Countermeasures for Cold Chain Logistics Cost Control
In recent years, with the rapid growth of China's economy, the cold chain logistics industry has been developing very rapidly, and the logistics cost has become more and more prominent in the controllable cost of enterprises. However, due to the late start of China's cold chain logistics industry, compared with developed countries, there is still a big gap in logistics management, mainly manifested in the lack of professional management personnel, logistics facilities and equipment backwardness, the management level is yet to be improved, etc. The existence of these problems ultimately leads to the high cost of cold chain logistics. The following is the knowledge of cold chain logistics cost control countermeasures that I brought for you, welcome to read.
I. Introduction
(a) Research background
Today's rapid development of the logistics industry, the industry's internal competition is fierce, logistics companies must re-search for a new way to reduce logistics costs, so that logistics cost management has become the enterprise to maximize the profit space The new way of modern logistics cost management model that reduces logistics costs and improves capital utilization. 2014 China's total domestic logistics amounted to 213.5 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.9%, and the growth rate was reduced by 1.6% year-on-year. The logistics cost of Chinese logistics enterprises is much higher than that of foreign logistics enterprises. If you want to reduce the logistics cost of domestic enterprises and find out the profit in logistics, you must carry out effective logistics cost management.
At present, China's annual output of various types of food reached 1.2 billion tons, accounting for 15% of the world's total food, China's fruits and vegetables, whether in terms of quality or quantity accounted for the world's first, but the amount of loss is as high as 24% -30% (developed countries, the depletion of about 5%), which is mainly in the depletion of meat, aquatic products and a large number of milk and soybean products, of which more than 80% of the fresh produce is the use of room temperature Preservation, circulation and processing. Why the above situation? In fact, it is because our country has not yet formed a complete frozen and refrigerated chain, from the starting point to the point of consumption of the circulation and storage efficiency and effectiveness can not be effectively controlled and integrated, the national quality inspection and developed countries there is also a certain gap.
(II) Research significance
The research on cost control of cold chain logistics has some practical significance as follows. Firstly, optimized cost of cold chain logistics is not only helpful for the development of cold chain logistics industry and optimization of the cold chain logistics system, but also improves the quality of the products and service quality of cold chain logistics; secondly, it can promote the development of the cold chain logistics discipline; thirdly, it can promote the development of cold chain logistics; thirdly, it can promote the development of cold chain logistics. Secondly, it can promote the development of cold chain logistics; again, it can improve the overall level of cold chain logistics industry in China; finally, it can help to control and manage the logistics cost of Tianyuan City Cold Chain Logistics Center project, which can improve the efficiency of the project operation.
Second, the relevant concepts and theoretical foundations
(a) the definition of cold chain logistics
Cold chain logistics, also called low-temperature logistics, is a special form of logistics, which is often referred to abroad as the perishable goods cold chain. Cold chain logistics refers to the perishable and perishable goods from the origin of the acquisition or fishing, after the product processing, storage, transportation, distribution, retail, until the transfer to the hands of consumers, its various links are always in the product must be in a low-temperature environment, in order to ensure that the quality and safety of food, to reduce the loss and prevent pollution of the special supply chain system. Cold chain logistics is different from room temperature logistics in that it requires full temperature control of the product during transportation.
(2) the characteristics of cold chain logistics
1, the system is complex, the investment in the construction of a large
The purpose of cold chain logistics is to ensure the quality of perishable and perishable goods, the core of the supply chain system to ensure that the operation of the low-temperature environment, with the ordinary room temperature logistics system than, more demanding and more complex, so the cold chain logistics, the cold chain logistics system, the cold chain logistics system, the cold chain logistics system. The requirements are higher and more complex, so the cold chain logistics system is complex and the investment in construction is large.
2. High organizational coordination
Because of the remarkable timeliness of perishable and perishable goods, the organizational coordination of each link in the cold chain logistics requires high coordination, and because the operation of perishable and perishable goods in the cold chain is always closely related to the cost of energy consumption, it is indispensable to control the cost of the operation of the management of the organizational coordination.
3, high cost
In order to ensure that perishable and perishable goods in the circulation of each link can be in a specific temperature conditions, the need to install temperature and humidity monitoring equipment, in the use of refrigerated trucks or low-temperature warehouses, the need for the application of advanced information management systems, so the cost of cold-chain logistics will be relatively high.
(3) Cost structure analysis of cold chain logistics
1. Initial input cost of cold chain logistics
The initial input cost of cold chain logistics is determined during the construction period of the enterprise's logistics system, and if it is necessary to adjust the input in this area later on, a larger price is needed. The initial input cost of cold chain logistics is determined during the construction period of the enterprise logistics system, and if the input is adjusted later, it needs to pay a larger price. Initial input cost includes input of logistics hardware facilities and equipment and input of logistics software technology. Tianyuan city cold chain logistics center project initial input, freezing and cold storage of the main warehouse infrastructure project has been basically completed, and established a "self-built + outsourcing" mode of equipment and facilities purchase.
