The purpose of companies is to gain competitive advantage. One way to achieve this is by
lowering logistics costs. The reduction of logistics costs diminishes the to
tal cost of goods sold
and therefore it helps companies have a higher profit margin or a cost advantage i
n comparison
with their competitors. The present article brings solutions regarding one side of log
istics:
warehousing.
In 2008, there were a few reports around the world regarding logistics costs, respecti
vely
warehousing costs. The first one, done by
Establish Incorporation
, emphasised costs as the
strongest force in driving decisions in logistics. The warehousing costs decreased d
ue to
rationalisation of locations. In 2008, warehousing costs were about 20% of the total
logistics
costs in North America. The same study suggests that in Europe warehousing costs were higher
.
The European Logistics Report
2008 considered the reduction of costs essential in warehousing.
In the Central and Eastern Europe there was a strong construction activity last y
ear, but despite
this fact, the direct investment in warehousing property decreased by 38%. War
ehouse
construction increased in Romania because of low cost, a growing consumer market and the
growing activity around
the Constana port.
The European Distribution Report
(2008: 5)
revealed the rent for warehousing purposes, the land price and the building costs in m
ajor cities
from Romania. These studies emphasise the importance of logistics and warehousing cost
s at
international level. That is why we consider improving management best practi
ces regarding
logistics, in general, and warehousing, in particular, a must for Romanian managers.
The structure of the article is as follows: the first part is a literat
ure review for warehousing
performance management (the goal is to present several indicators used at inte
rnational level),
then we try to solve the problems related to a warehouse from Romania, belonging to
S.C. TUDOR S.R.L