Outbound Logistics Initiatives of Food and Medicine Production during the Enhanced Community Quarantine

Abstract

Outbound logistics is the shipping out of finished products to customers from a warehouse or distribution center. It consists of the order fulfillment process including shipping, customer service and delivery of a product or Finished Goods. (Coyle J, 2018) Despite the imposition of the Enhanced community quarantine, social distancing and strict protocols, the government has reiterated that movement or transportation of goods should be unhampered. Vital businesses such as supermarkets and pharmacies were mandated to remain open to ensure residents continue to have access to essential products. This qualitative research conducted interviews to companies engage in food and medicine production to determine what initiatives or plan of actions they have implemented in their outbound logistics particularly in warehousing, order processing, transportation, customer service and manning requirements during this time of the pandemic. The outbound Logistics initiatives that were implemented to meet customer demands were shifting to limit number of personnel to comply with social distancing. The Distribution Center operation resort to priority list for deliveries due to decrease manpower, maximize online booking of orders, change from normal forwarders to express forwarders to meet customer's requirements. Finished Goods and containers / trucks were sanitized prior loading to the truck. Customer service representative are in work-from-home setup.