Logisticians
Are you holding a smartphone right now as you read this? Have you ever thought about how that electronic device made its way to you? You know that any product found in stores across a city definitely got there through one of the companies or organizations that produced it, or it might have been imported from abroad. For products to reach merchants or the end consumer, they go through many processes - buying the raw materials needed for manufacturing and negotiating their prices with suppliers, the manufacturing process itself, or other matters related to importing them from overseas, plus storing them in warehouses and transporting and shipping them to merchants and points of sale. In the world of trade and business, these processes are called "supply chain and logistics." That's why every commercial and industrial organization has a specific department dedicated to these tasks, and one of the most important employees in that department is the "logistics specialist." This person is responsible for overseeing everything related to storage and shipping, managing warehouses, and handling the shipment of products to merchants or receiving them from suppliers.
Meet the Writer: Waleed Abo Omiraa
What You'll Actually Do
The core tasks and responsibilities that fill a typical day.
- Maintain and develop positive business relationships with a customer's key personnel involved in, or directly relevant to, a logistics activity.
- Develop an understanding of customers' needs and take actions to ensure that such needs are met.
- Direct availability and allocation of materials, supplies, and finished products.
- Collaborate with other departments as necessary to meet customer requirements, to take advantage of sales opportunities or, in the case of shortages, to minimize negative impacts on a business.
- Protect and control proprietary materials.
- Review logistics performance with customers against targets, benchmarks, and service agreements.
- Develop and implement technical project management tools, such as plans, schedules, and responsibility and compliance matrices.
- Direct team activities, establishing task priorities, scheduling and tracking work assignments, providing guidance, and ensuring the availability of resources.
- Report project plans, progress, and results.
- Direct and support the compilation and analysis of technical source data necessary for product development.
- Explain proposed solutions to customers, management, or other interested parties through written proposals and oral presentations.
- Develop proposals that include documentation for estimates.
- Plan, organize, and execute logistics support activities, such as maintenance planning, repair analysis, and test equipment recommendations.
- Provide project management services, including the provision and analysis of technical data.
- Participate in the assessment and review of design alternatives and design change proposal impacts.
- Support the development of training materials and technical manuals.
- Stay informed of logistics technology advances and apply appropriate technology to improve logistics processes.
- Redesign the movement of goods to maximize value and minimize costs.
- Manage subcontractor activities, reviewing proposals, developing performance specifications, and serving as liaisons between subcontractors and organizations.
- Manage the logistical aspects of product life cycles, including coordination or provisioning of samples, and the minimization of obsolescence.
- Perform system lifecycle cost analysis and develop component studies.
- Perform managerial duties such as hiring and training employees and overseeing facility needs or requirements.