Image by Nick Saltmarsh via Flickr
As the old saying goes, “you’re only as strong as your weakest link.” Essentially that means that no matter how much hard work and effort you put into a particular project, that one individual who isn’t with the program can bring it all crashing down. That’s why it is important to insure that all your managers understand the need for expert logistics management.
Logistics management is about assessing the totality of a company or project. This means carrying a concept through design to the implementation of the plan and onto the successful achievement of the goals of that plan. Clearly no one person should be in charge of every specific aspect of any project. It is that kind of myopic approach which leads to the most failure in businesses.
That’s why an effective business management leader delegates responsibilities to the team or to a fulfillment service. This circle of managers then delegates to their own staff the goals, deadlines and objectives of a project. All of these individual elements need to work cohesively in order to achieve the common objective whatever that might be. This is where logistics managements come into play.
A crucial part of logistics management is knowing who is doing what at every phase of the project. The words “I don’t know” should never be uttered if logistics management is being properly applied. Once assignments have been passed out amongst the staff, logistics management requires status reports. These reports should come in the form of official written updates. The frequency of these reports should be determined at the outset.
As the project moves along, there also needs to be a level of quality review from the management leaders to guarantee success. Additionally, the managers need to coordinate amongst themselves to make sure the project is running smoothly. In other words, is everyone holding up their “link in the chain?”
At the upper management level, all the logistics information flows through a funnel to the top levels of the company. There the CO is exercising the ultimate in logistics management as they can instantly assess where there might be concerns along the chain of command.
Simply put, logistics management means thinking through every step of the plan, delegating order fulfillment when it makes sense to do so and following through on the progress. Doesn’t matter if you’re building a rocket to the moon or printing comic books; applying logistics management is what will bring you the most success.
