Open Access Conference Proceedings

Logistics has not been considered as an "extra" important part of business processes in the past. Often, it was underestimated and most often dealt as a last part of value added chains. There were several reasons. One of the main reasons was that in the past companies could afford to keep a relatively large amount of stocks in external warehouses or their in-house storage areas. More than sufficient inventory levels did not require logistics processes to work efficiently and effectively. However, unlike in the past, the situation today is quite different. The global markets and the involvement of business processes in global value chains put pressure on companies to optimize all business processes and their productivity. Thanks to these facts, the importance of all logistics processes and their management is growing. The main task of today's managers in logistics is thus about having the right inventory at the right time, in the right place, at the right quantity and quality and all these at the minimum cost. The managers should therefore apply all available means to meet the requirements above. The first step that should be carried out always at the beginning of the optimization, is processes stabilization. The reason is simple. Optimization of non-stable processes is extremely difficult, if not impossible. The contribution presents some practical experience gained during stabilization of logistic processes in several manufacturing companies in the Czech Republic. The paper also includes results of simulation experiments, which explain some frequent phenomena in logistics.

Keywords: Process, Stabilization, Optimization, Management, Six Sigma

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