Advanced Logistics Strategy of a Company to Create Sustainable Development in the Industrial Area

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This work created a logistics strategy for a company operating in the industrial sector. However, there are a few shortcomings existing in the current manuscript, which makes it failing to be published.

Ÿ   The research gap of this work is not shown with sufficient literature reviewed, and the research aim and the contribution is not clear enough, which all make the problem dealt with in this work not interesting and appealing.

Ÿ   The research methods used are limited. For example, the areas of logistics that Slovak companies currently have problems shown in section 2.2, are obtained without support, even a questionnaire is shown, but the size of samples is not big enough.

Ÿ   The proposed model and methodology for logistics strategy development proposed in section 3 has limited connections with the sections 1 and 2. In addition, the applicability and effectiveness of the proposal was not tested empirically.

Ÿ   The writing of the manuscript needs improvement with better logical structures. Also, the conclusions of the manuscript was not written appropriate.

Author Response

Dear reviewer,

on behalf of my co-authors, we thank you very much for giving us an opportunity to revise our manuscript, we appreciate you very much for your positive and constructive comments and suggestions on our manuscript entitled “Advanced logistics strategy of the company to create sustainable development in the industrial area” (ID: sustainability-1860874). We would like to express our great appreciation to you for your comments on our paper. We have made revisions which are marked in yellow colour. There are our answers to your comments and suggestions:

Reviewer´s comment 1:   The research gap of this work is not shown with sufficient literature reviewed, and the research aim and the contribution is not clear enough, which all make the problem dealt with in this work not interesting and appealing.

Author´s answer: Dear reviewer, thank you very much. We are very grateful for your kind and polite appreciation of our work. Thank you for your arduous work and instructive advice. We added a research gap to the introduction - the problem that has not been answered by any of the existing studies or research within our field is that this methodology was developed because, based on the study of the literature from various authors (we added the literature to the text of the article), we found that such a sequence of steps for the creation of a logistics strategy is not found in the literature, and in practice, we encounter an ever-increasing interest in the design of a logistics strategy.

We added the research aim: The goal is to make logistics processes more efficient through the selection of variants of a new strategy in order to increase customer satisfaction in order to achieve optimal overall logistics costs and to increase the performance of the logistics system.

Reviewer´s comment 2:   The research methods used are limited. For example, the areas of logistics that Slovak companies currently have problems shown in section 2.2, are obtained without support, even a questionnaire is shown, but the size of samples is not big enough.

Author´s answer: Thank you for your valuable comment. We added new research methods - analysis and evaluation of the results that we obtained on the basis of specific successfully solved scientific projects in the period from 2000 - until now, for example, projects of:

• SRDA - Slovak research and development agency,
• VEGA - The Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic,
• operational research, etc.

with a focus on reducing logistics costs and from specific outputs published in magazines and books.

Each area of logistics has its own methods. Uses methods when solving specific problems - these methods are used by specialists from individual departments.

Reviewer´s comment 3:   The proposed model and methodology for logistics strategy development proposed in section 3 has limited connections with the sections 1 and 2. In addition, the applicability and effectiveness of the proposal was not tested empirically.

Author´s answer: Thank you for your comment. We added empirical testing (4.1 Verification of the methodology) and also added connections with sections 1 and 2) We have made revisions marked in yellow.

Based on the review of literature and methods for optimization of purchase, production, distribution and storage, methods for creating a logistics strategy were selected, which are described in the next chapter.

We considered the following three options during the verification:

1. On the basis of personal consultations in companies and logistics audits (with an auditor registered in the Slovak Audit Chamber - Monika Uhrová), hypotheses were established, i.e. Optimization for selected logistics processes and elimination of losses.
2. The budget agreed upon by the company's shareholders for creating a new strategy - how much investment in logistics is needed.
3. Recalculate total costs for the new logistics system, based on full automation and implementation of new ICT in all areas of logistics - purchasing, storage and distribution logistics - new fully automated warehouse, online data collection.

Reviewer´s comment 4:   The writing of the manuscript needs improvement with better logical structures. Also, the conclusions of the manuscript was not written appropriately.

