Research Article
Developing the Logistics Service Process of Third Party Logistics Firms for Satisfying Customer Needs
1 Inha University, 2 CJ GLS Americas
Published: January 2008 · Vol. 12, No. 2 · pp. 125-147
Full Text
Abstract
According to the rapidly changing logistics environments, the third party logistics provider reacts with advanced and specified manners to satisfy the customer needs. Even though many third party logistics providers have been responding continuously for the customer needs, it is not easy to provide logistics services to satisfy their customers. The basic reason may be that the logistics firms have difficulty in finding a right service the customer wants and offering the tailored services to be provided in a right time. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze what the customer needs and develop how to respond toward the customer with developing the logistics service process. So far, most logistics companies don't have a systematic process from the proposal stage to the execution of services and tend to depend on conventional experiences and practices. This paper defines the process to execute the logistics services systematically from the first stage receiving RFP to the final operational stage. First of all, the concept of third party logistics is defined in order to understand why this systematic process is needed and what the tailored logistics is. Eventually, this paper suggests five steps and several sub-steps of logistics service processes that are the essential parts to satisfy the customer needs.
