Agribusiness logistics is a very important competitive differential. Good logistical management helps to ensure agility in the sector’s processes and operations to deliver products on time, at the lowest possible cost, and guaranteeing quality to its customers.
Understand how agricultural logistics works
For this to be possible, it is necessary to have a good planning of the entire logistics process, from production, transportation, storage, and distribution of products. All this care is very important, as it can substantially alter sales, pricing, and competitiveness.
Logistics involves a whole cycle of planning, execution, storage, and movement of supplies from suppliers to their customers to meet market demands. It covers many processes, such as strategic planning, warehousing, inventory management, cargo monitoring, among others.
The producer must be very careful to avoid waste in the transportation and storage of the products. Problems such as insufficient storage network, poor maintenance of roads, and inadequate transit can cause significant losses.
Food must always be preserved and stored correctly to avoid damage and loss. The movement of products needs to be carried out in an agile and efficient way to obtain better use of the spaces in the storage area, avoid losses, and reduce costs.
For operations to be efficient from start to finish, you need to make sure you have quality services throughout the supply chain. It is recommended that procedures be controlled and monitored at all times, using management software and other technological tools.
Learn how to do good logistics management
Inventory control and product turnover are fundamental processes for companies to take advantage of all business opportunities without suffering losses from the surplus or lack of products.
Good agribusiness logistics is one that guarantees the best conditions for the production, harvest, storage, and transportation of inputs, at the lowest possible cost.
According to the Brazilian Association of Handling and Logistics (ABML), the cost of logistics in a company is equivalent, on average, to 19% of its turnover. Therefore, it is very important to be able to identify the real costs involved in the production and distributor process.
Agribusiness logistics can be divided into three integrated parts: supply logistics, production support, and distribution.
See below the definition of each of these processes and learn how to make them more efficient.
Supply Logistics
Supply logistics is responsible for reducing the costs of transporting inputs to the production chain to reduce production and marketing costs.
Agricultural inputs have a very high weight in the composition of agricultural production costs, and some of them have a higher transport cost than their own purchase price. For example, limestone and fertilizer have a relatively low acquisition cost, but with transport, this value can increase a lot, depending on the volume and the distance to be covered.
Good management of supply logistics in agribusiness tends to reduce production and marketing costs and ensure that the inputs reach their destination in good time so that there is no shortage of material for work. Also, it must ensure that the contributions are stored in environments with the appropriate temperature and humidity.
Production logistics
Production support logistics, on the other hand, seeks to move only the necessary quantities of inputs without overloading stocks, and at the same time, avoiding the lack of these products. It is concerned with the transfer of materials within the company, such as internal transport, handling, storage, primary stock, final stock, delivery, and other types of control.
The management of the production process must seek to lead the supply of inputs to achieve the efficiency and rationalization of operational procedures for the physical transfer of materials. For this, the information about the stock, product application, quantity, and time of use must always be updated.
It also involves information on inventories and the application plan for each product, quantity, and time of use, to ensure the smooth functioning of all processes and avoid unnecessary costs. For this, it is necessary to move only the essential loads with the right quantities, preventing the formation of large stocks and storing them in a way that does not hinder production.
Once production is obtained, logistics will mainly deal with the physical handling of products, such as internal transport, processing, primary storage, primary stocks, deliveries, final stocks, and various controls.
Distribution logistics
Distribution logistics refers to post-harvest treatment, whether in transport or storage. It involves evaluating the characteristics of each product, and the time it will take to reach the final destination to which they will be transported.
After harvesting, it is necessary to define the destination of the products and the route that will be adopted to reach the final goal. This way, it is easier to know what types of inventory environments will be needed and which vehicle you can use to serve your customer.
In agribusiness, product transport operations are subject to very specific needs, such as perishability, fragility, and seasonality of the harvest, among others. Therefore, each product requires different post-harvest treatment.
For example, fruits are extremely perishable and require a lot of care, such as fast and careful transport, appropriate packaging, storage at mild temperatures, and high relative humidity.
Therefore, the distribution logistics must be able to promote the ideal conditions of transport and storage, with attention to factors such as the temperature of the environments, the humidity of the air, and the packaging used in the handling.
See the importance of management software
For agribusiness logistics to be efficient from start to finish, it is essential that the flow of data and information is constant and very well controlled. To achieve the best results, producers need to invest in management software and other technological tools developed especially for the logistics sector.
With these technologies, it is possible to manage all orders, control stocks, monitor transportation routes, select the most suitable equipment, and employ precise metrics.
As we have seen, good planning of agricultural logistics can contribute significantly to optimize the process of transportation, storage, and distribution of products. By following these recommendations, you will be able to avoid losses, reduce costs, and increase your earnings.
new RDStationForms(‘falar-com-consultor-geral-80b6e7701568cf96cc42-html’, ‘UA-115084331-1’).createForm();