The annual survey by emergency automotive logistics specialist UK-based Evolution Time Critical (ETC) has highlighted a noticeable shift in the issues affecting European logistics operations. Transportation problems, rather than production issues, are now the biggest problem, the report concludes.

Keeping things moving

ETC helps clients to overcome supply problems caused by manufacturing issues scheduling changes or conventional transport delays. The company manages aircraft charters, helicopters and onboard couriers; a dedicated 100-aircraft night freighter service covering 70 European airports; scheduled aircraft; and rapid road transport with local vehicles. These can be deployed at short notice to help automakers and suppliers keep their production lines rolling in case of disruption.

The results of the 2008 survey reflect the way the automotive market is evolving, says ETC managing director Brad Brennan:”To offer a really effective service, you have to take a lead from the market you serve. Last year, our survey of emergency logistics issues in the European automotive industry indicated it was no surprise that production delays accounted for more than a fifth of the calls for emergency logistics.”

The year, Brennan says the picture is very different, because of how the industry has evolved in the past 12 months:”This year’s results have seen a noticeable shift in the issues that have resulted in our services being called upon. Last year, transportation issues accounted for 19 per cent, this year the figure has risen to 25 per cent,” he says.

Brennan believes the reason is the increasingly geographically dispersed automotive manufacturing environment in Europe, as many of the leading manufacturers take advantage of the favourable labour conditions in Central and Eastern Europe. “As companies have migrated eastwards, the logistics chains have stretched and weakened as they are affected not only by distance, but also an increasing amount of local issues and infrastructure problems,” he says.

“Indeed, one of the first things we did to address this issue was to strengthen our network substantially in this region to enable us to quickly react to any critical situation our customers may face.”

Quality and packing issues

The survey also highlighted a few more factors which have crept higher up the agenda compared to last year, two of which are quality and packaging issues. “The market is very volatile and issues change very regularly. I don’t think any company can predict the sheer range of issues that can affect them, all they can do is be confident that services are available that help address the logistical problems that can arise,” Brennan says.

Automakers are eager to have contingencies in place to deal with logistical problems. “OEMs and their suppliers are getting smarter as they evolve their processes based on lessons learnt, but production delays still account for 21 per cent of the final figure,” Brennan says. “It is a fact of life that nothing will ever run as smoothly as you hope. If you couple greater model and option variances with the fact that car designs and revisions are happening on a much more regular basis, the potential for issues to arise is far greater now than it has been at any time in the past.”

He continues:”The majority of the calls related to production delays arise from the initial ramp-up phases during new model introductions. Any issues faced at this stage are normally ironed out fairly quickly as the processes and procedures mature. But with the introduction of new models on a far more regular basis, plus the fact the automotive industry is an early adopter of many new practices and processes, similar issues can arise again as the new models are put into production.”

Varied production

On the proactive side of things, planned high-speed deliveries account for 15 per cent of the total requirment for ETC’s emergency services. “In certain scenarios, it makes more sense for the automotive OEMs to use high-speed delivery for certain high-value/low-volume components, rather than holding inventory that could become obsolete in a very short time,” Brennan says.

If fact, it is because customers are demanding so much variety that the car companies and their suppliers are becoming more agile. “It would be against ‘the laws of ‘ for the OEMs to stock every possible variant of every component on the line side. As OEMs build to order instead of building to stock, they are able to call off such components as they are ordered by the car buyer, and we are brought in for high-speed delivery to meet the production schedule.”

The survey responses were broken down into seven primary headings, with differing reasons under each:

Planned high speed deliveries (15%), including: logistical programmes and operation planned in at the design stage.

l         Order processing (15%), including: supplier discipline issues; short shipping; and wrong part delivery and labelling errors

l         Production delays (3%), including reusable container pooling issues and a lack of packaging materials

l         Production delays (21%), including: tooling problems; machine breakdowns; and supplier shortfalls

l         Quality issues (3%), centred on part rejection due to quality checks

l         Scheduling issues (10%), including: human error, changes to engineering schematics; shortfall of parts on the line; and suppliers failing to meet delivery schedules

l         Stock level issues (8%), including: over estimation of stock holding, in terms of both on-site and in the supply chain; and stock loss

l         Transportation issues (25%) including: supplier not able to deliver on time; industrial action; bad weather; breakdowns; and inability of normal logistics to deliver to the required schedule

“One thing that is abundantly clear from this feedback is that there is a huge range of issues that can affect logistical channels,” Brennan concludes. “Be they an ‘Act of God’, human error or simple supplier, companies have to make sure that contingencies are in place. A bit like car insurance, you always hope that you will never have to call upon it, but if you do, you have to have the peace of mind that normal service is resumed as quickly as possible.”

