6 Key Skills Required by Logistics Consultants in India

 Logistic consultants help businesses to optimize their supply chains to run smoothly using solutions that provide use of people, equipment, and technology. They are independent in their functioning hence can provide an unbiased review of your supply chain issues and provide suggestions for better performance. Logistics consultants in India scrutinize the current supply chain for any inefficiency in inventory, vendor management, coordination with different departments, or the transportation section using various benchmarks to check the working of a supply chain and offer recommendations accordingly.

By using consultants from a logistics company in India, businesses can save time, cost and improve the overall business. They are specialised in conducting research and analysis to develop strategies for deriving optimal services from your business. A logistics consultant would be able to create and recommend business plans that are based on your business policies and regulations.

6 key qualities that a logistics consultant should have include:

1. Subject Matter Knowledge

Although the process of analyzing a business’ supply chain capabilities are more or less the same across various industries, knowing your business domain would be an added advantage. They would be able to provide accurate predictions and outcomes of actions made anywhere in the entire supply chain. They should be equipped with the latest trends and technology used in the supply chain to be effective.

Safexpress, a leading logistics company in India, has helped companies to create and manage high-performing, flexible supply chains that provide sustained, profitable growth. Safexpress offers specialized consulting services tailored to the needs of clients enabling them to have a competitive edge in the market. At Safexpress, you are led by 3,000+ highly experienced professionals seasoned in industry, process, and subject matter to help clients achieve efficiency objectives.

2. Keen Attention to Detail

The supply chain consists of numerous components and even the smallest detail missed out would create a huge loss for the business. A logistics consultant needs to be organized and pay attention to even the smallest of details to keep the supply chain as efficient and fast as possible.

3. Information Technology Knowledge

In today’s world of logistics, usage of the latest technology makes a great difference not only for yourself but also for your customers. The logistics consultant should be well-versed with the technology tools, like warehouse management or analytics tools to analyse and adopt the same for your business.

4. Ability to Adapt

In an ideal world, a well-planned logistics system would ensure smooth functioning of your supply chain but unexpected things do happen and you need to adapt quickly and fast to maintain a smooth flow of goods. Problems and last-minute glitches are inevitable in logistics so consultants need to be able to  quickly shift to backup plans and make the necessary adjustments.

5. Accountability

A good logistics consultant needs to take responsibility for any mistakes caused if things do not go as planned. If a problem arises find possible solutions you can use, just in case it happens again in the future.

6. Good Interpersonal Skills

Logistics requires interaction with different people from workers, vendors, senior management, and clients.  There needs to be clear communication between all parties involved to prevent mistakes from happening. Both in the face-to-face and written form of communication clear and effective imparting of information is essential.

A logistics company in India would be able to provide the right mix of planning, technical expertise, and specialized tools to ensure that your supply chain reaches its full potential.

Logistics Consultants in Need of a Paradigm Shift

As the world began to make sense of the pandemic early last year, the US in particular was confronted with shortage of a very peculiar kind - toilet papers. With lockdown progressively imposed, people resorted to panic buying and suddenly, there was a scarcity across the country. So, while there was office rolls glut, toilet papers flew off the shelves. The US though manufactures more than 90% of toilet papers it needs with China and India sufficing for the balance; it was a horrible situation to be in. Back home, India was confronted with the lack of quality sanitizers and face masks.

The scarcity in supply manifested itself in several other consumables and healthcare products and by the end of the year, oxygen concentrators; Remdesivir, Favipiravir, etc. not to be found when needed. What is the point when a lifesaving drug is not available when needed the most was the understandable refrain. From cycles to medicines to lifesaving drugs, we were staring at a supply shock. The very same consultants and experts who produce study papers after papers appreciating from technology to robotics, do advocate the need to understand the value chain better? So, how would a supply chain or logistics consultant worth her salt would provide for the solution for the disequilibrium between supply and demand the world found it in?

A general tendency that consultants or consultancy firms suffer from lie in their idea to quantify everything. Even before the Covid-19 stuck, this quantification had to factor in tariff barriers, trade restrictions, anti-dumping to hurricanes, heatwaves, typhoons, tsunami, etc., but apparently were taken as bolt from the blue, thus neutralizing any serious enquiry about the severability or threat such socio-economic disruptions have been posing to the entire value chain to which supply chain or logistics is just a bearer.

A value chain takes the perspective all the way from where materials are mined, the metals that are created, how they pass through the system, and then finally how the finished good gets to the customer. So a supply chain will be defined by a company, and it might include their first tier of suppliers. It might even include the suppliers of those suppliers. But very rarely do companies think of their supply chain as going all the way back to where do the raw materials come from and how do they come together at each step. How does a consultant, primarily a supply chain & logistics consultant hired by a company into manufacturing or logistics go into enquiring the whole value chain and suggest measures for strengthening and adaptability and at the same time enhancing efficiency and profit?

Over the last 3 decades or so, world has created for itself a multiplicity of economic systems competing with each other assisted by an incredibly complicated, complex global supply chain designed to serve the value chain. And they were designed for cost and efficiency, but without really a thought to what could go wrong along the way. The very same consultants and experts who produce study papers after papers extolling technology and robotics, do advocate the need to understand the value chain better?

Just In Time remains one of the incredibly successful story of a very lean supply chain that business houses of every hue adopted in different measures. Its’ original proponent Toyota, though remained largely unaffected by the pandemic. Contrarily, businesses including automotive who increasingly got into the same shoes forgetting that one size may not fit all and when the time came, they were helpless bystanders. When I urgently need something today, I’d rather not want to know where it is manufactured. Be it essential life-saving drugs or touchscreen of my hand phone.

Whether consultants, Logistics consultancy firms and specialists engaged in devising post-pandemic logistics strategy would have a rethink; curtail Just In Time, focus on localized warehousing, storage, and invest in regional logistics structures or would they remain steadfast in profit-seeking, efficiency-looking organisms making incremental changes here and there? Time!