International logistics and time

By: Jaime G. Bonilla Arcos
Electronic and Electrical Engineer,
Msc. Intertantional Business Management.

Introduction
International logistics are a set of techniques and facilities to manage the flow of materials and information, are a process where the fundamental objective is to satisfy the needs of goods and services to a customer, market or firm. International trade agreements,operational sense associated with efficiency, cultural nuance, transportation and technology effectiveness are indispensable components that need to be carried out in the real world. Logistics combines all the activities, coordinating resources and demand to ensure a great level of service at the lowest possible cost and delivery time.
To begin with, in the Second World War when the German army wasinflicted by the United States and they couldn’t do anything to protect themselves the U.S. ensured that ‘the services and supplies were provided at the right time and at the right place in the most optimal and economical manner’ (2007,http://www.bestlogisticsguide.com/logistics-history.html – access on 25, 10,2010), it was at this moment when many military logistics technics start to appear and wereestablished. It can be said that logistics are a science or even art that every day is being developed by past and future experiences, intuition and skills. Moreover, when ground transportation like trucking and railroads were developed in the U.S. freight rates down considerably and many companies start to realize the importance of fast delivery. It was in the 1980s when ocean shippingcontainers where finally developed from one continent to another, offering the customers the opportunity to deliver their goods in extraordinary short periods of time, the containers were not necessary to be unpack and reload in a different vehicle. This rapid response, minimum variance and inventory decrease the prices, saving money, time and product lifetime.
Therefore, corporate operators took allthese interconnected events (forecast, manufacture, transport, distribution, customer sale) well connected and synchronized as a supply chain that reduces time and extra inventory that means less capital. The ‘just in time’ manufacturing in automobile companies to ensure that components for assembly arrive exactly in time allowed the company to produce more, reduce storage space and cut inventoryreflecting savings immediately. This help many medium-size companies to realize the importance of specialize in segments of the international logistics process.
UPS, is a great example of international logistics related with time, this domestic package delivery company, find his way to get into the world market in an exceptional way. This company used two essential sources that were developed andstart to be efficient in the 1990s until the present day. With the introduction of the internet, packages and products reduce the inventory to the minimum, customers start to buy all kind of products using the world wide web, then price of each product was reduced and delivery time were even faster; as a consequence of the increase in sales, new technologies like package recognition codes, virtualstorage accounts, automatic package selection process, were developed dropping delivery times to a point never seen before. Transportation, like private UPS planes made the ‘One day delivery’ possible, then technology, communication and transport match perfectly, for costumers and business.
In fact, some companies become so efficient in their logistic departments that they start to offer theirservices to other companies, training the staff, or helping them in the whole process. Now is really common to find specialized departments to take care of specific parts of the process and these can be located in any part of the world thanks to the communication services.
A supply chain is ‘the integration of key business processes from end user to through original supplier that provides...