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保证工作地连续性

ETC帮助客户解决由于生产问题、进度变化或是传统的运输延误而导致的供应问题。ETC提供包机服务、直升机和专人派送服务；ETC拥有100架专用飞机为客户提供夜间货运服务，服务范围覆盖欧洲70个机场；同时公司还提供固定航班以及高速的道路交通工具。通过这些交通工具，ETC可以再短时间内为汽车生产商和供应商提供服务，帮助其排除生成流程中的干扰，保证其正常运作。

ETC董事总经理布莱德-布瑞兰指出，2008年ETC的调查结果反映了汽车市场的发展方式。他说：“为了提供真正高效的服务，我们必须在所处的市场中处于领先地位。去年，我们对欧洲汽车行业进行的应急物流调查报告表明有五分之一多的客户由于生成延误，而需要应急物流服务。这点完全在意料之中。”

布瑞兰指出今年的情况与去年有所不同，这是由过去一年汽车行业的发展状况决定的。他说：“今年的调查报告显示，客户要求提供服务的原因有了明显的变化。去年，交通问题原因占了19%，而今年则上升至25%。”

布瑞兰认为很多领先的汽车厂商进驻中东欧，以合理的利用当地良好的劳动力条件。这使得欧洲的汽车制造场所在地理上逐渐分散开来。因此交通问题成为汽车行业需要应急物流的首要因素。他说：“随着各公司逐渐向东北迁移，物流链也会随之延展开来，但是由于地理距离以及不断出现的各地本土问题和基础设施问题，使得物流链收到影响且其效果也有所减弱。”

“因此，为应付该问题，我们的首要工作就是有力地强化我们在该地区的网络，以便能够快速地帮助客户解决各种危急情况。“

质量和包装问题

这份调查报告还着重指出了一些与去年相比较更为突出的问题。质量和包装问题就是其中较有代表性的两项。布瑞兰说道：“随着原始设备制造商OEM及其供应商在发展过程中不断地积累经验，他们变得越来越聪明。但是生产延误仍旧是他们寻求应急物流服务的一个重要原因，调查报告最终数据显示其占21%的比例。”他接着指出：“万事都不会像期待的那样顺利，这是无法避免的事实。如果将较好的模型和不同的选择与汽车设计和检修的频率较为规律这一事实相结合，那么出现潜在问题的几率比以往任何时候都要大很多。”

布瑞兰继续说道：“由于生成延误而寻求应急物料服务，以绝大多数情况下，出现新模型推广的初始成长阶段。在此期间出现的问题通常随着流程和程序的完善而很快地得到解决。但是由于汽车行业通常是许多新兴做法和流程的早期采用者，随着新模型的定期推广，有可能在新模型投入生产后，相似的问题会再次出现。”

生产多样化

从积极方面来讲，15%的客户需要ETC提供有计划的快速交付应急服务。“在一些特定情况下，OEM对某些价值高且体积小小的零部件会选择采用快速交付的服务方式，这会比存储这些在短时间内就有可能过时的零部件要划算的多。”布瑞兰说道。

实际上，客户需求通常是多种多样的，因此汽车公司和供应商也变得越加灵活。“OEM在生成时尽可能地备有各种不同的零部件，这种做法是不符合节约法则的。OEM运营的目的是经行生产，而不是存货。所以，他们可以取消某些零部件的存储，当有汽车购买者订购产品时，我们就会参与其中，提供快速的交付服务，保障生产计划。”

基于不同原因，调查结果可以分为以下七个主要部分：

有计划的快速交付服务（15%）包括在设计阶段安排的物流项目和运作方式。

订单错误15%,包括供应商纪律问题、短途航运、错件交付和标签错误

包装问题3%，可再用容器的堆放问题和包装材料缺乏问题

生产延误21%，包括模具问题、机器故障以及供应短缺问题

质量问题3%，主要集中在由于质量检查而出现的部件拒收问题

调度问题10%，包括人为过时、工程示意图的更改、作业中部件短缺以及供应商无法按计划交付问题

库存水平问题8%，包括在存储中以及供应链方面过高估计库存量，和库存损失问题

交通问题25%，包括供应商无法按时交货、劳工行为、天气因素、故障、和无法通过正常的物流途径按照计划交货

“从该反馈中可以明显地看到，有很多因素影响着物流渠道，”布瑞兰总结道。“如果出现不可抗力、认为过失或者是简单的供应问题，公司都必须要确保有应急措施来解决这些问题。就像汽车保险一样，你通常会希望自己永远也不要与之打交道，但是一旦问题产生，你就要用一种平静的心态——相信一切会尽快恢复正常。”