ABSTRACT

Original scientific paper A lack of understanding of logistics costs, particularly in terms of their integrity and interdependence, allows for the interests of individual departments within a company, which are not always in line with the common interests of the business process of the company, to take precedence over necessary logistics cost planning. In order to address this problem, we have developed a model that takes into account all the logistical costs within a company and represents an important decision-making tool that can be used by employees at different levels of the organization, covering different business functions. We have tested the model on a specific product in a company that operates in the automotive industry and determined that the model enables us to have greater control over logistics costs and improves the quality of information on logistics costs. Keywords: decision making; knowledge transfer; logistics cost; logistics cost models Model odlučivanja za kontrolu logističkih troškovaIzvorni znanstveni članak Nedostatno poznavanje logističkih troškova, posebice u pogledu njihove cjelovitosti i međusobne ovisnosti, vodi do toga da na štetu nužnog planiranja logističkih troškova prevagnu interesi pojedinačnih službi unutar poduzeća koji nisu u skladu s općim interesima poslovnog procesa poduzeća. Suočeni s tim problemom izradili smo model koji uzima u obzir sve logističke troškove u jednom poduzeću i koji predstavlja važno oruđe odlučivanja za zaposlenike svih razina i funkcija. Taj model smo testirali na specifičnom proizvodu jednog poduzeća iz automobilske industrije i ustanovili da nam on omogućava veću kontrolu nad logističkim troškovima i poboljšava kvalitetu informacija o logističkim troškovima.

The goal of the study is to develop a model that focuses on managing logistics costs at all stages of a product’s life cycle. The model includes several different cost components and provides a wider coverage of individual processes, as logistics costs are present in different areas of a company’s operations. The applicability of the proposed method was tested in a multinational company that manufactures furniture fittings on a randomly selected product. The test results provide a theoretical and practical confirmation of the necessity to manage the logistics costs for an individual product, since other models are focused exclusively on the cost optimisation of individual logistics processes. The model therefore complements the existing knowledge and represents a practical tool for logistics professionals that enables more efficient logistics costs planning at an early stage in the development of a product, which can result in the long-term reduction in the total costs of logistics and improve the quality of business processes.

The objective of the study is to determine whether the scientific literature in the field of heavy truck maintenance parallels current development trends in maintenance. For this purpose, models related to fleet maintenance were analysed in terms of cost optimization, decision-making support and improving employees’ maintenance competencies. The analysis underlines the lack of research in the studied field and highlights the scientific gap in the development of methodological approaches to improving the competencies of truck drivers as important entities in the process of detection and elimination of technical issues. The analysis of heavy truck maintenance issues therefore serves as empirical support for the improvement of maintenance processes in the addressed industry as well as in logistics in general. The resulting research also synthesizes the scientific literature in the field of fleet maintenance, which represents an important support for future empirical studies.