A View of Logistics

5. Conclusion
From the mid 1990s to present, more and more professionals are combining best practices with technology to streamline processes, control costs, achieve operational efficiency and organize strategic procurement initiatives across the enterprise. A company without the information system has to face a fairly stark choice: invest millions in restructuring or watch market share slip away to those competitors willing to spend and give their customers better service. In the author's view, some information system can not be disregarded not only at present, but in future. Firstly, inventory management system which observe demand patterns, insight into forecast market demand, margins and service level, and bring in a recommended stock. It will benefit for people to balance the inventory and stock cost. Another system should be strongly recommended is warehouse management system. It will carry out an inventory plan exactly and run the day-to-day operation of a warehouse. It will reduce the cost on useless physical movement from one place to another; also reduce the opportunities of overtime. Enterprise resource planning system should also be concerned due to it "generally produces short-term schedules and allocates resources with manufactures' analytical capabilities" (Chopra, S., & Meindl P. 2001 p349) Last but not least, transportation execution system can not be abandoned due to its function of make transportation plans work properly. It is less analytical than inventory information system but serve as an operational link to the plan. …