Logistics management Of Qube Samples †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Logistics management Of Qube. Answer: Introduction The report is prepared to discuss the management of logistics by considering an intermodal organization located in Australia and thus the Qube has been chosen as the case study in this report. The background of the company will be illustrated at first and then various case studies will be included related to the logistics management at Australia, The major issues faced while managing the logistics network in New South Wales and the methods to resolve those issues has been the main focus of the report. The report also illustrates how the NSW Government has been involved with the management of logistics for ensuring that all the functions of the organization are managed properly and proper outcomes are derived within a very less time efficiently (Dekker et al. 2013). Background of the company Qube Holdings is one of the most reputed and established organizations, which has been specialized in the management of logistics and management of infrastructure with several operational divisions providing the best logistics services for the clients in both import and export cargo supply chains. Qube is one of the largest providers of import and export logistics services that not only provides the best logistics services but also provides diversified operations in New South Wales. There are huge quantities of iron ore that have been loaded for the export markets and the logistics operations include motor vehicles, heavy machineries and equipments along with project cargoes management and handling properly (Myerson 2012). The division of Logistics within Qube has managed to locate the different facilities in the major capital city ports and allowed for transportation by road and rail container along with good quality customs and quarantine services, intermodal terminals and internat ional freight forwarding. There is also Qube Ports and Bulk that provides wharf side logistics support and manages the port management operations in New South Wales, Australia with ease and effectiveness. It is one of the major shipping and intermodal companies that offers not only the logistics services but also maintains expertise through extension of port and facility development and management of vessels, warehouses, handling of cargoes and both import and export supply chain management (Lai and Wong 2012).Qube Logistics is one of the major third party container logistics providers in Australia and this has made it one of the best organization and owner of Moorebank Logistics Park in. At present, Qube Logistics is one of the fastest growing companies that has developed its infrastructure and developed various strategic logistics solutions at port as well as inland locations such as in New South Wales in Australia. All these places are applicable to gain access to the rail networ k for managing transportation and furthermore provide the service users with good quality supply chain solutions (Fawcett, Ellram and Ogden 2013). Case studies related to intermodal company The intermodal features include freight transportation by taking it within a container or vehicle done through various modes of transportation including air, sea or land. The transportation can be possible with the use of rail, ship and truck without creating any manipulations to the freight while transferring it. Highly skilled and experienced workers who have proper knowledge about the labor manage the Qube Holdings, workforce and can handle the equipments and machineries through lifting gears and handling safe vessels for maintaining the highest standards of the cargo care. The company has managed to attract the new customers as well as existing customers by creating better scopes and opportunities in business through management of investments in infrastructure and creating good partnership with the suppliers and other stakeholders in business (Viani et al. 2012). With the involvement of a good management team and proper ownership, Qube in Australia has managed to create partnersh ip with other logistics operations company and even managed the bulk and general cargo projects with much convenience. Features of intermodal company The main features of the intermodal company are that the costs are reduced largely and a lot of money has been saved for the long haul domestic intermodal services when compared to the trucking service through road. Qube Logistics has saved more than 30 percent, which is even higher than the surcharge of fuel that is used for managing the rates of freights. The environment friendly practices have been embraced and this has resulted in lesser emission of carbon and other harmful gases. For example, a normal truck produces more than 4.4 metric tons of carbon while transferring a 44,000 pounds freight. If the freight is transferred by intermodal rail, then it is seen to have emitted nearly half of carbon, which has helped in maintaining an ecological balance in nature (Schnsleben 2016). The costs of fuel are also reduced when transferred through rail and it can also reach the destination within a significant lesser time. The transportation of freight via rail is much safer than the road trucks and there have been records that showed efficiency of transferring freight by rail with safety. The hazardous materials are transported more safety by train rather than by over-the-road truck services (Grant 2012). Intermodal Group Pty. Ltd. is another intermodal organization that delivers the best industry practices of managing rail transportation and containers used for storage in the Western region of Australia and in New South Wales too. The intermodal Link Services has been linked along with the Intermodal Container Services for enhancing the capacity, experience and contribution to the customers through delivery of effective logistics services and makes the organization more commercially viable. This is managed by ensuring that environment friendly approaches are considered while managing the transportation and storage of various things in containers. The Chain of responsibility legislation has been followed to follow the most suitable steps by the