Author´s answer: Thank you for your valuable comment. We tried to improve the writing of the manuscript, and also we improved the conclusions of our manuscript. We have made revisions which are marked in yellow colour.

Reviewer 2 Report

The authors should only pay more attention and review the discussion, results and findings, from the argumentation that should show the level of research and the research methodology used.

Author Response

Dear reviewer,

on behalf of my co-authors, we thank you very much for giving us an opportunity to revise our manuscript, we appreciate you very much for your positive and constructive comments and suggestions on our manuscript entitled “Advanced logistics strategy of the company to create sustainable development in the industrial area” (ID: sustainability-1860874). We would like to express our great appreciation to you for your comments on our paper.

Reviewer´s comment 1:   The authors should only pay more attention and review the discussion, results and findings, from the argumentation that should show the level of research and the research methodology used.

Author´s answer: Thank you for your valuable comment. Yes, we agree. Therefore, we tried to improve the discussion, results and findings. We have made revisions which are marked in yellow colour.

Reviewer 3 Report

This paper discusses how companies can differentiate themselves from the competition and impress customers through logistics. Enterprises in a highly competitive and frequently changing market situation must focus on internal problems and direct their strategy towards external influences. In recent years, technology has exploded, and it is necessary to be able to use it for logistics strategy development.

The main contribution of the paper is the proposal of a methodology for logistics strategy development in the industrial area.

I recommend that this paper be accepted.

Major comments:

The statistical analysis in this paper is suitable for the design of a model and methodology for logistics strategy development for companies in industrial area and this represent a comprehensive solution that includes all types of business logistics (purchasing, production, distribution, warehouse) and be an improvement contribution for the industry. It is well driven and objective.

I would like to see some literature review of the findings of the paper in relation to recent findings and developments in other solutions already in use.

Minor comments:

In some of the figures, the legends are too small to be legible.

Have you thought about testing this strategy in a real company?

Author Response

Dear reviewer,

on behalf of my co-authors, we thank you very much for giving us an opportunity to revise our manuscript, we appreciate you very much for your positive and constructive comments and suggestions on our manuscript entitled “Advanced logistics strategy of the company to create sustainable development in the industrial area” (ID: sustainability-1860874). We would like to express our great appreciation to you for your comments on our paper.

Reviewer´s comment 1:   This paper discusses how companies can differentiate themselves from the competition and impress customers through logistics. Enterprises in a highly competitive and frequently changing market situation must focus on internal problems and direct their strategy towards external influences. In recent years, technology has exploded, and it is necessary to be able to use it for logistics strategy development.

The main contribution of the paper is the proposal of a methodology for logistics strategy development in the industrial area.

I recommend that this paper be accepted.

Author´s answer: Dear reviewer, thank you very much. We are very grateful for your kind and polite appreciation of our work. Also thank you for your recommendation and kind suggestion for other approaches in our next studies. Thank you for your arduous work and instructive advice. Thank you for your comment, that you recommend accepting our manuscript.

Reviewer´s comment 2:    Major comments: The statistical analysis in this paper is suitable for the design of a model and methodology for logistics strategy development for companies in industrial area and this represent a comprehensive solution that includes all types of business logistics (purchasing, production, distribution, warehouse) and be an improvement contribution for the industry. It is well driven and objective. I would like to see some literature review of the findings of the paper in relation to recent findings and developments in other solutions already in use.

Author´s answer: Dear reviewer, thank you very much for your comment that our work is well-driven and objective. We added some literature review of the findings of the paper in relation to recent findings and developments in other solutions already in use. We have made revisions which are marked in yellow colour.

Reviewer´s comment 2:    Minor comments: In some of the figures, the legends are too small to be legible. Have you thought about testing this strategy in a real company?

Author´s answer: Dear reviewer, thank you very much for your comments. Thank you for your comment. We added empirical testing of this strategy in the real company (4.1 Verification of the methodology).

