Sup­p­ly chain logi­stics vs. purcha­sing Opti­miza­ti­on through communication

Com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on bet­ween logi­stics and purcha­sing is an important fac­tor for the suc­cess of a company.
Logi­stics is respon­si­ble for plan­ning, con­trol­ling and imple­men­ting the trans­por­ta­ti­on, sto­rage and dis­tri­bu­ti­on of goods.
Purcha­sing is respon­si­ble for the procurement of raw mate­ri­als, semi-finis­hed and finis­hed pro­ducts as well as ser­vices from suppliers.
Both are­as must work clo­se­ly tog­e­ther to meet cus­to­mer needs, opti­mi­ze cos­ts and ensu­re quality.
Com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on bet­ween logi­stics and purcha­sing is an important fac­tor in opti­mi­zing coope­ra­ti­on and achie­ving cor­po­ra­te goals.
Good com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on can lead to the fol­lo­wing benefits: 

• Bet­ter coor­di­na­ti­on of requi­re­ments and deli­very dates
• Grea­ter trans­pa­ren­cy and trust in the sup­p­ly chain
• Lower cos­ts and risks thanks to effi­ci­ent processes
• Increased cus­to­mer satis­fac­tion thanks to fast and high-qua­­li­­ty deliveries

The fol­lo­wing mea­su­res can be taken to impro­ve com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on bet­ween logi­stics and purchasing: 

• Clear defi­ni­ti­on of the roles, tasks and objec­ti­ves of the two areas
• Estab­lish­ment of regu­lar coor­di­na­ti­on mee­tings and exch­an­ge of information
• Use of digi­tal tools and plat­forms to sim­pli­fy com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on and documentation
• Deve­lo­p­ment of joint stra­te­gies and acti­vi­ties to achie­ve cor­po­ra­te goals
• Deve­lo­p­ment of par­t­­ner­­ship-based rela­ti­onships with suppliers

The digi­tal trans­for­ma­ti­on offers new oppor­tu­ni­ties to impro­ve com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on bet­ween logi­stics and procurement.
By using digi­tal tech­no­lo­gies such as cloud com­pu­ting, the Inter­net of Things, big data ana­ly­tics, arti­fi­ci­al intel­li­gence and block­chain, both are­as can exch­an­ge infor­ma­ti­on fas­ter, more trans­par­ent­ly and more securely.
Some examp­les of digi­tal solu­ti­ons are Cloud com­pu­ting: cloud com­pu­ting makes it pos­si­ble to make data and appli­ca­ti­ons acces­si­ble via the inter­net wit­hout the need for a local infrastructure.
This faci­li­ta­tes the inte­gra­ti­on of logi­stics and purcha­sing sys­tems and the use of com­mon plat­forms and standards.
Inter­net of Things: Inter­net of Things refers to the net­wor­king of phy­si­cal objects with the inter­net that can coll­ect, send and recei­ve data.
This enables bet­ter moni­to­ring and con­trol of logi­stics pro­ces­ses such as trans­por­ta­ti­on, sto­rage and inven­to­ry management.
Purcha­sing can also bene­fit from the data to fore­cast demand, sel­ect sup­pli­ers and opti­mi­ze orders. 

• Big data ana­ly­tics: Big data ana­ly­tics refers to the ana­ly­sis of lar­ge volu­mes of struc­tu­red and unstruc­tu­red data from various sources such as sen­sors, came­ras, GPS, social media, etc. This makes it pos­si­ble to reco­gni­ze pat­terns, trends and cor­re­la­ti­ons that are rele­vant for decis­­i­on-making in logi­stics and purchasing.
  For exam­p­le, big data ana­ly­tics can help deter­mi­ne the opti­mal rou­te for trans­por­ta­ti­on, increase the uti­liza­ti­on of warehouse capa­ci­ties or eva­lua­te the qua­li­ty of suppliers. 
• Arti­fi­ci­al intel­li­gence: Arti­fi­ci­al intel­li­gence refers to the abili­ty of machi­nes or soft­ware to per­form human-like tasks such as lear­ning, under­stan­ding or pro­blem solving.
  This makes it pos­si­ble to increase the effi­ci­en­cy and effec­ti­ve­ness of logi­stics and purcha­sing processes.
  For exam­p­le, arti­fi­ci­al intel­li­gence can help to anti­ci­pa­te the demand for pro­ducts or ser­vices, obtain the best offers from sup­pli­ers or detect anoma­lies in the data. 
• Block­chain: Block­chain refers to a decen­tra­li­zed data­ba­se that records tran­sac­tions bet­ween dif­fe­rent par­ties in a cryp­to­gra­phi­cal­ly secu­re manner.
  This makes it pos­si­ble to increase the trust­wort­hi­ness and tracea­bi­li­ty of logi­stics and purcha­sing processes.
  For exam­p­le, block­chain can help to veri­fy the ori­gin of pro­ducts, make the sup­p­ly chain more trans­pa­rent or use smart con­tracts for auto­ma­tic pay­ments or deli­very terms. 

Com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on bet­ween logi­stics and purcha­sing is the­r­e­fo­re a key fac­tor in the suc­cess of a company.
The digi­tal trans­for­ma­ti­on offers new oppor­tu­ni­ties to impro­ve this communication.
By using digi­tal tech­no­lo­gies, both are­as can exch­an­ge infor­ma­ti­on fas­ter, more trans­par­ent­ly and more securely.
This leads to bet­ter cus­to­mer satis­fac­tion, grea­ter cost effi­ci­en­cy and hig­her quality.