intermodal company (Zhang et al. 2013). Therefore, these are the main features of the intermodal companies located in Australia. Main problems at with the current logistics network in NSW There are several problems with the logistics network that have been faced in New South Wales, Australia. There could be geographical, demographical, environmental, legislation and technological challenges that might hinder the management of successful logistics operations by Qube in Australia. The geographical challenges or problems include both urban and regional issues for the intermodal companies in Australia. The urban problems and challenges included traffic congestion, which reduced the efficiency of timely delivery of freight by the intermodal companies and even resulted in delay of freight transfer due to congested road and high amounts of traffic. The areas of New South Wales experience high traffic congestion and due to this many freights are not transferred at the right time by the truck services (Allen, Browne and Cherrett 2012). Though a number of motorways are constructed, these remain highly congested. There are regional challenges such as issues related to distance, animals and conditions of roads. Most of the transportation networks include toll roads that are needed to paid while passing with the sue of an electronic tag. The E-tag registers the vehicle automatically and the toll cost is deducted. While transferring larger amounts of freights, heavy vehicle might need to use the return route and in such cases, tolls would be paid multiple times, thereby creating major issues as well. One of the major problems with the logistics network in NSW is the distance between places, which not only creates issues like longer time of delivery but also fatigue and tiredness of drivers who drive the trucks for such long distance. Another major issue is the presence of kangaroos in large numbers in the suburban areas of New South Wales (Johnson 2012). There were many of accidents caused by kangaroos and this had even resulted in serious and fatal injuries to the drivers. The demographical challenges could be related to the ageing population and lack of ability to meet the needs and require ments of the population in New South Wales. There are environmental challenges related to the logistics network and operations management such as changes in climatic conditions can create difficulties for transportation of freight from one place to another place within the desired time. In the winter season, there could be closed roads in many areas due to the snowfalls and this might even lead to other dangers while transferring the freight from one place to another. The intermodal company uses heavy vehicles like trucks, semi trailers and axle trucks that avoid these areas, because these are accident prone areas near the New South Wales (Zhang and Zhao 2012). Other sources of challenges could be the occurrence of natural disasters such as bushfires, floods and cyclones. The legislative challenges include the challenges at operational and strategic levels. The disagreements by Government could prevent proper funding and this might result in not building proper roads on time. Thus, it could be harmful for the logistics operations in case the roads and rail routes are not built properly (Forslund 2012). There are technical challenges like use of modern technologies by Qube and Moorebank Logistics Park can incur huge amounts of additional costs. Lack of integrated systems like ERP could be difficult for the company and this would even disturb the exchange and flow of data and information with ease and effectiveness. The density of population is low in Australia though its size is quite big, which makes it difficult for the intermodal company to implement new machineries and equipments for managing logistics operations successfully (Christopher 2016). Methods of resolving the issues of logistics network in NSW The approaches followed to overcome the issue of congestion in road could be the development of motorways. This would not only avoid the smaller arterial roads with traffic lights and could enable the trucks transport the freights within quick time. The intermodal company also uses the transfer of freight by railways, which is useful for preventing road traffic as well as reach the destination within a lesser time when compared to transportation by road. Transfer of freight by rail would also reduce the paying of toll tax on roads and this could create a lot of savings as well. To prevent issues related to distance, the long distance transportation should be planned at first for identifying the amount of money that might be incurred and furthermore assume the additional expenses while transferring of freight within New South Wales (Armstrong et al. 2015). The kangaroos are harmed and have often been the causes of serious accidents on roads. To reduce such issues, bull bars are recomm ended for usage in vehicles to prevent damages largely. The logistics management intermodal company must adapt to the growth in demands and preferences of customers to overcome the demographic challenges with utmost ease and effectiveness. Changes in Climatic conditions is unpreventable, still it is important to reduce the waste production and follow environment friendly approaches to reduce the impact of pollution on the environment. Use of renewable energy sources is essential for implementing the logistics operations in an effective way (Dima, ?enescu and Bosun 2014). During the winter, snowfall can interrupt the rail traffic and result in delay of services. In such cases, freight can be transferred by managing air transport. The large airports are located near the coast where snowfall is very rare. The Government funding and agreements can help in overcoming the legislative issues and furthermore ensure that the organization aligns with the transport regulations. The work safety is maintained by allowing the warehouse workers, drivers and management employees to wear vests, safety glasses and steel capped boots. Moorebank Logistics Park has developed an IMEX terminal to manage transportation of 1.05 million TEU of freight and some additional 0.5 million TEU of interstate freight