Informatization of logistics drives the rapid advancement of green printing

　For printing companies, there are various ways to achieve green printing. In addition to improving aspects such as factory buildings, equipment, processes, and materials, information technology is also one of the important means of its greening. For example, green office systems, enterprise collaboration systems, and enterprise integration systems can significantly save costs and reduce emissions for enterprises, thereby achieving green goals. The main purpose of green information logistics is to meet customers' green needs in a coordinated manner and at the lowest cost.

　　 In recent years, green has become an increasingly important issue for printing companies, and the Twelfth Five-Year Plan has pushed green printing to new heights. With people's increasing attention to environmental and social issues, enterprises must consider more logistics cost factors related to climate change, air pollution, and energy conservation and emission reduction, so that enterprise, environmental, and social goals can be balanced.

　　Although China is a manufacturing powerhouse, its printing industry is not strong. In the face of long-term and short-term benefits, and social responsibility and corporate profits, enterprises prioritize the latter, especially when the investment cost of green printing is high. The difficulty of promoting green printing is conceivable. For Chinese printing companies, successfully using information-based logistics management to build themselves into green companies requires long-term efforts and cannot be achieved overnight.

　　Recognize the benefits, experience new logistics

　　Traditional printing enterprise logistics is roughly divided into three stages: procurement, production, and sales. Specifically, a holistic logistics system includes four parts: inflow of unprocessed materials, product processing, finished product storage, and product delivery.

　　The unprocessed material inventory structure refers to the fact that enterprises first purchase raw materials from raw material suppliers and store them in warehouses. As a buffer for the enterprise logistics system, product storage is unavoidable. Enterprises need to establish inventory to store incoming raw materials, finished products, and unprocessed materials. The product processing structure is responsible for the production process of the product, producing products that meet the product quality and quantity standards from various raw materials, and storing the products in the warehouse. Surplus raw materials will be generated during processing. For materials that have not expired, the enterprise will first put them into inventory for further processing later, while some expired materials will be handed over to the recycling department or enterprise. In the product delivery link, printing enterprises adopt a cooperation model with third-party logistics. According to customer orders, the finished product information is handed over to the logistics company, and the logistics company delivers it to the customer.

　　From the perspective of printing enterprises, implementing information-based logistics will become a necessary issue for enterprise logistics management in the future, and it will benefit enterprises in the following aspects.

　　1. Reduce the amount of inventory and consumption of logistics resources, thereby reducing enterprise costs. These costs not only relate to inventory costs and transportation costs, but also are reflected in labor costs.

　　2. Follow the trend of the times and enhance the competitiveness of enterprises. With the continuous progress of society, green concepts have become deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Now, many customers not only value the product quality and price of printing enterprises, but also pay attention to the content that can enhance added value, such as green production and logistics of printing enterprises.

　　3. Enhance the brand awareness of enterprises and improve customer loyalty. Today, when the profit margin of printing is relatively low, price competition is not only detrimental to the development of enterprises, but also detrimental to the development of the industry. Improving service from the perspective of improving logistics efficiency has become a new breakthrough point for enterprises to enhance their comprehensive competitiveness. It is important to know that customers now care about more than just price.

　　In addition to bringing tangible economic benefits to enterprises, the implementation of information-based logistics will also benefit society and the environment. China is a major printing country, with a large market size and a large number of enterprises, but traditional operating methods and low production efficiency have made printing enterprises far from green. Logistics is one of the links with higher energy consumption and emissions in the entire production process of printing enterprises. Making full use of information-based logistics, saving resources and reducing emissions while ensuring quality and efficiency, can achieve green goals to a certain extent.

　　Put it into practice, be a doer

　　Implementing information-based logistics is equivalent to a reform in the logistics aspect of an enterprise, which is a complete subversion of the enterprise's business processes, finances, and human resources. Therefore, before implementing information-based logistics, enterprises should conduct a comprehensive feasibility analysis.

