Untitled - Ministerstwo Rozwoju Regionalnego

16.6. New qualitative preference of shippers
and organization of transport
A new flexible production model has become to-day's paradigm, at international
level, whether one calls it “lean production”, just in time or otherwise, characterized
with less inventory, no buffer stocks, etc. It necessarily develops adequate
transport requirements.
These changes take place together with the expansion of international production
and trade (globalization), where manufacturing goods represent a
growing share of world trade compared with raw materials: from 1950 to 2003,
world production was multiplied by 7 (agricultural goods by 3.5, raw materials
by 4 and manufactured goods by 11), world trade was multiplied by 23 (agricultural
goods by 6, extractive products by 9 and manufactured goods by 46). The
need for sophisticated logistics rises consequently (see Fig. 52).
Dealing with logistics flows, this results in a stronger demand for reliability,
a systematic use of tracking, tracing and EDI. The growth of e-commerce
strengthens these trends. Logistics organization then obeys new performance
criterion which result in different technology and new cost split. In traditional
“push” systems, the major expense was on inventory, even if firms did not always
reckon it… In the new “pull” system, more transport and information system
expenses allow lower inventory costs.
Consequences and requirements on the transport system are strong: increase
in volume, change in structure of goods, smaller, more numerous, more
urgent and unpredictable shipments, on a larger territory. In terms of “quality of
264
50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
15
17
27
1990 1994 1996 1998 2000
Fig. 52. Percentage of industrial goods sent “Just in time”, USA
Source: own study.
39
47