We considered the following three options during the verification:

1. On the basis of personal consultations in companies and logistics audits (with an auditor registered in the Slovak Audit Chamber - Monika Uhrová), hypotheses were established, i.e. Optimization for selected logistics processes and elimination of losses.
2. The budget agreed upon by the company's shareholders for creating a new strategy - how much investment in logistics is needed.
3. Recalculate total costs for the new logistics system, based on full automation and implementation of new ICT in all areas of logistics - purchasing, storage and distribution logistics - new fully automated warehouse, online data collection.

Reviewer 4 Report

Please see attached file

Tittle: Advanced logistics strategy of the company to create sustainable development in the industrial area

Manuscript ID: sustainability-1842883

The paper tries to develop a logistics strategy for a company operating in the industrial sector. However, the results and conclusion of this study are not clear. Following comments may improve the manuscript.

• The abstract is too superficial; it is suggested to highlight the gap and novelty followed by methodology and summarized results.
• What're your assumptions in this study? How the previous literature different from this research.
• The paper needs an extensive literature review and highlights the research gap before going to develop the proposed strategy.
• The manuscript contains excessive theory, and I cannot find any link with the proposed research. Only the most relevant literature may be added to the manuscript.
• The methodology section needs improvement, a proper flow may improve the readability.
• Why and how Hypothesis (H0) and (H1) at line 395 is developed? Needs strong theoretical background.
• The results section also needs further discussion.
• How Figures 11 and 12 are generated? It is not clear how these cost and performance indicators will be generated and how they may affect the logistics strategies.
• Before Heading 3.5.3 I cannot find any discussion and relationship between Industry 4.0 with logistics strategies. It creates confusion for readers.
• In my opinion, the manuscript needs a rewrite to consider the smooth flow research methodology. It may start from problem identification to research method development and implementation.
• The conclusion also needs improvement. The results may only be discussed in the result section. The conclusion highlights the summary of results, limitations of work, and future work.
• The manuscript contains some typesetting and grammatical mistakes. I suggest checking it carefully before the resubmission.

Author Response

Dear reviewer,

on behalf of my co-authors, we thank you very much for giving us an opportunity to revise our manuscript, we appreciate you very much for your positive and constructive comments and suggestions on our manuscript entitled “Advanced logistics strategy of the company to create sustainable development in the industrial area” (ID: sustainability-1860874). We would like to express our great appreciation to you for your comments on our paper.

Reviewer´s comment 1:   The paper tries to develop a logistics strategy for a company operating in the industrial sector. However, the results and conclusion of this study are not clear. Following comments may improve the manuscript.

• The abstract is too superficial; it is suggested to highlight the gap and novelty followed by methodology and summarized results.

Author´s answer: Dear reviewer, thank you very much for your comment. We tried to upgrade the abstract as you recommended and also highlighted the research gap. We have made revisions which are marked in yellow colour. We added a research gap to the introduction - the problem that has not been answered by any of the existing studies or research within our field is that this methodology was developed because, based on the study of the literature from various authors (we added the literature to the text of the article), we found that such a sequence of steps for the creation of a logistics strategy is not found in the literature, and in practice, we encounter an ever-increasing interest in the design of a logistics strategy.

• Reviewer´s comment 2: What're your assumptions in this study? How the previous literature different from this research.

Author´s answer: Dear reviewer, thank you very much for your comment. We update the literature in the paper. On the basis of personal consultations in companies and logistics audits (with an auditor registered in the Slovak Audit Chamber), hypotheses were established, i.e. Optimization for selected logistics processes and elimination of losses.

• Reviewer´s comment 3: The paper needs an extensive literature review and highlights the research gap before going to develop the proposed strategy.

Author´s answer: Dear reviewer, thank you very much for your comment. We added a research gap to the introduction - the problem that has not been answered by any of the existing studies or research within our field is that this methodology was developed because, based on the study of the literature from various authors (we added the literature to the text of the article), we found that such a sequence of steps for the creation of a logistics strategy is not found in the literature, and in practice, we encounter an ever-increasing interest in the design of a logistics strategy.

• Reviewer´s comment 4: The manuscript contains excessive theory, and I cannot find any link with the proposed research. Only the most relevant literature may be added to the manuscript.

