While logistics activities are undertaken across the UK, there are distinct geographical
‘hotspots’ of logistics developments (i.e. warehousing), meaning that logistics employment is found in specific areas. Logistics hotspots tend to be in areas supported by high levels of manufacturing, with a large population base and in areas close to a main port or distribution hub receiving goods from outside of the UK, which are then redistributed. The globalisation of production lines has seen gateway locations, such as Felixstowe,
Southampton and London Gateway expand and transform from being just freight terminals to Port Centric Logistic hubs. Port Centric Logistics is a concept that sees container loading and unloading and subsequent storage
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Working Futures predictions indicate that the occupational and skills profile of the sector, will change in the period leading up to 2022; the workforce will need to be up-skilled accordingly. This is in line with general trends across the economy
(UKCES, 2014b). The future workforce skills needs are explored further in Chapter 4.
7 Understanding Skills and Performance Challenges in the Logistics Sector
2.2.2 Qualification profile
The qualification levels held by the logistics workforce tend to align with the low skilled occupational structure seen in the previous section.
The UK logistics sector workforce is generally poorly qualified – 41 per cent of those employed in logistics do not hold qualifications at Level 2 or above. This compares to 23 per cent for the UK workforce as a whole (ONS, 2013b). Looking closer
“The most successful nations in the future will be those which develop high quality, skilled and motivated workforces and make good use of them.” Government White Paper (1994)
Inbound logistics today is highly inefficient. Most retailers use multiple systems to manage the process and so suffer from fragmented visibility. Prioritisation and scheduling of orders are done on an ad hoc basis, with little consideration of current demand and inventory, while scarce resources, such as dock door and yard capacity, are often poorly utilised.
Amongst reading the material presented in this chapter about the job market trends, I was able to determine that the job market is extremely dynamic and has a great rate of change depending on the company’s needs. These adjustments also affect salaries, if there is a high demand for a position where there is a shortage in qualified candidates the salaries and benefits will be higher. As new technologies grow, the need for employees in these areas do as well, people need to maintain their skills up to date and seek professional growth to be able to keep up with the requirements and challenges of this fast pacing changing job market. However, some of these changes in the job market are being caused by the rapid change in the workforce. Companies are having to adapt some of their philosophy and the way they view employees, because so much has changed in the way the workforce behaves. Let’s examine the
terms of the economy, they provide a large supply of workers to be hired by businesses who are
Due to the large quantity of freight and the long distance that it must travel to arrive to its destination exporters and importers alike have found logistic service providers essential to engage in international trade (Rodriguez, Comtois, Slack, 2013). While some Logistics service providers focus only on the area of transportation others specialize in freight consolidation, distribution management, and warehousing (Robinson, 2014). They have enough market knowledge, information and communication systems to offer supply chain solutions tailored to the specific needs of any company be it small or large (Rodriguez, Comtois, Slack,
It is widely known that logistics is the life blood of anything major. The logistics and transportation industry in the United
Logistics is one of the main functions within a company, and the supply chain is a complex and sometime fragile global endeavor dependent on a network of independent, yet interconnected, moving parts. It requires professional management. Supply chain professionals order the product, build it, move it, ship it, distribute it, and drive the coordination processes with marketing, sales, engineering, manufacturing, finance, and information technology. In short, they make any business effort seem effortless.
20 percent increase in jobs that are IT related between the years of 2014 and 2024” (2014,
Today there is a critical shortage of “qualified” workers. There are both worker shortages as well as skill gaps in addition to low unemployment rates which are making it very difficult to recruit talent.
What about that warehouse worker standing on the loading dock or that grocery store worker with the scanner in his hand? More than likely the average person has never given those evolutions a second thought. The unassuming eye merely sees a truck on the interstate or a stock boy stocking shelves. These are just a few functions of the supply chain within the logistics industry and they happen every day. Logistics is a massive operation with many moving parts like inventory management, transportation, shipping, tracking and visibility.
Traditionally young people with little working experience have filled unskilled jobs and due to technical and organisational changes in the workforce these positions have disappeared. There have been substantial declines in the construction, manufacturing and transport industries over the last decade. The total proportion of the workforce employed in the three industry divisions has declined from 28.7 per cent to 24.8 per cent in the ten years (Stevenson).
This drawn manufacturing enterprise moved from Hong Kong to backyard China at a relatively lower cost. Therefore, Hong Kong port turns to focus on transporting container cargo; shifting from a relay hub to a load center and enjoying its superb period till mid-1990s.
A demand-supply gap is also driving talent management. In some cases, companies are unable to fill positions that require high managerial or technical competency. This is at a time when such competencies are vital to the survival of the company due to the complexity of the operating environment. One source of low labor supply in developed countries is falling and aging populations. Another source of labor shortage is the mismatch between training and real work requirement, especially in the emerging economies. This problem is common in new fields, since universities take long to re-orient their curriculum to the needs of industry. Furthermore, even in developed economies, rapid changes in technology have rendered some jobs and skills redundant. New skills, which the worker may be unable or unwilling to learn, are required to
Employment is the United States remains a vital factor driving the economy of the nation. Every industry depends on employment to progress and meets set objectives, including the transportation, wholesale and retail, information, government, manufacturing, healthcare, and entertainment and construction sector (Goldman, Corrada & Goldman, 2011). Furthermore, the employment sector has a workforce from different backgrounds with various skills, knowledge and expertise. Every industry can absorb the employees depending on
• The complexity of logistics makes it hard to imitate the company's logistics capabilities, creating a competitive advantage