Outsourcing in logistics activities. How do we generate added value?
Companies increasingly tend to outsource any activities that do not form part of their core business, as well as any activities that do not enable them to generate added value, due to their lack of specialization or specific knowledge.
When making decisions in this respect, the variables that may most influence whether a service should be outsourced are the value that the activity generates for the company, the need to make management and structural costs variable, and operational flexibility.
It is essential to analyse outsourcing from all possible angles but, most importantly, we have to be objective when it comes to evaluating the pros and cons of the decision from an economic and production point of view. Moreover, the company’s general strategy must be taken into account to ensure that any outsourcing decisions are perfectly aligned to it, without any discrepancy.
Last but not least, we should take great care in terms of the kind of agreement that we reach with the companies offering logistics outsourcing services, as this will be the foundation for ensuring that we meet the financial and production objectives set.
In this article, we focus on logistics activities that may be suitable for outsourcing, the reasons for outsourcing these activities and the type of suppliers of this kind of services.
ODS
Oriol Closa NogueraEMBA in International Trade, Master in Integrated logistics and Operations, Institutional Master in CSR and University Diploma in Business Sciences. At a professional level, he has always worked in the areas of logistics and procurement at both a national and international level. He began his career at Excel Logistics as the Inbound Planning Manager, before moving to Nike as a Supply Chain Team Leader at the headquarters in Hilversum (The Netherlands). He has also worked as a Service Manager at Akzo Nobel, and a Local Supply Chain Manager and Global Category Manager at Gunnebo. He currently works as the Director of Purchasing at Grupo Constant. He is a lecturer and associate at UOC on the following courses: Lean Business Model Implementation, Procurement and Purchasing, Lean Philosophy in Operations, Reverse Logistics and Warehouse Management. He also writes articles for non-specialist and academic newspapers and journals.