Author´s answer: Dear reviewer, thank you very much for your comment. We added most relevant literature and our research also follows works of authors PERNICA, KRAJČOVIČ, KRÁLIK, etc. where it is highlighted that technological development is in fast progress and therefore enterprises must think about which technologies to include to their strategies.

• Reviewer´s comment 5:   The methodology section needs improvement, a proper flow may improve the readability.

Author´s answer: Dear reviewer, thank you very much for your comment. We tried to improve the readability of the methodology section.

• Reviewer´s comment 6: Why and how Hypothesis (H0) and (H1) at line 395 is developed? Needs strong theoretical background.

Author´s answer: Dear reviewer, thank you very much for your comment. Hypotheses were determined on the basis of projects solved in practice to reduce logistics costs and from specific ones published in magazines and books. All needed and important information has been gained by studying Slovak and foreign literature, case studies and pilot survey.

• Reviewer´s comment 7: The results section also needs further discussion.

Author´s answer: Dear reviewer, thank you very much for your comment. We tried to improve the discussion.

• Reviewer´s comment 8: How Figures 11 and 12 are generated? It is not clear how these cost and performance indicators will be generated and how they may affect the logistics strategies.

Author´s answer: Dear reviewer, thank you very much for your comment. It was based on the lowest level of monitoring process costs for the purpose of reducing losses, which are linked to inventory costs. Those costs were then divided into purchase costs, production logistics costs and distribution logistics costs. The sum of these costs gives us the total logistics costs. Logistics costs for individual processes and from these the total logistics costs are formed. The overall logistics costs should have a downward trend. The same applies to the evaluation of logistics performance (Fig. 12). Logistics performance should have an increasing trend. Based on this, it can be determined whether the logistics strategy is correct. These indicators will be used for logistics control so that we can monitor the development of the new logistics strategy.

• Reviewer´s comment 9: Before Heading 3.5.3 I cannot find any discussion and relationship between Industry 4.0 with logistics strategies. It creates confusion for readers.

Author´s answer: Dear reviewer, thank you very much for your comment. Part of Industry 4.0 is also the creation of a new logistics strategy taking into account new technologies for Logistics 4.0. Other information about this logistics development is shown in Figure 13.

• Reviewer´s comment 10: In my opinion, the manuscript needs a rewrite to consider the smooth flow research methodology. It may start from problem identification to research method development and implementation.

Author´s answer: Dear reviewer, thank you very much for your comment. We added empirical testing (4.1 Verification of the methodology). We have made revisions which are marked in yellow colour.

Based on a review of the literature and methods for optimizing purchasing, production, distribution and storage, methods for creating a logistics strategy were selected.

We considered the following three options during the verification:

1. On the basis of personal consultations in companies and logistics audits (with an auditor registered in the Slovak Audit Chamber - Monika Uhrová), hypotheses were established, i.e. Optimization for selected logistics processes and elimination of losses.
2. The budget agreed upon by the company's shareholders for creating a new strategy - how much investment in logistics is needed.
3. Recalculate total costs for the new logistics system, based on full automation and implementation of new ICT in all areas of logistics - purchasing, storage and distribution logistics - new fully automated warehouse, online data collection.

Value stream mapping was also carried out, based on which variants of the new logistics strategy were made.

• Reviewer´s comment 11: The conclusion also needs improvement. The results may only be discussed in the result section. The conclusion highlights the summary of results, limitations of work, and future work.

Author´s answer: Dear reviewer, thank you very much for your comment. We tried to improve the conclusion.

• Reviewer´s comment 12: The manuscript contains some typesetting and grammatical mistakes. I suggest checking it carefully before the resubmission.

Author´s answer: Dear reviewer, thank you very much for your comment. We tried to improve the typesetting and corrected mistakes.

