DELIVERY RELIABILITY IN OUTBOUND VEHICLE DISTRIBUTION – A FACTOR OF SUCCESSFULL AUTOMOTIVE SUPPLY CHAIN

Abstract

Finished vehicle logistics is a complex activity focusing on outbound delivery accuracy and quality in the automotive supply chain (outbound vehicle distribution). Once the vehicle has been produced, it is transported from production plant to the dealership via outbound logistics. The most important criteria that reflect performance of successful automotive outbound supply chain are among other: on-time pickup, delivery reliability, lead time, dwell time and damage-free delivery (damage level). Therefore, the objective of this paper is to analyse delivery reliability as crucial factor of successful vehicle logistic provided by logistic service providers (3PL, 4PL or LLP). They play an important role in rising of efficiency in a complex automotive supply chain as outsourcing partners of original equipment manufacturers (OEM's) and evaluate their performance using Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) from which is the most important; on-time delivery (OTD) as indicator of delivery reliability. Premium segment of the automotive industry iscreating optimised supply chain that realize short delivery times and high delivery reliability in order to maximize customer satisfaction. In formulating and analysing the research problem, the authors explore performance using Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). The findings indicate that continuously measurement of on-time delivery can improve overall automotive supply chain and fulfilment of customer requirements.

Key words:finished vehicle logistics, delivery reliability, outbound distribution, On-time delivery, key performance indicator (KPI)