2. Storage Costs of Cold Chain Logistics
Storage costs are the costs incurred for the stored items, which are the sum of the costs incurred in the process of logistics storage and operation, and they account for a large proportion of the total logistics costs. The storage cost of cold chain logistics is mainly in the following aspects: first, depreciation of warehouse and depreciation of warehouse machinery and equipment; second, regular maintenance cost of storage facilities and machinery and equipment; and third, custodial cost. Once the Tianyuan City Cold Chain Logistics Center project is in operation, the storage costs will be highlighted.
3. Transportation cost of cold chain logistics
The transportation cost of cold chain logistics enterprises is mainly the cost of the transportation vehicle itself, the cost of cargo damage in the process of transportation and refrigeration costs. The cost of the transportation vehicle itself is mainly the cost of fuel consumption, repair and maintenance. The cost of cargo damage in cold chain logistics is the loss of value of some frozen and chilled products due to deterioration and decay during transportation. The cost of refrigeration in the vehicle is mainly the cost of refrigerant, which is related to the heat transfer index of the transportation compartment, the surface area of the compartment, and the outside temperature.
4. Management Costs of Cold Chain Logistics
The management of a logistics enterprise refers to the management process of maximizing economic benefits by applying the basic principles and methods of management science according to the objective law of commodity circulation, so that the logistics enterprise can realize the optimal logistics service with the minimum input to the society. In the management practice of cold chain logistics enterprises, it is necessary to promote the realization of management objectives through the functions of planning, organizing, leading, coordinating and controlling according to the different management objects, so as to improve the efficiency and effect of enterprise operation. Tianyuan City Cold Chain Logistics Center project is in line with the market introduction of cold storage operation, refrigeration equipment management professionals, has built up a cold chain logistics operations core team.
Three, cold chain logistics cost control problems
(a) storage cost problem analysis
China's cold chain logistics warehouse resources are relatively rich, but the average number of throughput of China's cold storage is not ideal, only three to four times, the utilization rate is very low. Cold chain logistics warehousing link spoilage depletion cost in China prevails, which is largely related to China's cold chain logistics warehousing management and distribution of the in and out of the warehouse operations occupy a larger proportion. In the cold chain logistics storage process, the application of logistics technology is not enough, resulting in the traditional inventory workload, inventory is not in place leading to the omission of the phenomenon is very serious, and then due to the cold storage management personnel management is not in place and the use of library space is unreasonable, artificially leading to an increase in storage costs.
(2) Analysis of transportation cost
Transportation cost is to achieve the completion of logistics and transportation activities and all the costs incurred, in the cold chain logistics cost occupies a large proportion, as high as more than 30%. For many domestic small and medium-sized cold chain logistics enterprises, the management ability and quality of the enterprise can be judged from the level of their transportation cost in the total cost of cold chain logistics. Whether the transportation cost can be effectively controlled will have a great impact on the core competitiveness and future development of the enterprise. In recent years, domestic oil prices have been adjusted many times, although the recent five price reductions, but the fuel cost is still very high, transportation costs in the management of logistics enterprises is still more urgent.
Many logistics enterprises in the transportation of this link, not according to the economic region and the natural flow of goods to arrange for the transportation of goods, ignoring the full use of means of transport and rational division of labor, not according to the number of goods carried and weight considerations, blind use of means of transport, resulting in damage to the vehicle, overloaded or not fully loaded, resulting in the use of capacity is not balanced. Unreasonable transportation of goods leads to the phenomenon of goods meandering, backward flow, too far, a waste of capacity and social labor, affecting the market supply of transport products and the operational efficiency of logistics enterprises.
(C) management cost analysis
Compared with room temperature logistics, cold chain logistics is more complex, from the perspective of food quality and safety, perishable and perishable goods logistics need to use cold chain logistics mode, China because of the lack of effective supervision of cold chain logistics, and cold chain logistics cost is many times higher than the ordinary logistics cost. Because of the lack of effective regulation of cold chain logistics and the fact that the cost of cold chain logistics is twice as high as the cost of ordinary logistics, many logistics enterprises often use informal cold chain logistics methods, such as quilts and ice to transport perishable and perishable goods. This kind of speculative behavior reduces the operating cost of cold chain logistics enterprises, but the quality and safety of perishable goods are not guaranteed.
In terms of management level, due to the limited level of managers of a large part of the cold chain logistics in China, the proportion of practitioners in the whole industry with higher education and culture is relatively low, and the lack of modern management concepts and backwardness of many managers, they cannot keep up with the market development needs. Many cold chain logistics enterprises in China started from the traditional transportation industry, and many of their business models have not kept up with the development requirements of the modern cold chain logistics industry, and they still stay in the traditional logistics and transportation operation, and they do not pay attention to the management of the whole cold chain supply chain, and they just focus on one part of it, which makes it difficult to reduce the management cost of the cold chain supply chain.
