1、外文翻译原文Current status and Countermeasures on Informatization of Medium and Small-sized Logistics Enterprises in ChinaMaterial Source: Advanced Materials Research Author: Jun Qiang WangAbstractFocused on medium and small sized logistics enterprise(MSLE)in China,the characteristics are analyzed and exi
2、sting issues are addressed based on the comprehensive investigation results of current levels of informatization of MSLEs covering investment,infrastructure,awareness,strategy,integration,standardization and qualified talent.Taking full consideration of Chinas national situation,the development oppo
3、rtunities of MSLEs informatization are discussed in terms of the powerful national informatization strategy,the key support on logistics industry,the pressing demand on logistic service generated by manufacturing industry,the intense competition among logistics software suppliers,the rapid developme
4、nt of public logistics information platform and advanced logistics technology development.Furthe-rmore,the corresponding countermeasures at the aspects of enhancing soft power,utilizing external consulting services,popularizing compact and efficient information platform,keeping fast and smooth infor
5、matization construction policy,and strengthening project management and associated regulations are presented to help promote the informatization progress of MSLE in China.IntroductionThe medium and small sized logistics enterprise(MSLE)is a major force in China logistics industry.According to the re
6、port of International Business Daily,there were over 1,000 logistics enterprises in China in 2001 while over 10,000 in 2003.By end of 2005,it has reached up to 730,000 logistics enterprises.The MSLE covers 90%of the total in number.Nowadays,MSLEs play an important role to promote economic developmen
7、t,employment and industrial structure optimization and upgrading,and technical innovation.According to the Third National Logistics Survey organized by China Association of Warehouses and Logistics(CAWL)in 2001,only 39%logistics enterprises in China have equipped with logistics information system in
8、 addition to its incomplete functions,lower communication capability and poor decision making.The informatization level of Chinas logistics enterprises is far behind the western developed countries.It is undoubted that the living environment of MSLEs is more severe than other large-sized logistics e
9、nterprises due to its hard and soft power shortcomings in company scale,capital investment,enterprise culture and capacity of independent innovation.Under the competition pressure of“both internal and external”,the survival environment is extraordinarily difficult for those MSLEs.How to improve the
10、informatization level of MSLEs to make great-leap-forward development has become one of the hot issues in China in recent years.Current Status and Analysis of MSLE InformatizationLess Investment for Informatization.According to the report,85%of logistics services are basic transportation and storage
11、 services,the value-added service only accounts for 15%in information service and financing.Therefore it is easy to understand that little investment is put into informatization.In addition,nearly 40%of enterprises are not getting stable financing,and over 50%of enterprises havent achieved satisfact
12、ory result through financing.Weak Informatization Infrastructure.The statistics from reference shows that only 23.0% of large enterprises use Global Positioning System(GPS),Geographical Information System(GIS),and 12.5%of them are logistics enterprises.Only few MSLEs adopt such advanced systems. Bes
13、ides,the logistics management software available on market is mainly from 0.1 million RMB to 0.3 million RMB.For the MSLE,the price is still high.Therefore,it is difficult to find the appropriate software to meet their needs economically.The small scale of basic technology service application rate m
14、akes the difficulty for the whole industry integration.Unbalanced Development between Hardware and Software.The statistics from reference shows that the total investment for informatization in logistics industry was increased 3.36 billion RMB in 2006,however,among them,the hardware investment accoun
15、ts for 58.8%,software and information services account for 28.1%and 14.1%respectively.Obviously,the informatization investment pays more attention to hardware than software.Lack of Informatization Awareness.In MSLE,People from different levels such as senior and middle-level management,employees are
16、 all lack of awareness of informatization.The leader doesnt have a clear understanding and lack of initiatives on it.Management department lacks preparation of difficulty and arduousness.Further-more,they usually focus on technology instead of management,development instead of maintenance,software i
17、nstead of data.Employees can not rapidly adapt to the change from the informatization and hope to untread the original road.Lack of informatization strategy.According to the statistics from reference,80%of MSLE have no complete strategy plan,and among them,only a little more 50%can carry out accordi
