By Mpho Selepe, Acting Logistics Manager: SPM
Logistics is often most visible when something goes wrong. At year end, it becomes visible for a different reason. Volumes rise, lead times compress, and the margin for recovery disappears. What normally absorbs small inefficiencies stops flexing.
This period does not create logistics problems. It reveals the ones that already exist.
- Planning quality shows up in execution, not in plans
By December, logistics performance reflects how well planning was done earlier in the year. Incomplete scopes, late changes, unclear specifications, or untested supplier assumptions surface as missed deliveries and reactive workarounds.
Strong logistics performance at year end is rarely the result of heroic effort. It is the result of disciplined planning that reduced uncertainty long before pressure arrived.
- Lead times are dynamic, not fixed
Standard lead times are useful reference points, not guarantees. Shutdowns, supplier capacity limits, border congestion, and transport constraints all distort timelines during peak periods.
Effective logistics functions track lead time movement continuously and escalate early. Waiting for a commitment to fail removes options.
- Inventory is only useful if it is accessible
Stock levels alone do not indicate readiness. Materials that are in the wrong location, lack clear ownership, or sit behind internal release delays offer limited protection.
Year-end exposes whether inventory strategies were designed around operational risk or around accounting convenience.
- Transport reliability depends on consistency, not urgency
When capacity is tight, transport providers prioritise partners who plan realistically, communicate clearly, and respect constraints throughout the year.
Logistics teams that rely on urgency at year end often discover that urgency is not a strategy. Reliability is built incrementally.
- Documentation discipline becomes non-negotiable
Under pressure, documentation errors stop being administrative issues. They become delays, site access problems, and compliance risks.
Accurate labelling, correct asset references, and complete delivery documentation are logistics controls. They determine whether materials move or stall.
- Small delays compound quickly
In peak periods, logistics delays rarely remain isolated. A late delivery can affect site sequencing, labour utilisation, outage windows, and cost recovery.
Year-end highlights how quickly minor inefficiencies compound when there is no slack left in the system.
- Contingency is measured in readiness, not intention
Contingency planning is proven by what is already approved and accessible. Alternate suppliers, secondary routes, pre-agreed escalation paths, and clear decision authority.
When pressure rises, teams use what is ready, not what is documented.
Closing reflection
Year-end logistics performance is not a verdict on effort. It is a mirror held up to the systems, assumptions, and disciplines in place throughout the year.
The value of this period lies in what it teaches. Where assumptions are held. Where buffers were real. Where dependencies were fragile.
Those insights, if acted on early, shape a more predictable, resilient logistics function in the year ahead.