Reviewer 5 Report

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to review the manuscript titled, “Advanced logistics strategy of the company to create sustainable development in the industrial area” I find that this work has several shortcomings. I have my concerns regarding its consistency & method. My concern is that industrial area are different (for example Low, Medium, and Large scale with sector wise), how mapping is done?. Below you can find my comments in detail. My hope is that my comments be useful for your endeavor

1)    About the title, it is hard to capture the key issue of the article. It is suggested to be include some key research question of this article.

2)    Reevaluate the abstract, for example the line mentioned “the paper deals with creating a logistics strategy for a company operating in the industrial sector.” Which type of industries? The line mentioned “The second chapter analyses the current state of the art in logistics strategy development and summarizes its problem areas” not make a proper sense for explanation.

3)    Introduction section, I do believe that you need to motivate more your paper, i.e., justify what will be its value-added. For example, line mentioned “Today, more than ever, it is necessary to ensure that a company can react flexibly to the rapid changes taking place in the marketplace”. This is not correct explanation. What about the figure 2, the attributes are not clear. As of now 14 paragraphs explained reduce the paragraphs, its content changes quickly from the general introduction to strategic management. This highlights that the authors clearly failed to connect their study with existing research. In so doing, the paper doesn't seem to engage with existing knowledge. You should update the review with more recent studies [a major issue].

4)    Methodology section not sufficiently, I have concerns related to the transparency of the data collection, on which criteria objectives define: There is no such table for industry type and categories. I didn’t understand the utility of adding figure 4. In section 2.2 different points are mentioned, what is flow of the content? Again figure 7 not clear. As of now, it seems to rather complicate the paper.

5)    The result and discussion are not clear. The objective is to make it easier for further scholars to understand what has been done and what needs to be done. In this sense, I do not think that your paper maps and classifies.

As summarized in your short conclusion, your paper does not really provide clear contributions. Your conclusion not sufficient of what you did. Indeed, I invite you to really think about your results. As of now, it seems to rather complicate the paper.

Overall, I do think the paper might need to improve the consistency to maintain the quality of the journal.

All the best!

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Dear reviewer,

on behalf of my co-authors, we thank you very much for giving us an opportunity to revise our manuscript, we appreciate you very much for your positive and constructive comments and suggestions on our manuscript entitled “Advanced logistics strategy of the company to create sustainable development in the industrial area” (ID: sustainability-1860874). We would like to express our great appreciation to you for your comments on our paper. We have made revisions which are marked in yellow colour. We have made revisions which are marked in yellow colour.

Reviewer´s comment 1:   Thank you for giving me the opportunity to review the manuscript titled, “Advanced logistics strategy of the company to create sustainable development in the industrial area” I find that this work has several shortcomings. I have my concerns regarding its consistency & method. My concern is that industrial area are different (for example Low, Medium, and Large scale with sector wise), how mapping is done? Below you can find my comments in detail. My hope is that my comments be useful for your endeavor.

Author´s answer: Dear reviewer, thank you very much for your comment. The Value stream mapping method was implemented, based on which variants of the new logistics strategy were made. We added a new research method - analysis and evaluation of the results that we obtained on the basis of specific successfully solved scientific projects in the period from 2000 - until now, for example, projects of:

• SRDA - Slovak research and development agency,
• VEGA - The Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic,
• operational research, etc.

with a focus on reducing logistics costs and from specific outputs published in magazines and books.

Each area of logistics has its own methods. It uses methods when solving specific problems - specialists from individual departments. We used analysis and synthesis methods, mathematical methods, graph theory, simulation and forecasting.

Reviewer´s comment 2:   About the title, it is hard to capture the key issue of the article. It is suggested to be include some key research question of this article.

Author´s answer: Dear reviewer, thank you very much for your comment. We tried to upgrade the abstract and in the abstract, we tried to capture the key issue of our paper. We have made revisions which are marked in yellow colour.

Reviewer´s comment 3:   Reevaluate the abstract, for example the line mentioned “the paper deals with creating a logistics strategy for a company operating in the industrial sector.” Which type of industries? The line mentioned “The second chapter analyses the current state of the art in logistics strategy development and summarizes its problem areas” not make a proper sense for explanation.

