Interaction of freight modes : automotive : electronics : fashion retail industries

• Main Authors: Goh, Mabel Qingjin., Loke, Winnie Xue Lin., Tan, Kai Sin.
• Other Authors: Teo Chee Chong
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Maritime studies::Maritime management and business
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/15992
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

With globalization, firms are now competing on a supply chain basis. It is no longer feasible to based decisions on only local considerations, it is important to look at the whole picture and increase the effectiveness of the entire supply chain thereby maximizing supply chain profitability. Global sourcing and distribution network is now the norm and transportation plays a large part in supply chains through the logistic network linking procurement, production and distribution. Transportation costs, once a secondary issue, are now a big worry for manufacturers trying to balance a global production network. Some firms are finding their shipping costs being higher than their production costs. Intermodalism allows shippers the flexibility of choosing a combination of transport modes based on its characteristics that best suits their requirements. Other than that, other factors such as the product value, life cycle, demand variability, value-weight ratio etc play a part in selecting the most suitable transportation mode. The choice of transport mode is also dependent on the logistic tradeoffs between the three key activities namely transportation, inventory and facilities. The electronics industry is one of the most globalize and highly competitive industries that uses a combination of ocean and air transport depending on the product characteristics. As the electronics market is characterized, in general, by high product value, short-product life cycles, high product varieties and high demand volatility, most firms in the industry would opt to use air freight. However, air freight is losing its attractiveness as prices in the consumer electronic industry decreases. Even though firms in the electronics market shares similar characteristics, the tradeoffs each firm has to face will not be exactly the same due to many variables like design of distribution network and business strategy.