18、ng to the signed plan,while other are struggling to proceed.Due to lack of informatization strategic plan some abnormal things happen such as repeated development,local construction,isolated development or blind development.Poor Integration,Standardization and ormalization.In 2006,Chinas total expen
19、se of social logistics is 3,841.4 billion RMB,accounts for 18.3%of its GDP.In other developed countries,however,it covers only about 10%of GDP.It means that when generating the same GDP the logistics costs of Chinas is near twice of the developed countries.It is poor integration,standardization and
20、normalization that cause high logistics cost.Lack of Qualified Talent.Logistics informatization needs inter-disciplinary talent who know business management,IT technology and logistics engineering background,but China lacks the qualified talent,especial in MSLEs.According to the report of China Busi
21、ness Daily,undergraduate college students are few and the trained employees are generally below 5 persons in most MSLE.Opportunity of MSLEs Informatization DevelopmentAlthough the current status of MSLE in building informatization is not optimistic,as the main partsof logistics enterprises and the f
22、ocus of state informatization construction,MSLEs have met new informatization development opportunity.Powerful ational Informatization Strategy.The“State Informatization Development Strategy(2006-2020)”sets forth national strategic guidance of MSLEs informatization development.As the “Outline of the
23、 Eleventh Five-Year Plan for National Economy and Social Development the Peoples Republic of China”,“Priorities of State Councils Work in 2006”and“Law of the Peoples Republic of China on the Promotion of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises(SMEs)”are promulgated and come into force,China decided to pr
24、actice the“National Pushing Informatization Forward Engineering of SMEs”to provide the service of applying the information technology and promote the application level of informatization.These policies provide good policy guidelines and economic support for SMEsinformatization development.Key Suppor
25、t on Logistics Industry.East China,South China,North China,Central China and Southwest areas all establish the structure adjustment policy concerning services industry,and clearly bring forward strengthening information infrastructure construction,promoting logistics specialization and socialization
26、 and developing the third party logistics.Shanghai Municipality have promulgated“Focused Support Items of Shanghai Industrial Development”in 2008.The modern logistics industry is one of 20 items of future priorities support industries.The key support on logistics industry will provide MSLEs a rapid
27、development environment.Pressing Demand on Logistics Service Generated by Manufacturing Industry.The“Suggestions of the State Council on Accelerating the Development of the Service Industry”on Mar.2007 highlighted to develop the production-oriented service industry,to promote the integration between
28、 manufacturing and service industry,and to put great efforts to develop the third party logistics.According to Chinas total logistics statistical data of reference,in 2006,over 90%of the time is used for storage,transportation,packing and distribution stage while less than 10%of the time is used at
29、manufacturing stage.In addition,it is reported in reference8that 36% and 46%of the raw materials logistics were respectively undertaken by the enterprises or the raw material suppliers and only 18%was left for the third party logistics companies.How to fully exploit the logistics resources in harmon
30、y with the manufacturing industry,the Central Peoples Government of China has made the mechanism of state ministerial logistics joint meeting between manufacturing and logistics industries.Now,China,as the world manufacturing center,has been pacing toward strong not large manufacturing country.It is
31、 a golden opportunity for logistics industry to gain ground owning to demand-pulled from flourishing manufacturing industry.Progressively Matured Logistics Technology.The Ministry of Scientific and Technology ofChina prioritized the R&D of traffic informatization platform The Ministry of Communicati
32、ons of China established All in One Card system and integrated service platforms.Besides,the advanced technology develops quickly involving data exchange platform,RFID,bar-coding,GPS/GIS,EDI,BI,automatic storageretrieval system and system integration.Also,relevant standards are in the process of est
33、ablishment and in trial application in some regional logistics companies.The progressively matured supporting technology has paved the road for the informatization construction of MSLEs.Countermeasures on Informatization of MSLEEnhancing Soft Power through Informatization.Whether or not to carry out
