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The world is running on a supply chain. It is not from today but centuries. The supply chain is the lifeline of life, because not every country or area has all the things that are needed by the people inhabited there. Only because of the supply chain, people are getting the necessities at their location. The Supply chain starts from sourcing raw material, manufacturing, storage and delivering the item to the desired destination. The supply chain includes many functions like procurement, manufacturing or logistics etc. Sometimes people mistakenly compare supply chain and logistics as same. But in reality, the supply chain is a vast subject whereas logistics in Auckland is only the part supply chain.
Supply Chain:
The supply chain is the process of many functions like sourcing, procurement, manufacturing, vendor management, warehousing and transportation. The supply chain process starts from defining the business needs and taking a strategic decision like source allocation, location for facility development, acquisition of resources for manufacturing and supply chain designing. Usually, anything about product development, sourcing, manufacturing, quality assurance, storage and deliverance falls under the ambit of the supply chain. The supply chain covers a vast area that can take multiple continents, regions or countries in it. Now the supply chain is the primary component of every business because every business need resources to run its operation and those resources were acquired through the supply chain.
Logistics:
Logistics was known as supply chain, nearly a century back. But logistics is only limited to the movement and management of goods. In past, people use animals for a good movement like trade caravan from one country to another. After world wars, the importance of logistics gets highlighted because armies need a lot of resources throughout the war. But logistics doesn’t involve the sourcing, procurement or manufacturing of goods, it is only related to goods management. Warehousing is also counted as part of the logistics. As in warehousing, space will be given to store the goods and then those goods will be moved to further destinations. Logistics can be a vital part of the supply chain but it is not a complete supply chain. In the supply chain, logistics is the function that is responsible for the movement of physical goods from one point to another. Without logistics, no supply chain can exist. When we are talking about logistics, then logistics is primarily known as transportation. Multiple transportation modes are used nowadays like;
- Water
- Air
- Rail
- Pipe
- Road
The road is the most used mode of transportation and this is the reason that the road network is counted as the backbone of any economy. Sea freight is the second most used mode of transportation and all global economy is running on sea freight. The world we are living in today and the things we are using today are not possible without sea transportation. The logistics manager ensures timely delivery and smooth movement of goods from one place to another, to keep the supply chain running.