The first thing that should be noted about such a concept as logistics, that such a name translated from Greek literally means "the art of counting." Initially, the concept was widely used in the army, where it indicated the employees responsible for food distribution. Some time later, due to the low level of development of information and transport technologies, its basic principles and schemes began to be widely applied 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 the interconnection between concepts such as production and resources. Economists say that its main advantage 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 fact that large stocks of finished goods, as well as semi-finished products, will be stored in the warehouse. Along with this, there are also its drawbacks. We are talking about a possible unjustified forecast of the manufacturer, which usually results from a change in the opinion of specific consumers about products or the emergence of competitors. In other words, a balance called “supply-demand” is disturbed. It should be noted, speaking of such a field as logistics, that this happens often here.
The European system is based on stocks. In all other respects, it is similar to the American one. It is the seller who has the mission of determining the opinions of potential consumers about the goods. The advantage of the system is the ability of the consumer to choose and then buy the products that he needs, because the scheme of building on stocks makes it possible to choose from the available range. It should be remembered, speaking about 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 in material and technical resources is unprofitable.
International logistics distinguishes another system that is fundamentally different in terms of approach to production, as well as its sale from the two mentioned above. She is known as Japanese and is built on the concept of order. In other words, the opinion of the potential buyer about a particular product does not interest the seller or the manufacturer at all. The advantage of the system is the highest maneuverability when placing an order for goods, as well as semi-finished products and the necessary material resources. Moreover, there is no need for a warehouse.
As for the drawback, it boils down to the need for the manufacturer to wait for an order. At the same time, 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. What will happen without fail, say leading world economists.