The future of logistics demands deepening lean on at least three major “foundations”

Logistics in Brazil has everything it needs to take a major leap in the coming years. Today, there are social, political, economic and technological factors driving paradigm shifts and substantial changes in business models. A series of transformations, opportunities and market possibilities can be seen (some of them still somewhat imperceptible) that will increasingly demand greater efficiency and competitiveness from logistics.

Take transportation logistics as an example. The sector is already witnessing – and this will intensify more and more – profound transformations, such as in energy sources, sensing, and safety technologies. In this area there is also a trend toward the evolution of multimodal integration.

Road transportation, our strongest tradition, is likely to undergo significant transformations due to the enormous technological possibilities on the horizon. Among them are autonomous vehicles, which bring with them a paradigm shift and new managerial and operational needs.

At the same time, rail transport is also, in Brazil, a potential in its own right, full of possibilities. Although it requires deep investments that sometimes depend on public policies aimed at that end, this sector is also likely to evolve. The trend is supported by the Legal Framework for Railways (Marco Legal das Ferrovias), which allows new stretches to be built in response to private-sector interest.

Given this whole context, there is a growing perception of how much the future of logistics in Brazil may hold even greater value for customers than what we have today.

However, for this to happen, management will also need to evolve more intensively. Otherwise, there is a risk that these new future possibilities will already be implemented with intrinsic problems.

Keeping the focus on creating value for the customer, eliminating waste and providing engaged integration, more than ever, reinforce the relevance (and the need) of the lean approach to logistics management.

In other words, it is necessary today, even before these transformations become reality, to step up the adoption of the lean system. That way, when these changes become part of everyday life, companies' logistics departments will already be prepared.

In this future context of challenges, lean can help on basically three “fronts”:

1. In intensifying the process of identifying and solving problems

The likely integration of “modes” and the intensification of new digital technologies bring, as always, a “new world” and, with it, good things, but also some not so good.

New and “old problems”, even more apparent, will certainly be intrinsic to the logistics transformation that lies ahead. In this sense, the lean system is the most suitable management approach for deepening the surfacing and solving of problems throughout the entire chain.

To do so, it is important to keep in mind that just because something is “new” does not necessarily mean it is “good”. New technologies, for example, depending on how they are applied, can make the sector more efficient and competitive, but there is a risk that they will generate, without anyone noticing, new and even more “invisible” problems.

Logistics areas that have already implemented everyday processes for surfacing and solving problems – for example, the concepts and practices of Daily Management, everyday kaizens, the use of the A3 method, etc. – will certainly be better prepared to face the new “deviations” that future transformations are bound to generate.

2. In boosting the surfacing and elimination of waste

As a consequence, a lean logistics sector that has already spread the search for waste throughout its mindsets and behaviors will get ahead when the “new wastes” resulting from emerging changes begin to appear.

Far from being a necessary evil, transportation logistics now holds a strategic position. Insofar as it enables value delivery to the customer and is directly linked to competitive factors such as lead time and reliability, logistics decisions are of crucial relevance to business.

In this sense, this increasingly strategic movement should occur only to the extent strictly necessary, moving and delivering products and services at the right time, in the right way and to the right person – in such a way that customers see, in this process, value added that is inherent to the product.

3. In the development of leaders and teams

Social transformations, sometimes radical ones, require even better-prepared people, with mindsets and behaviors attuned to the new times. Here too, lean brings a series of “tools” that make it possible to develop and engage people.

For example, the concepts and practices of “leading with respect”, one of the most important foundations of the lean system. The new logistics of the future will need leaders and team members more attuned to this lean leadership.

On the leaders' side, leaders capable of abandoning “command and control” and becoming “mentors” able to encourage and support their team members in doing their work better and better, with greater efficiency, quality and productivity, will be even more important.

And on the team members' side, developing the ability to work collectively and collaboratively, strengthening the skill of applying the scientific method to surface and solve problems.

The future of logistics in Brazil will depend on political, economic, cultural and technological changes that are always on the horizon. Logistics will tend to become one of the most strategic factors for any business. To that end, developing and deepening the lean system in this sector is, more than an option, a matter of future survival.