direct study focused on labour insertion. Allowing access to jobs such as stock and warehouse management technician, goods reception and dispatch manager, warehouse logistics technician and warehouse service employee.

Employment options

Working in logistics means being part of one of the relevant and important areas of the global economy. As it is a sector in high demand and offers a variety of job opportunities.

For this reason, some of the employment options are:

• Freight forwarder or forwarding agent: this is the intermediary in the import and export processes. The person who establishes and maintains continuous contact with the foreigner who requires the service.
• Bus station manager: the tasks in this area revolve around the movement by road. Although bus stations do not move goods but people, it requires logistics for proper organisation.
• Logistics operator: this is a professional with the ability to adapt to change. Being at any point in the process, perfectly managing situations of delays and inconveniences with the goods.
• Road passenger transport manager: He/she is the person who organises the plans related to the journey on the roads, whether for leisure or business trips.
• Door-to-door transport operator: this is an important player, as he or she controls the journey of the goods as a whole. Even supervising that the specific product arrives at the home of the person who bought it.
• Air transport manager: He or she is in charge of organising and directing the movement of goods by air.

Recommendations

There are certain common requirements for any logistics position that must be taken into account. Such as management and planning skills, responsibility, organisation, ability to solve problems and, above all, good teamwork, as teamwork is required.

It is important to know other languages, to have specific knowledge of the sector in which you are going to work in order to avoid mistakes and to be at the forefront of new technologies and the latest developments.

Therefore, if you do not master some of the aforementioned skills, you should start working on them. As they will help you to obtain a good job in logistics, standing out from the rest.