The Hindu : Business : Seminar on logistics management

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Friday, Mar 21, 2008
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Seminar on logistics management

Staff Reporter

Cusat to host seminar on
March 28, 29
Logistics management vital in international trade

KOCHI: The School of Management Studies, Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat), will organise a national seminar on Logistics Management on March 28 and 29. Top managers and professionals from CIAL, Railways, Cochin Port Trust, DP World and Reliance Retail will discuss logistics issues in their respective areas. Vice-Chancellor of Cusat Gangan Pratap will inaugurate the seminar.

The performance of a logistic system depends on the effective collaboration and integrated functioning of many elements and service providers. There is need to bring the professionals working in different areas of logistics to share their knowledge. This is one of the areas in which academics have a lot to learn from practice.

Logistics management is an interconnecting function that helps move materials from one department to another or one firm to another in a supply chain. It consists of a network of storage, handling and transportation systems.

A decade back we would not have expected to see Californian oranges, and Australian fruits in our supermarket shelves. In international trade, the share of logistics is around 28 per cent of the final product cost. In large countries like India, the domestic logistics cost for agricultural products is in the range of 20 to 25 per cent of the final cost.

Logistics has long been handled by small and less organised set-ups. Hence its efficiency has been poor. There is need to improve logistics system performance in terms of speed, response time, flexibility, cost and reliability. A lot of attention is being devoted in recent times to improving logistics system performance, by improving infrastructure, carriers and collaboration between different agencies providing different logistics services.

The School of Management Studies, Cusat, has been involved in teaching and research in the area of Logistics Management for over a decade now. Courses on Logistics are gaining popularity in Management Schools in Kerala.

Development in the area of logistics in Kerala has been tremendous. Projects such as the Cochin International Airport, Vallarpadom transshipment terminal and LNG project have changed the level of logistics-related activities in Kerala.

For registration and details, contact M. Bhasi, Professor, Coordinator: National Seminar on Logistics Management, School of Management Studies, Cusat, Kochi 682 022, E-mail: mbhasi@cusat.ac.in, drbhasi@yahoo.com, Phone 9447419863. Details are also available on the web site of Cusat: www.cusat.ac.in

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