Author´s answer: Dear reviewer, thank you very much for your comment. Dear reviewer, thank you very much for your comment. We tried to upgrade the abstract. We have made revisions which are marked in yellow colour. We tried to create a general methodology for different types of industry.

Reviewer´s comment 4:    Introduction section, I do believe that you need to motivate more your paper, i.e., justify what will be its value-added. For example, line mentioned “Today, more than ever, it is necessary to ensure that a company can react flexibly to the rapid changes taking place in the marketplace”. This is not correct explanation. What about the figure 2, the attributes are not clear. As of now 14 paragraphs explained reduce the paragraphs, its content changes quickly from the general introduction to strategic management. This highlights that the authors clearly failed to connect their study with existing research. In so doing, the paper doesn't seem to engage with existing knowledge. You should update the review with more recent studies [a major issue].

Author´s answer: Dear reviewer, thank you very much for your comment. The added value is the methodology for reducing the total logistics costs of the company's logistics system and increasing the performance of the overall logistics system. Figure 2 shows that the creation of a logistics strategy is based on the requirements of a new business strategy and a new production program with a view of 5-8 years.

Reviewer´s comment 5:   Methodology section not sufficiently, I have concerns related to the transparency of the data collection, on which criteria objectives define: There is no such table for industry type and categories. I didn’t understand the utility of adding figure 4. In section 2.2 different points are mentioned, what is flow of the content? Again figure 7 not clear. As of now, it seems to rather complicate the paper.

Author´s answer: Dear reviewer, thank you very much for your comment. Fig. 4 we present for the needs - we verified what sample we need to define the hypotheses for the analysis of the current state. Whether our sample meets the given assumption. From the verification, we received that they received that we need min. 96 respondents and we reached 98 respondents.

The logistics strategy is created for a period of min. 5 years. Figure 7 shows the forecasting of the production program for the given period, the P-Q diagram serves us to select the representatives on which the VSM will be performed.

Reviewer´s comment 6:  The result and discussion are not clear. The objective is to make it easier for further scholars to understand what has been done and what needs to be done. In this sense, I do not think that your paper maps and classifies As summarized in your short conclusion, your paper does not really provide clear contributions. Your conclusion not sufficient of what you did. Indeed, I invite you to really think about your results. As of now, it seems to rather complicate the paper. Overall, I do think the paper might need to improve the consistency to maintain the quality of the journal. All the best

Author´s answer: Dear reviewer, thank you very much for your comment. We tried to improve the discussion and the conclusion. We have made revisions which are marked in yellow colour.

Reviewer 6 Report

In the abstract there is an extra and in the description of the methodology. There are abbreviations in the text that are not common in specialized literature and that need to be explained. For example, VZV, STEEPLED, PESTLE, DIFOT, etc.

In figure 9 and figure 10, an explanation is also needed as to what the orange arrow represents.

In figure 11 and 12, the graphs are very small and cannot be concretely identified (they are illegible). Another approach should be considered.

Author Response

Dear reviewer,

on behalf of my co-authors, we thank you very much for giving us an opportunity to revise our manuscript, we appreciate you very much for your positive and constructive comments and suggestions on our manuscript entitled “Advanced logistics strategy of the company to create sustainable development in the industrial area” (ID: sustainability-1860874). We would like to express our great appreciation to you for your comments on our paper. We have made revisions which are marked in yellow colour.

Reviewer´s comment 1:  n the abstract there is an extra and in the description of the methodology. There are abbreviations in the text that are not common in specialized literature and that need to be explained. For example, VZV, STEEPLED, PESTLE, DIFOT, etc.

Author´s answer: Dear reviewer, thank you very much for your comment. We tried to upgrade the abstract as you recommended and highlighted the research gap. We added a research gap to the introduction - the problem that has not been answered by any of the existing studies or research within our field is that this methodology was developed because, based on the study of the literature from various authors (we added the literature to the text of the article), we found that such a sequence of steps for the creation of a logistics strategy is not found in the literature, and in practice, we encounter an ever-increasing interest in the creation of a logistics strategy.

