Successful warehouse and logistics management leadership is not a result of personality traits or instincts, it has more to do with continuous attempts to optimize processes.
Every successful company that has a distribution and logistics business unit needs a leader, someone whose decisions and values make things work better for the entire supply chain. It is what these leaders do every day, that makes a company have more satisfied clients, knowing that this satisfaction is not an easy thing to achieve. Customers expectations are growing every day. They expect delivery time to be shorter, their goods to be delivered with all the requirements and restrictions they asked for and hopefully, have the ability to track down their deliveries.
Not an easy task for the people in charge of the well-being of the warehouses.
Throughout this blog post, I will highlight some elements that I consider help create successful warehouse and logistics management leaders.
1. Understand the importance of logistics management automation
The number of issues that warehouse and logistics management must deal with every day can be overwhelming. Why not rely on the correct software and automate some of these tasks? It then becomes easy to forget all the time spent on determining the fleet to be used, loading capacities, routes, fleet monitoring, consumption of fuel etc. This helps warehouse and logistics management leaders focus on specific things that really need their attention.
2. Reduce delivery time
Successful warehouse and logistics management know that the key to increasing productivity lies on focusing on reducing delivery time. Processes need to be more efficient, transparent and integrated to all the stages of the supply chain. To achieve this, companies need to move from sequence methodologies to more continuous processes. Information must be easy to collect and communication channels must be clear. Leaders must encourage the use of these channels. It is important not to forget technology and how it can help to reduce delivery times. Transport management software can help a lot reducing the cycles. They provide information regarding the optimal loading capacity of vehicles, sequence of delivery (helps the picking process), and provides the optimal delivery routes for each vehicle. Why do this manually and maybe not even get to the optimal, if there are softwares that can help, and are not expensive?
3. Never forget people
True leaders know the importance of a team. They have to influence positively among others, and must create an environment that encourages the team to aim high, and to find their own capabilities. By doing this, people feel comfortable, have a sense of belonging to the company, and are loyal and committed to their teams. Your employees are your partners on your daily challenges to achieve maximum efficiency and happy clients.
As a warehouse and logistics management leader, what do you consider is a key issue? What makes you a good leader? Let me know by leaving a comment below.