Logistics: what is the American, European and Japanese system?

The first thing to note about such a concept as logistics, what is the name in the translation from Greek literally means "the art of counting." Initially, the concept was widely used in the army, where it pointed to the employees responsible for the food distribution. Some time later, due to the low level of development of information and transport technologies, its basic principles and schemes became widely used in the economy. During the rapid development of science in the second half of the last century, three main systems were formed, including the American, European and Japanese. Any logistics courses confirm this.

The American logistics system is built on a reciprocal link between such concepts as production and resources. The main advantage of economists is that, given the same number of products and potential buyers, the most effective balance is achieved. In addition, it is possible to completely exclude the case that large stocks of finished goods, as well as semi-finished products, will be stored in the warehouse. Along with this, there are also their shortcomings. We are talking about a possible unjustified forecast of the manufacturer, which usually results from a change in the opinion of specific consumers about the product or the emergence of competitors. In other words, the balance, called the "demand-supply", is violated. It should be noted, speaking about such a field as logistics, what is happening here quite often.

The European system is based on reserves. In all other respects it is similar to the American one. It is on the seller here that the mission is to determine the opinion of potential consumers about the goods. The plus of the system can be called the ability of the consumer to choose, and then buy the products that he needs, because the construction scheme on stocks gives the opportunity to choose from the available assortment. It should be remembered, speaking of the disadvantages that European logistics has, that such a large number of stocks leads to serious monetary costs for their savings. Moreover, leading world experts have already proved that investing money in material and technical resources is unprofitable.

International logistics identifies yet another system that is fundamentally different in terms of approach to output, as well as its sale from the two mentioned above. It is known as Japanese and is built on such a concept as an order. In other words, the opinion of a potential buyer about a particular product is of no interest to either the seller or the manufacturer. The advantage of the system lies in the highest maneuverability during the registration of the order for the goods, as well as semi-finished products and the necessary material resources. Moreover, there is no need in the warehouse either.

As for the shortcoming, it comes down to the manufacturer's need to wait for the order. In this case, do not forget about the time that you need to spend on its implementation. Despite the presence of some disadvantages, there is every reason to believe that in the future, Americans and Europeans will also switch to the system on which Japanese logistics is built. That this will certainly happen, say the world's leading economists.