GLN STANDARD AS A FACILITATOR OF PHYSICAL LOCATION IDENTIFICATION WITHIN PROCESS OF DISTRIBUTION

Background: Distribution, from the business point of view, is a set of decisions and actions that will provide the right products at the right time and place, in line with customer expectations. It is a process that generates significant cost, but also effectively implemented, significantly affects the positive perception of the company. Institute of Logistics and Warehousing (IliM), based on the research results related to the optimization of the distribution network and consulting projects for companies, indicates the high importance of the correct description of the physical location within the supply chains in order to make transport processes more effective. Individual companies work on their own geocoding of warehouse locations and location of their business partners (suppliers, customers), but the lack of standardization in this area causes delays related to delivery problems with reaching the right destination. Furthermore, the cooperating companies do not have a precise indication of the operating conditions of each location, e.g. Time windows of the plant, logistic units accepted at parties, supported transport etc. Lack of this information generates additional costs associated with re-operation and the costs of lost benefits for the lack of goods on time. The solution to this problem seems to be a wide-scale implementation of GS1 standard which is the Global Location Number (GLN), that, thanks to a broad base of information will assist the distribution processes.

Material and methods: The results of survey conducted among Polish companies in the second half of 2016 indicate an unsatisfactory degree of implementation of the transport processes, resulting from incorrect or inaccurate description of the location, and thus, a significant number of errors in deliveries. Accordingly, authors studied literature and examined case studies indicating the possibility of using GLN standard to identify the physical location and to show the perspective of its implementation in the TSL industry.

Results: Result of the work is an analysis of the current situation and problems associated with an identification of physical locations in the distribution process and the description of the information needs of the TSL industry.  Shows strengths and weaknesses of the GLN standard and opportunities and threats arising from its implementation in logistics. In addition, authors developed a business model that main aspect is the value proposition and benefits for stakeholders in the processes of distribution.

Conclusions: The ability to implement GS1 standards in logistics, despite numerous references to literature and the real needs of business, it is still ambiguously defined. Therefore, in this article authors focus on the concept of using GLN standard to improve an identification and unification of description of physical location. This study resulted in the development of tool implementing founded functionality (in the context of providing information about the physical location) in business practice.