Research On Cost Management Of Shipping Enterprises Based On The Thought Of Lean Management

The shipping industries is a foundation industry in China which plays an important and strategic role in the international trade as well as the national economy of China. However, for a long period, effected by planned economy, the domestic shipping enterprises present on a coarse and careless condition, lacking of guidance of scientific and advanced ideology on cost management, which made the costs of shipment enterprise lies on a very high condition. Costs management has become a crucial problem concerning the survival and development of the enterprise and should be solved as soon as possible.At present, the cost management pattern of shipping enterprises is oriented on profits of the own company, aimed on finishing the tasks delivered from the upper unit. The cost management is achieved by the over-all leadership and self-management as well. The main method used in this pattern is cost control. But due to the positive motive and narrow scope in this pattern, the company often puts its focus only on his short-term profit, but not the customer's value. At the same time, both the way of cost classification and information system are old, as the different profits demanding between departments, those make this pattern worked inefficiently in this pattern. That is why cost runs fast in the shipping enterprises in China. In order to change this situation, a brand-new cost management pattern must be found.The lean-cost-management of shipping enterprises is such a kind of management which devotes to creation of value for the customer as the direction; the implement of value increment of the whole enterprise as the aim and organize as well as put in practice of the costs management of the whole industry. It combined the lean arrangement of the voyage line, the lean purchase and supply, the lean operation and production, the lean maintenance and lean service as the main content, connected the lean management ideology and costs management ideology together, formed a brand new costs management ideology for shipment enterprises. It controls the value chain of the enterprise on the arrangement, purchase, production and service, and obtains the most economical cost on shipping enterprises and thus made the enterprise benefit a advantage on competition.The fine Lean-shipping-cost-management (LSCM) pattern is oriented on creating value for customers, aimed on increment of the mutual value, implementing to the entire shipping enterprise's value chain managements. It includes the lean-shipping-design, lean-purchasing, lean-operating, lean-maintaining, lean-servicing, etc. It makes the thought of lean-management and cost management integrated, thus come out the brand-new cost management thought for the shipping enterprises. LSCM tries to manage the value chain of shipping companies in a entirely wide scope such as design, purchasing, production, servicing, etc., for the purpose of least cost, thus helping the company to get a advantage in competition. The main differences between LSCM and traditional cost management are: The scope of LSCM is not only limited in management of transportation cost, but also expanded to all the cost management of whole value chain. The aim of LSCM is also expanded from reducing transportation cost to client value oriented, to achieve mutual value increment of shipping enterprise and forming long-term effective operating abilities. The aim of LSCM is more strategic, namely, in the management and control on cost, it absorbs the merit of cost-planning and activity-costing. Through utilizing value-engineering and target-costing management, it controls cost the headstream before arising. Through management of activity-costing, putting the key of management on activities, distinguishes the value added job and none value added job, reduces cost and creates merit for the enterprise. Also, advanced integration cost management information system was used to implement the LSCM pattern.