MEASURING AND MANAGING LOGISTICS PERFORMANCE IN RAIL FREIGHT TRANSPORT

The purpose of this paper is to (i) highlight the importance of performance measures and metrics as a critical managerial tool; (ii) review some recent performance measurement systems in logistics in order to understand which are the requirements of a "good" performance measurement system, suitable for an enterprise in the current environment; (iii) obtain a detailed insight into the key performance measures and metrics in logistics and supply chain environments; and (iv) propose an example of a logistics management model based on a one year simulation carried out in a Romanian rail freight transport company, who tries to implement a unitary logistics management model. It has been found that applying such a model provides a better logistic management along the supply chain, a better calculation of transportation costs, a better resource allocation and risk management and consequently an increase in credibility towards the client.