Backbone of E-commerce: Logistic and Supply Chain Industry

The modern E-commerce culture is on the rise and in between that, each and every product need to be taken care of and delivered in time, in order to maximize the degree of user experience and quality assurance as a service park. In all that, the betterment of storage facility and inventory management is much needed to be taken care of and hence making the Logistics and supply chain management as one the most important department in the modern industrial revolution.

Logistics and Supply chain department is a standalone department in an organization which deals with all the maintenance and delivery of the goods as well as keeping track of the stocks and goods in the warehouse facility and organizes the restocking and refilling of the inventory on timely. According to some statistics by experts of ILAM, the logistics industry is growing at a faster rate and in the coming years, it can grow into a big market as of value 125billion dollars.

What is Logistics & Supply Chain Management

• Logistics is the process/chain management of transport flow and the storage of goods and services from its origin to it consumptions.
• It includes both inbound & outbound movements and does not include activities such as forecasting and procurement.
• Supply Chain Management (SCM) is the oversight of materials, information, and finances as they move in a process from supplier to manufacturer to wholesaler to retailer to consumer.
• SCM involves coordinating and integrating these flows both within and among companies with the objective of making products available when needed.
• Supply chain management can be divided into 3 main flows:
  Product flow • Information flow • Finances flow

Indian Logistics Scenario

• India spends 13% of its GDP on logistics compared to an average of 10% in other
  developing countries
• India logistics market to double by 2020
• Indian Logistics industry would need 28.4 million skilled people in the “Senior Resource
  Category” in warehouse management by 2022
• Technological change in the logistics industry demands a trained workforce in all
  areas of the sector
• Indian logistics industry is at an inflection point and will reach a market size of over $125 billion in coming years

Career Options

Most of the careers and work roles in this particular industry are dependent on more than one skill, and many professionals in this field have expertise in many of the mentioned skills. This is so because, even If the department is considered to be in an organization but all its working are done irrespective of the organization and is a standalone department, and works all by itself under the umbrella of a big organization. Hence in order to become good at the logistics and management skills, one should be good at all the mentioned below skills and hence increase the level of exposure and experience in almost every type of management. The following can be achieved by pursuing career in Logistics-

• Analyst
• Consultant
• Customer Service Manager
• International Logistics Manager
• Inventory Control Manager
• Logistics Engineer
• Logistics Manager
• Logistics Service Salesperson
• Logistics Software Manager
• Materials Manager
• Production Manager
• Purchasing Manager
• Supply Chain Manager
• System Support Manager
• Transportation Manager
• Vendor Managed Inventory
• Warehouse Operations Manager
• Business Process

Career Growth Available is very high

Due to all these, direct exposure to many fields is provided to a single manager and hence, making the manager capable of handling multiple roles, by providing all the desired experience in multiple fields. This makes the quality exposure and technical experience directly to the logistics and supply chain person and hence making him the right one switch fields if required by any means or reasons and making so many available positions open for the industry professional. Apart from that, with higher globalization and outsourcing, the market is at its peak, and there are multiple new openings in the current scenario with a greater job security. According to some surveys, the number of employment in this section will be increased by 22 percent by 2022 worldwide, and for India, the number is as close to the 18 percent, which is a high number and showing greater response. This makes almost 28.4 million job opportunities by year 2022 for the multiple positions available for skilled logistics managers.

Eligibility Criteria

The criteria for the logistics manager for almost each company might vary, but the few common requirements are same and are as follow as:

1. A Master’s degree in Logistics / Supply Chain Management
2. Ability to speak any of the language fluently and with good communication skills.

These are the few basic requirements and eligibility criteria for almost every organization while selecting the right candidate for their departments. From moving towards advanced level positions from entry level positions, the skills and ability to learn faster, as well as higher growth rate and salary, are few metrics that will increase exponentially. Also while moving towards and staying in the same industry the job security in this department will only increase and which collectively comes as a greater thing. The career in this field is comparatively high with less competition and hence looking forward to this department as a secure future option is possible and will be a right decision.