Overview
In the course of operations, a business entity usually thrives to be successful in the short run and in the long run. To achieve this, business entities come up with goals and objectives that are in line with their vision, mission, and values (Amelia et al, n.d.). With respect to this, Rapid Freight, a global logistics provider, has been in the mission of trying to improve its operations to meet the current demands of the market. Through value chain management, the company has been capable of sustaining warehousing services. The company also offers local and international freight services having branches in the United States and Europe.
Requirements
To enhance its operation, the company needs to consider several requirements. The first requirement that the company needs to consider in its operations and policy formulation process is the high level of competition that the business is operating in. Operating at an international level, the company faces competition from local and international companies that offer the same service. Due to this fact, customers have the option of choosing from a variety of alternatives. This has in turn greatly reduces the level of profitability of the company.
The company also needs to ensure that its workforce is up to date with the current trends and level of operations of the company and the industry at large. It has been the tradition of the companys employees to use PDAs and GPRS technology to monitor and track shipments. However, with the increase in the number of shipments and customers, it has been difficult for the employees to track all the shipments with ease. Besides this, the size of the workforce has also increased. However, only a small proportion of this work force has a clear understanding of how to utilize this technology.
Another requirement that the company needs to consider in its operations is its level of expansion. Since its incorporation, the company has been growing at an exponential rate. This growth has affected almost all its areas of operations. The company has slightly over 5,000 employees. Besides this, the companys number of customers has increased to several thousands. This expansion has increased the traffic of operations within the system of the company. Some of the technological advancements that had been implemented to ease the level of operations have are now either slow or they hang. This is as a result of increased demands on its wide area network (WAN).
Additionally, the operation costs have also increased. The company has been experiencing high telephone bills over the last few years. The company is also faced with the burden of additional costs to carter for system upgrades. For instance, its data center has been experiencing frequent outages and its voicemail system is already overloaded. Thus, to maintain the effectiveness and efficiency of its operations, the company has no option but to upgrade its systems.
The final requirement that the company needs to consider is consumer satisfaction. All the factors that have been mentioned here, coupled with many others should work to ensure that the customers are satisfied with the services that the company offers. This is essential as it ensures the short term and long-term sustainability of the entity. Therefore, Rapid Freight needs to put all these factors into consideration and come up with strategies that will guarantee that a high level of consumer satisfaction is attained.
The Proposal
It had long been predicted that the rate of growth of freight services would exceed the infrastructure that had been put in place to facilitate and support the service that is offered by this industry (Amelia et al, n.d.). It is due to this fact that Rapid Freight and other freight companies that are present in the industry are facing several operating challenges. It has already been identified that the main challenges that Rapid freight it facing include high level of competition, enlightenment of its workforce, high rates of growth and expansion, increased costs, and reduced level of consumer satisfaction. To solve all these problems and to ensure that its services are going to be effective, efficient, and sustainable in the short run and in the long run, the company needs to upgrade its systems and networks.
To achieve this, the company needs to modify its network. Thus, the company needs to modify its network from local and wide area networks to metropolitan area networks (White, 2012). Metropolitan area networks are effective and efficient in the sense that they are supported by fiber optic connections that offer high-speed communication with a huge band with capable of sustaining huge traffic and high level of data transfer. Thus, this new system shall be capable of sustaining the EDI interface of the company as well as the ISDN telephone systems (White, 2012).
At this point, it is essential to note that for the company to install metropolitan networks to sustain its operations, it has to incur high capital expenditures. However, this shall only be felt in the short run, as the new system shall greatly reduce normal operating costs such as telephone bills. The new system shall also be capable of enhancing the communication between the company and customer as well as keeping track of shipments. It is also relatively cheaper to maintain this new system. Thus, once put in place, the new system shall be capable of resolving all the challenges that Rapid Freight is facing, reduce its operating costs, and increase the effectiveness and efficiency of its operations (Delaney, 1999).
References
Amelia, R., Holguin-Veras, J., Chow, G., and Sonstegaard, H. (n.d.). University of Arkansas Freight Transportation Planning and Logistics. Web.
Delaney, R. (1999). A Look Back in Anger at Logistics Productivity. Saint Louis: Sage.
White, C.M. (2012). Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User’s Approach. New York: Cengage Learning.