　　Internally, enterprises should first understand their own structure and optimize and improve it. Taking Beijing Hualian Printing Co., Ltd. as an example, the layout of its production workshop and warehouse is centered on the binding workshop, which has been fully considered and demonstrated in the design. The main printing materials, paper, semi-finished products and finished products after printing and other processing are the main objects of production logistics management. They are diverse in the production process and have a huge total flow. These problems have been studied and analyzed in advance. Only by knowing oneself can one win. If the enterprise is in its infancy and its funds are not abundant, the conditions for implementing information-based logistics may not yet be mature, and the enterprise needs to find a suitable time to establish an information-based logistics system.

　　Enterprises also need to consider many external factors, such as government support and the development trend of the entire industry in logistics. Only through comprehensive analysis can enterprises maximize efficiency, reduce costs, and reduce consumption during the implementation phase.

　　After the feasibility analysis, the enterprise can implement information-based logistics management according to its own conditions.

　　Enterprises first need to establish an information transmission and sharing platform, because a perfect information system can provide a green information-based logistics system. For example, logistics activity monitoring can realize real-time data and product procurement, inventory, transportation, and circulation processing monitoring, etc., to meet the requirements of environmental development, which will be conducive to the implementation of information-based logistics.

　　In the procurement link, enterprises need to establish an enterprise resource planning system (ERP). ERP is not a new management model, but it includes very basic information and data analysis such as material requirements, production time allocation, and inventory management, and it is also the basis for enterprises to implement information-based logistics. Taking Lenovo Group as an example, Lenovo, with the help of the ERP system and the high-efficiency supply chain management system, uses automated warehousing equipment, flexible automated production lines, and other facilities to realize real-time interaction and seamless docking between logistics and information flow in procurement, production, and finished product distribution. Lenovo has developed an automatic warehousing system for computer components. After suppliers prepare goods according to the demand plan proposed by Lenovo's integrated planning system, they are sent to Lenovo's automated three-dimensional warehouse. The three-dimensional warehouse automatically receives, stores, and shelves goods. Printing enterprises can learn from this logistics management model and establish an ERP system that suits their own characteristics, so that enterprises can reasonably configure production methods in multiple aspects and achieve the goal of energy conservation and emission reduction in multiple links.

　　In the distribution link, the location of the warehouse and the customization of the distribution route need to be realized by using the information-based logistics management system. Reasonable warehouse location and distribution route can maximize distribution efficiency and save costs. Of course, enterprises can also adopt the method of cooperating with third-party logistics, and at the same time use the global positioning system (GPS) to understand the detailed transportation process of goods at any time, so as to control the production speed of the enterprise.

　　Many printing companies will have questions: Should they build their own logistics system or entrust it to a third-party logistics company? For most small and medium-sized printing companies, the author does not recommend completing all aspects of logistics independently. Taking Beijing as an example, with the continuous expansion of urban area, the transportation distance is continuously increasing, the cost of fuel and energy is continuously increasing, and the rent and inventory costs are gradually increasing. If small and medium-sized printing enterprises receive or send goods independently, their logistics costs will increase significantly. To put it another way, even if enterprises have the ability to independently realize logistics management and implementation, the competitors of enterprises are not only other enterprises in the printing industry, but also many large logistics enterprises. The difficulty of fighting alone is conceivable.

　　The development of information-based logistics focuses on business intelligence.

　　Business intelligence mainly uses intelligent warehousing and transportation systems to obtain high-quality, meaningful information, helping logistics companies analyze problems, make timely and accurate decisions, improve internal operational efficiency, and enhance logistics service levels.

　　Successfully implementing information-based logistics will not only increase corporate profits but also save renewable energy and lead printing companies toward sustainable development. Printing company managers must understand that the value created by the established information-based logistics management system in operating the business and improving the environment will far outweigh the initial costs. It is hoped that more and more Chinese printing companies will awaken early, dare to explore and act boldly on the path to green development.