(4) Analysis of other problems
China's cold chain food production enterprises, supermarkets, catering enterprises generally more dispersed scale, which increases the circulation link, inevitably increasing the circulation cost. In addition, the asymmetry of information in all aspects of cold chain logistics makes inventory, loading and unloading, transportation and other lack of transparency, resulting in increased distribution and transportation costs.
Four, cold chain logistics cost control countermeasures
(a) transport
Cold chain logistics transportation process involves the secondary transport: the primary transport is from the cold storage to the distribution center of the circulation processing process; the secondary transport is from the distribution center to the distribution of the distribution process of the seller.
(2) Distribution
The main goal of the logistics distribution strategy is to improve the level of service and control distribution costs. At present, the cold chain logistics shift to multi-species small batch transportation has become an inevitable trend, for the shelf-life of a large number of small orders for very short products, numerous distribution network stores, complex time windows and other issues, to take the merger of small orders, integration of distribution outlets, merge the time windows of different products to improve customer service levels and reduce transportation costs. In addition and many enterprises *** with distribution can improve the vehicle loading rate and reduce distribution costs, the formation of scale effects.
(C) inventory control
Cold storage aspects including refrigeration systems, cold storage warehouse design, equipment in the cold storage, etc., China's investment in cold storage is large, but the vacancy rate is very high. The key to minimizing inventory costs for cold chain manufacturers is to reduce the cold storage vacancy rate as much as possible. Enterprises can use the inventory information system to determine the optimal ordering point under the condition of balancing the expiration date and out-of-stock, and the current customer requirements for cold-chain food are more and more individualized trend, enterprises should also aim at maintaining the continuous stability of the inventory and not to break the chain. In addition, different raw and cooked foods are categorized and stored to avoid unnecessary losses.
(D) management information system
Management information system is also an important part of cold chain logistics construction. It mainly includes inventory control system, customer service system, warehouse management system and transportation management system. For enterprises, the use of logistics management software to effectively reduce the cost of enterprise logistics is invariably expanding corporate profits. Accurate inventory data and sales summary data in the system provide the basis for enterprise purchasing, which improves the working efficiency and management level. The system also provides various kinds of early warnings, such as alarms for near-shelf-life and over-shelf-life products and analysis of the age of in-stock products, etc., so that the warehouse management staffs can take timely and effective measures to greatly reduce the loss of in-stock products. Cold chain logistics information system provides accurate market dynamics and information communication to make the logistics process more reasonable and reduce the lag phenomenon. Therefore, the introduction of information systems, not only can make the cold chain logistics in the right direction, but also make full use of existing cold storage facilities to maximize the control of logistics costs.
(V) Outsourcing Strategy
Logistics outsourcing for cold chain food enterprises is a development trend. Cold chain logistics as a logistics business in the infrastructure, technical content and operational requirements are very high high-end logistics, these are often the weak links of the enterprise. Self-operated cold chain logistics requires high investment in infrastructure and equipment, network and huge human capital. By outsourcing to a third-party logistics company or joining hands with a third-party logistics, this is conducive to enterprises to control production costs, improve operational efficiency, strengthen competitiveness, and enhance corporate image.
V. Conclusion
Logistics is called a third-party profit source, has a great potential for excavation, especially in China's rapid development of the logistics industry today, logistics companies, if you can be good control and optimization of logistics costs, then in China's logistics activities can be achieved to reduce the cost of enterprise logistics, and to promote the enterprise to increase income and The purpose of saving expenditure. This paper takes the cost control of cold chain logistics in China as the research object and refers to the project of Tianyuan City Cold Chain Logistics Center. In the research process, firstly, the concept of cold chain logistics is elaborated; then the structure of cold chain logistics cost in China is analyzed and commented, and finally, combined with the problems existing in the cost control of China's cold chain logistics enterprises, it puts forward the countermeasures and opinions on the reduction of logistics cost and thus contributes to the upcoming operation of Tianyuan City Cold Chain Logistics Center project. City Cold Chain Logistics Center project.
Although this paper has researched the cost control of cold chain logistics, due to the limitations of the author's knowledge structure and research conditions, there are some issues that have not been addressed, such as the study of the relationship between the cost of cold chain logistics and the level of service, etc., so in the future related research, more attention should be paid to the study of the effect of practice. In conclusion, the control of cold chain logistics costs should not be done at the expense of the service level it provides to reduce logistics costs, and the cold chain logistics cost control should be done in the case that its service quality does not decline. The healthy development of cold chain logistics industry. Therefore, effective cold chain logistics cost control will be conducive to promoting the sustained and healthy development of the Tianyuan Urban Cold Chain Logistics Center project.
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