as well. The company has designed a highly configured warehouse to manage the auxiliary services properly too (Kannan et al. 2012). A rail connection is established as well to the Southern Sydney Freight Line for allowing the freight to be delivered to the park along with accessibility. There are also roads near the place that can deliver better supply chain solution and save both time and costs easily. Involvement of NSW Government The NSW Government has created a huge impact by facilitating the delivery of intermodal project of Moorebank Intermodal and has created an integrated freight terminal along with a port shuttle to port botany. NSW Government has contributed largely to this project by reviewing the findings of the business and then managed investments for the development of freight terminal facilities that are linked with the Port Botany by rail, which can not only reduce issues like congestion on road but will also ensure timely delivery of freight. With the involvement of Government, more than $10 billion is generated, which has led to the growth in economy, reduced traffic, accidents and higher productivity too (Das and Chowdhury 2012). As the project is completed now, Government of NSW wants to optimize the private sector investments, integrate the expertise level for delivering an advanced IMT, and manage the logistics operations properly. Sustainability Qube's Moorebankintermodal hublogistics is committed to social responsibilities and maintaining sustainability. The company has supported communities and charities including Wilderness Society, Royal Children Hospital, Beyond Blue, etc. and even provided support and monetary help to the disabled and unprivileged children within the society. To maintain a sustainable environment, the intermodal company has worked across external operations and provided a safe working environment for employees by following the Logistics policy. Safety vests, glasses and boots are used to eliminate any occurrence of accidents and Qube has maintained a strong and impressive safety record as well (Hatefi and Jolai 2014). It showed that all the workers of the organization are skilled, knowledgeable and are informed about the approaches regarding maintenance of safety within the workplace. Conclusion The focus of the report was to evaluate the various issues faced during the logistics network management at NSW and how those could be overcome. The issues were mainly related to the congested road, changes in climatic conditions and fatigue of drivers that they experience while travelling to longer distances. A new 243 hectare site in Moorebank was created, which had been one of the largest intermodal freight hub in NSW. The IMEX terminal would handle more than 1 million containers every year and all these logistics operations should be managed by Qube through maintenance of rail terminals. The site would fill up most of the place to accommodate two railway terminals and more than 850,000 square meters of warehousing that would be quite effective for handling freight, thereby ensuring proper transportation and asset management rights too. References Allen, J., Browne, M. and Cherrett, T., 2012. Investigating relationships between road freight transport, facility location, logistics management and urban form.Journal of Transport Geography,24, pp.45-57. Armstrong, G., Kotler, P., Harker, M. and Brennan, R., 2015.Marketing: an introduction. Pearson Education. Christopher, M., 2016.Logistics supply chain management. Pearson UK. Das, K. and Chowdhury, A.H., 2012. Designing a reverse logistics network for optimal collection, recovery and quality-based product-mix planning.International Journal of Production Economics,135(1), pp.209-221. Dekker, R., Fleischmann, M., Inderfurth, K. and van Wassenhove, L.N. eds., 2013.Reverse logistics: quantitative models for closed-loop supply chains. Springer Science Business Media. Dima, I.C., ?enescu, A. and Bosun, P., 2014. Informational stocks and e-logistics management of a tourism company.International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences,16(1), pp.75-85. Fawcett, S.E., Ellram, L.M. and Ogden, J.A., 2013.Supply Chain Management: Pearson New International Edition: From Vision to Implementation. Pearson Higher Ed. Forslund, H., 2012. Performance management in supply chains: Logistics service providers' perspective.International Journal of Physical Distribution Logistics Management,42(3), pp.296-311. Grant, D.B., 2012.Logistics management. Pearson Higher Ed. Hatefi, S.M. and Jolai, F., 2014. Robust and reliable forwardreverse logistics network design under demand uncertainty and facility disruptions.Applied Mathematical Modelling,38(9), pp.2630-2647. Johnson, P.F., 2014.Purchasing and supply management. McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Kannan, D., Diabat, A., Alrefaei, M., Govindan, K. and Yong, G., 2012. A carbon footprint based reverse logistics network design model.Resources, conservation and recycling,67, pp.75-79. Lai, K.H. and Wong, C.W., 2012. Green logistics management and performance: Some empirical evidence from Chinese manufacturing exporters.Omega,40(3), pp.267-282. Myerson, P., 2012.Lean supply chain and logistics management. New York: McGraw-Hill. Huscroft, J., T. Hazen, B., J. Hall, D., B. Skipper, J. and B. Hanna, J., 2013. Reverse logistics: past research, current management issues, and future directions.The International Journal of Logistics Management,24(3), pp.304-327. Schnsleben, P., 2016.Integral logistics management: operations and supply chain management within and across companies. CRC Press. Song, D.W. and Panayides, P., 2012.Maritime logistics: a complete guide to effective shipping and port management. Kogan Page Publishers. Viani, F., Salucci, M., Robol, F., Oliveri, G. and Massa, A., 2012. Design of a UHF RFID/GPS fractal antenna for logistics management.Journal of Electromagnetic Waves and Applications,26(4), pp.480-492. Zhang, G. and Zhao, Z., 2012. Green packaging management of logistics enterprises.Physics Procedia,24, pp.900-905. Zhang, X., Zhang, Z., Zhang, Y., Wei, D. and Deng, Y., 2013. Route selection for emergency logistics management: A bio-inspired algorithm.Safety science,54, pp.87-91.