Supply Chain

• Transportation - refers to the movement of product from one location to another as it makes its way from the beginning of supply chain to the customer
• Transportation - is an important supply chain driver because products are rarely produced and consumed in the same location
• Role of transportation in supply chain management (RSMDCC)

  1. Raw materials
  2. Suppliers
  3. Manufacturing
  4. Distribution
  5. Customer
  6. Consumer
• Shipper - the party who wants to transport the product from one place to another place
• Carrier - is company that moves the goods from one place to another place
• Two types under the mode of water

  1. Inland
  2. Oversea
• Three types under the surface

  1. Road
  2. Rail
  3. Pipeline
• Package Carrier- Another mode of transportation
• Road transport advantage - It is a relatively cheaper mode of transport compared to other modes
• Road transport advantage - It is a flexible mode of transport as loading and unloading is possible at any destination.
• Road transport advantage - it provides door to door service
• Limitation of road transport - due to limited carrying capacity, road transport is not economical for long distance transportation of goods
• Limitation of road transport - Transportation of heavy goods or goods in bulk by road involves high costs.
• Air freighting- is commonly used by companies who works with short lead times or advanced service levels
• Air transportation - is best suited for small, high-value items or time sensitive emergency shipments that have to travel a long distance
• Air carriers - normally move shipments that have high value but light weight
• Advantage of air transportation - it is the fastest mode of transport.
• Advantageofairtransportation - it is very useful in transporting goods to the area, which are not accessible by any other means
• Advantages of air transportation - reduces lead time
• Advantagesofairtransportation - improve service levels
• Five modes of transportation

  1. Air

  2. Water

  3. Surface

  4. Package Carrier

  5. Intermodal
• Package carriers - are transportation companies which carry small packages
• Package carrier use air, truck and rail to transport the goods
• Package carrier - also provide other value added services that allow shippers to inventory flow and track order status , shipper can proactively inform the customers about their packages.
• Package carrier are suited for e-businness
• Railtransport- uses freight trains for the delivery of merchandise.
• Freight trains are usually powered by diesel, electricity and steam.
• Rail - is suited for bulk shipment of products like fertilizer, cement, food grains and coal from the production plant and warehouses
• Advantageofrailtransportation- it is suitable for carrying heavy goods in large quantities over long distances
• Advantageofrailtransportation- is cost-effective
• Water transport - uses ships and large commercial vessels that carry billions of tons of cargo
• Water transport - is used primarily for the movement of large bulk commodity shipments and it is the cheapest mode for carrying such load
• water transport - is particularly effective for significant large quantities of goods that are non-perishable in nature and for cities or states that have water access
• Advantages of water transport - it is a relatively economical mode of transport for bulky and heavy goods
• advantage of water transport - the cost of maintaining and constructing routes is very low most of them are naturally made
• advantageofwatertransport - it promotes international trade
• disadvantage of water transport - weather conditions like storms, hurricanes, typhoons etc., may cause delays in transportation
• Pipeline - is used primarily for the transport of crude petroleum, refined petroleum products and natural gas
• Pipeline - it include a significant initial fixed cost in setting up the pipeline and related infrastructure
• Pipeline- are not flexible and this scope is limited respect to commodities