Logistics Costing: Meaning, Total Cost Approach

The basic principle of logistics costing is to identify the different costs that result from servicing customers with particular product mixes. Conventional accounting methods, which were strongly based on a few volume-based cost drivers for the allocation of shared and indirect costs, are being superceded by other costing methods such as direct product profitability (DPP) and activity-based costing (ABC) where overhead costs are allocated in relation to a firm’s activities and their consumption of resources. The research showed that direct operating costs could turn healthy gross profit figures into marginal overall contributions to profit. It also highlighted where further cost savings could be made by utilising sales promoters more effectively and reviewing minimum order sizes and delivery orders.

Total cost approach

Total cost approach focuses on considering all of the relevant activities in moving and storing products, instead of looking at things individually; this way all logistical cost items are considered simultaneously when making a decision.

Total cost approach to logistics  is the key to managing the logistics function. Management  should strive to reduce the total cost of logistics rather than the cost of each activity.  So logistics must be viewed as an integrated system rather than the individual  system, because reduction in one cost invariably lead to increase the cost of other  components. Effective management and real cost savings can be accomplished only by viewing logistics as an integrated system and minimizing its total cost given the firms customer service objectives. So the main costs which are involved in logistics function are:

• Customer service level costs
• Transportation costs
• Warehousing costs
• Order processing and information costs
• Lot quantity costs
• Inventory carrying costs

Customer Service Level Costs

Most business people find it difficult, if not impossible to measure this cost. The  cost associated with alternative customer service levels is the cost of lost sales( not  only the margin lost by not meeting current sales demand, but the present value of  all future contributions to profit forfeited when a customer is lost due to poor  availability, long lead times, or other service failures).

By comparing total logistics system costs, management can make knowledgeable  judgment about the likelihood of recovering, through increased sales, the increase in  total system costs brought about by an increase in customer service levels. Of  course, management could also reduce spending in some other to component of the  marketing mix promotion, for example in order to maintain profits with a  similar sales volume. Likewise, with decrease in customer service levels,  management can improve profitability or increase expenditures for other  components of the marketing mix in an effort to maintain or improve market  position. At the end the goal is to determine the least total cost method of logistics  while keeping customer service objectives in mind.

Transportation Costs

Costs associated with the transportation function can be identified in total and  be segments (i.e. inbound, outbound, by vendor, by customer, by mode, by carrier,  by product, or by channel). This detail is necessary to determine the incremental  costs associated with changes in the logistics system. If transportation costs are not  currently available in any other form, management can determine them at a  relatively low cost by sampling product flows and auditing freight bills (for  common carriers) or corporate accounting records (for private fleets).

Warehousing Costs

Warehousing costs are all the expenses that can be eliminated or that must be  increased as a result of a change in the number of warehousing facilities.  Warehousing costs should be separated into two distinct categories:

• Throughput Costs: These costs are associated with selling product in a given market by moving it into  and out of a warehouse in that market, and the fixed costs associated with the  Example is charges that public warehouses assess for moving product into  and out of their facilities, and the costs of leased and owned facilities for the  movement of the goods.
• Storage Costs: Warehousing costs related to inventory storage should be included in inventory carrying costs. These warehousing costs change with the level of inventory held in a specific warehouse and tend to be negligible in a company- owned or leased 

Throughput costs should be included instead in warehousing costs so that the  increments can be easily added or subtracted when the logistics system  configuration system changes.

Order Processing and Information Costs

Order processing and information costs include the cost of order transmittal,  order entry, order processing, related handling costs, and associated internal and  external communication costs. When establishing these costs management  should remember to include in the analysis only those costs that will change  with decision being made.

Lot Quantity Costs

Lot quantity costs are those production related or purchasing/acquisition costs that  will change as a result of a change in the logistics system. Generally it consists of  production preparation costs, capacity lost due to changeover, materials handling,  scheduling and expediting. The lot quantity costs associated with purchasing are the  costs of buying in various quantities.

Inventory Carrying Costs

Conceptually inventory carrying costs are the most difficult costs to determine next to the costs of lost sale. Inventory carrying costs should include only those costs that vary with the level of inventory stored and that can be categorized into 4 costs.

• Capital costs
• Inventory service costs
• Storage space costs
• Inventory risk costs.