34、 informatization construction is no more an issue related to the development but the survival of an enterprise.It is the undoubted strategic choice of the enterprise to achieve a great-leap-forward development promoted by informatization.Chinese MSLE should focus on the change from the stage ofhard
35、powertosoft powerthrough informatization concentrating on the following aspects:establish the enterprises culture featuring mutual breath,growth and development of the whole staff;build the corresponding management mode for the informatization process;promote the leadership based on scientific decis
36、ion supporting system,employee performance evaluation system and service process monitoring system;strength the independent innovation capacity and select the key fields for the next 3-5 years as the target.Utilizing External Consulting Services.During the process of informatization construction,the
37、 needs exist for the specialized technique and skills covering demand analysis,process optimization,software customization,application,maintenance and upgrading of the system.MSLE is normally lack of such specialized resources.It will bring the enterprise with double benefits while at significantly
38、reduced cost by utilizing project consulting service offered by the external expert or the professional organization and facilitate successful informatization construction.Informatization consulting consists of technical consulting,management consulting,technology management consulting and third par
39、ty consulting.It is of significance to the future development of the enterprise using the consultants specialist insight,knowledge and experience,despite the high cost.Popularizing Compact and Efficient Information Platform.When choosing the software, MSLE should take the parameter of availability,p
40、racticality and favorable price into consideration.Compact and efficient software instead of those with comprehensive functions shall be the target of MSLE to only meet the key and core demand.When establishing the information platform,MSLE may consider choosing one of the following four methods:pur
41、chasing,independent development,joint development and ASP leasing.ASP leasing may be an ideal choice for those MSLEs who would like to establish the logistics system but are lack of financial or human resources.In addition,in view of the long-term development of the enterprise and the systems upgrad
42、ing,maintenance,integration and application,joint development is also an appropriate candidate choice which will benefit for cultivation of specialized talent and promotion of the enterprises ability for innovation.Strengthening Project Management and Associated Regulations.Informatiza-tion construc
43、tion is a long-term system engineering.There should be in place the documented processes,roles,ownership and responsibilities which constitute the criterion for informatization construction so as to avoid the risks and ensure smooth implementation and continuous improvement of logistics system.As a
44、comprehensive and scientific method over the recent years,project management (PM) is introduced into the informatization construction of MSLEs to strengthen the whole process control and improve the development and application level using the full life cycle theory of PM.Simultaneously,the associate
45、d organization structure and informatization regulations should be built to help achieve the informatization successfully.Keeping Fast and Smooth Informatization Construction Policy.Informatizati-on construction of MSLEs shall follow the sixteen-word policy,including top-level planning,progressive i
46、mplementation,bottleneck focused and benefit driven,and keep taking the fast-and-smooth track inconsideration of the actual situation of China:1)Short cycle time-focus on the key issues and ensure controllable process,measurable results and feasible procedures;2)Smoothness-achieve smooth transition,
47、modification and change-over during the informatization construction so as to minimize the disorder and risk;3)High efficiency-complete configuration,applicati-on and implementation at high efficiency and witness the benefits quickly.Strengthening Project Management and Associated Regulations.Inform
48、atiza-tion construction is a long-term system engineering.There should be in place the documented processes,roles,ownership and responsibilities which constitute the criterion for informatization construction so as to avoid the risks and ensure smooth implementation and continuous improvement of log
49、istics system.As a comprehensive and scientific method over the recent years,project management (PM) is introduced into the informatization construction of MSLEs to strengthen the whole process control and improve the development and application level using the full life cycle theory of (PM).Simultaneously the associated organization structure and informatizat-ion regulations should be built to help achieve the informatization successfully.ConclusionsVigorously pushing forward informatiz