Saturday, 20 August 2011

Manage Complex Innovation


Innovation is the change that outperforms the previous practice. To lead or sustain with innovations, managers need to concentrate heavily on the innovation network which requires deep understanding of the complexity of innovation.

Collaboration is an important source of innovation. Innovations are increasingly brought to the market by networks of firms, selected according to their comparative advantages, and operating in a coordinated manner.

When a technology goes through major transformation phase and yields a successful innovation then it becomes a great learning experience not only for the parent industry but for other industries as well. Big innovations are generally the outcome of inter and interdisciplinary networking among technological sectors along with combination of implicit and explicit knowledge.

 Networking is required but network integration (networking of networks) is the key to success for complex innovation in today’s era where diverse technologies are available at its best. Social economic zone, technology corridor, free trade agreement and technology cluster are some of the ways to encourage organizational networking and cross functional innovations.

 To win with innovation in a flat world we definitely need complex networking and crowd-sourcing

Innovative Logisticks Management


Innovation management is the discipline of managing processes in innovation. It can be used to develop both product and organizational innovation. Without proper processes, it is not possible for R&D to be efficient; innovation management includes a set of tools that allow managers and engineers to cooperate with a common understanding of goals and processes.

The focus of innovation management is to allow the organization to respond to an external or internal opportunity, and use its creative efforts to introduce new ideas, processes or products.

 Importantly, innovation management is not relegated to R&D; it involves workers at every level in contributing creatively to a company's development, manufacturing, and marketing. By utilizing appropriate innovation management tools, management can trigger and deploy the creative juices of the whole work force towards the continuous development of a company.

 The process can be viewed as an evolutionary integration of organization, technology and market by iterating series of activities: search, select, implement and capture.

Innovation processes can either be pushed or pulled through development. A pushed process is based on existing or newly invented technology, that the organization has access to, and tries to find profitable applications to use this technology.

 A pulled process tries to find areas where customers needs are not met, and then focus development efforts to find solutions to those needs.

 To succeed with either method, an understanding of both the market and the technical problems are needed. By creating multi-functional development teams, containing both engineers and marketers, both dimensions can be solved.

 The lifetime (or product lifecycle) of new products is steadily getting shorter; increased competition therefore forces companies reduce the time to market. Innovation managers must therefore decrease development time, without sacrificing quality or meeting the needs of the market.

Logisticks Definations


Logistics - (business definition) Logistics is defined as a business planning framework for the management of material, service, information and capital flows. It includes the increasingly complex information, communication and control systems required in today's business environment. -- (Logistix Partners Oy, Helsinki, FI, 1996)

Logistics - (military definition) The science of planning and carrying out the movement and maintenance of forces.... those aspects of military operations that deal with the design and development, acquisition, storage, movement, distribution, maintenance, evacuation and disposition of material; movement, evacuation, and hospitalization of personnel; acquisition of construction, maintenance, operation and disposition of facilities; and acquisition of furnishing of services. -- (JCS Pub 1-02 excerpt)

Logistics - The procurement, maintenance, distribution, and replacement of personnel and materiel. -- (Websters Dictionary)

Logistics - 1. The branch of military operations that deals with the procurement, distribution, maintenance, and replacement of materiel and personnel. 2. The management of the details of an operation.
[French logistiques, from logistique, logic (perhaps influenced by loger, to quarter), from Medieval Latin logisticus, of calculation.] -- (American Heritage Dictionary)

Logistics - ...the process of planning, implementing, and controlling the efficient, effective flow and storage of goods, services, and related information from point of origin to point of consumption for the purpose of conforming to customer requirements." Note that this definition includes inbound, outbound, internal, and external movements, and return of materials for environmental purposes. -- (Reference: Council of Logistics Management, http://www.clm1.org/mission.html, 12 Feb 98)

Logistics - The process of planning, implementing, and controlling the efficient, cost effective flow and storage of raw materials, in-process inventory, finished goods and related information from point of origin to point of consumption for the purpose of meeting customer requirements. -- (Reference: Canadian Association of Logistics Management, http://www.calm.org/calm/AboutCALM/AboutCALM.html, 12 Feb, 1998)

Logistics - The science of planning, organizing and managing activities that provide goods or services. -- (MDC, LogLink / LogisticsWorld, 1997)

Logistics - Logistics is the science of planning and implementing the acquisition and use of the resources necessary to sustain the operation of a system. -- (Reference: ECRC University of Scranton / Defense Logistics Agency Included with permission from: HUM - The Government Computer Magazine "Integrated Logistics" December 1993, Walter Cooke, Included with permission from: HUM - The Government Computer Magazine.)

Logist - To perform logistics functions or processes. The act of planning, organizing and managing activities that provide goods or services. (The verb "to logist." Eg. She logisted the last operation. I will logist the next operation. I am logisting the current operation. We logist the operations. The operations are well logisted.) -- (MDC, LogLink / LogisticsWorld, 1997)

Logistic - Of or pertaining to logistics. -- (MDC, LogLink / LogisticsWorld, 1997)

Logistical - Of or pertaining to logistics, logistics-like. -- (MDC, LogLink / LogisticsWorld, 1997)

Logistics Functions - (classical) planning, procurement, transportation, supply, and maintenance. -- (United States Department of Defense DOD)

Logistics Processes - (classical) requirements determination, acquisition, distribution, and conservation. -- (United States Department of Defense DOD)

Business Logistics - The science of planning, design, and support of business operations of procurement, purchasing, inventory, warehousing, distribution, transportation, customer support, financial and human resources. -- (MDC, LogLink / LogisticsWorld, 1997)

Cradle-to-Grave - Logistics planning, design, and support which takes in to account logistics support throughout the entire system or product life cycle. -- (MDC, LogLink / LogisticsWorld, 1997)

Acquisition Logistics - Acquisition Logistics is everything involved in acquiring logistics support equipment and personnel for a new weapons system. The formal definition is "the process of systematically identifying, defining, designing, developing, producing, acquiring, delivering, installing, and upgrading logistics support capability requirements through the acquisition process for Air Force systems, subsystems, and equipment. -- (Reference: Air Force Institute of Technology, Graduate School of Acquisition and Logistics.)

Integrated Logistics Support (ILS) (1) - ILS is a management function that provides planning, funding, and functioning controls which help to assure that the system meets performance requirements, is developed at a reasonable price, and can be supported throughout its life cycle. -- (Reference: Air Force Institute of Technology, Graduate School of Acquisition and Logistics.)

Integrated Logistics Support (ILS) (2) - Encompasses the unified management of the technical logistics elements that plan and develop the support requirements for a system. This can include hardware, software, and the provisioning of training and maintenance resources. -- (Reference: ECRC University of Scranton / Defense Logistics Agency Included with permission from: HUM - The Government Computer Magazine "Integrated Logistics" December 1993, Walter Cooke.)

Logistics Support Analysis (LSA) - Simply put, LSA is the iterative process of identifying support requirements for a new system, especially in the early stages of system design. The main goals of LSA are to ensure that the system will perform as intended and to influence the design for supportability and affordability

Thursday, 18 August 2011

Origins and Defination


                                          
The term logistics comes from the Greek logos (λόγος), meaning "speech, reason, ratio, rationality, language, phrase", and more specifically from the Greek word logistiki (λογιστική), meaning accounting and financial organization

The word logistics has its origin in the French verb loger to lodge or to quarter. Its original use was to describe the science of movement, supplying & maintenance of military forces in the field. Later on it was used to describe the management of materials flow through an organization, from raw materials through to finished goods

Logistics is considered to have originated in the military's need to supply themselves with arms, ammunition and rations as they moved from their base to a forward position. In ancient Greek, Roman and Byzantine empires, military officers with the title Logistikas were responsible for financial and supply distribution matters

The Oxford English Dictionary defines logistics as "the branch of military science relating to procuring, maintaining and transporting materiel, personnel and facilities." Another dictionary definition is "the time-related positioning of resources." As such, logistics is commonly seen as a branch of engineering that creates "people systems" rather than "machine systems". When talking in terms of human resources management, logistics means giving inputs, i.e. "recruiting manpowers", which ultimately work for the final consumer or to delivery.

Logistics management

                                                      
Logistics is that part of the supply chain which plans, implements and controls the efficient, effective forward and reverse flow and storage of goods, services and related information between the point of origin and the point of consumption in order to meet customer and legal requirements. A professional working in the field of logistics management is called a logistician.

Logistics management is known by many names, the most common are as follows:

    * Materials Management
    * Channel Management
    * Distribution (or Physical Distribution)
    * Business or Logistics Management or
    * Supply Chain Management

The Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport (CILT) was established in the United Kingdom in 1919 and was granted a Royal Charter in 1926. The Chartered Institute is one of the professional bodies or institutions, for the logistics and transport sectors, that offers professional qualifications or degrees in logistics management.

Logistic outsourcing


Logistics outsourcing
                                        


Third-party logistics
Third-party logistics (3PL) involves using external organizations to execute logistics activities that have traditionally been performed within an organization itself.
                                                 

According to this definition, third-party logistics includes any form of outsourcing of logistics activities previously performed in-house. If, for example, a company with its own warehousing facilities decides to employ external transportation, this would be an example of third-party logistics. Logistics is an emerging business area in many countries.

Fourth-party logistics
The concept of Fourth-Party Logistics (4PL) provider was first defined by Andersen Consulting (Now Accenture) as an integrator that assembles the resources, capabilities and technology of its own organization and other organizations to design, build, and run comprehensive supply chain solutions.

                                     
Whereas a third party logistics (3PL) service provider targets a function, a 4PL targets management of the entire process. Some have described a 4PL as a general contractor who manages other 3PLs, truckers, forwarders, custom house agents, and others, essentially taking responsibility of a complete process for the customer.

Emergency logistics
                                               

Emergency logistics is a term used by the logistics, supply chain and manufacturing industries to denote specific time critical modes of transport used to move goods or objects rapidly in the event of an emergency.[citation needed] The reason for enlisting emergency logistics services could be a production delay or anticipated production delay, or it could be that specialist equipment is needed urgently to prevent instances such as aircraft being grounded (also known as "aircraft on ground"--AOG), ships being delayed, or telecommunications failure. Emergency logistics services are typically sourced from a specialist provider.

Logistic management

                                         
The term Logistics Management or supply chain management is that part of Supply Chain Management that plans, implements, and controls the efficient, effective, forward, and reverse flow and storage of goods, services, and related information between the point of origin and the point of consumption in order to meet customers’ requirements.