We have made revisions which are marked in yellow colour. Thank you also for your comment, we added abbreviations to the text:

• VZV – we corrected this Slovak abbreviation to – FL – Forklift truck,
• STEEPLED – analysis of the key external factors Social, Technological, Economic, Environmental, Political, Legal, Ethical, Demographics
• PESTLE – analysis of the key external factors (Political, Economic, Sociological, Technological, Legal and Environmental) that influence an organisation that influence an organisation.
• DIFOT - Delivered In-Full, On-Time.

Reviewer´s comment 2:  In figure 9 and figure 10, an explanation is also needed as to what the orange arrow represents.

Author´s answer: Dear reviewer, thank you very much for your comment.

It is mainly used for a custom, one-piece or small-batch production. The orange arrow (fig. 9 and fig. 10.) shows the information flow, the green material flow and the mode of transport, whether external or internal.

Reviewer´s comment 3:  In Figures 11 and 12, the graphs are very small and cannot be concretely identified (they are illegible). Another approach should be considered.

Author´s answer: Dear reviewer, thank you very much for your comment. Graphs in fig. 11 and fig. 12 are illustrative and do not consider real data. The figure shows that individual indicators need to be visualized for individual departments of corporate logistics.

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

The authors have made efforts in revision of the manuscript. However, the revised manuscript is still not satisfactory. My concerns about this work still remain, especially on the limited novel contribution, and vague data and methodology.

Author Response

Dear reviewer,

on behalf of my co-authors, we thank you very much for giving us an opportunity to revise our manuscript, we appreciate you very much for your positive and constructive comments and suggestions on our manuscript entitled “Advanced logistics strategy of the company to create sustainable development in the industrial area” (ID: sustainability-1860874). We would like to express our great appreciation to you for your comments on our paper. We have made revisions which are marked in yellow colour. There are our answers to your comments and suggestions:

Reviewer´s comment 1:   The authors have made efforts in revision of the manuscript. However, the revised manuscript is still not satisfactory. My concerns about this work still remain, especially on the limited novel contribution, and vague data and methodology.

Author´s answer: Dear reviewer, thank you very much. We are very grateful for your kind and polite appreciation of our work. Thank you for your arduous work and instructive advice. We have added a summary of the practical benefits of our work: 

• The use of the methodology for precise and unambiguous logistics target setting based on the analysis of the external and internal environment.
• Use of the methodology for the formulation of logistics strategy variants that meet the specified requirements and the selection of a suitable variant using the means of the digital enterprise to verify feasibility.
• Use of the methodology for the implementation, evaluation and control of the logistics strategy.
• Use of the results of the conducted survey for comparison with other enterprises in Slovakia.
• The developed logistics strategy offers enterprises a comprehensive methodology on the basis of which they can optimize all logistics processes.
• The methodology was verified in a medium-sized enterprise and a large enterprise. All steps of the methodology have been implemented.

Due to the possible number of pages to be published, it was not possible to describe the methodology in detail in the paper. The paper outlined a process that must not be forgotten in order to design an effective logistics strategy. Each step of the methodology was elaborated in detail. The entire methodology is extensive and its scope is for a book publication.

The entire methodology has been validated in a medium and large enterprises. In designing the logistics strategy, the process of appointing the project team is described in detail, followed by the objectives. The greatest contribution is in the analysis of the internal and external environment.  It concentrates on defining losses, which have an impact on costs in logistics processes. After the analysis, corrective actions must be taken to eliminate losses without investment. Constraints such as COVID, the war in Ukraine and the energy crisis have to be taken into account and only then can we design logistics strategy options.

 The whole methodology was implemented in medium and large enterprises. The data is vague due to the fact that the companies did not allow us to publish and publicize their projects. We were there as external consultants and managed the project team according to the published methodology.

We based the methodology on a model and sequence of steps:

• Preparatory phase.
• Analytical phase.
• Logistics strategy formulation phase.
• Logistics strategy implementation phase.
• Evaluation and control phase.

We have also added future visions:

First and foremost is the aforementioned Industry 4.0 trend, which is currently emerging in various forms. Today we already know terms like Logistics 4.0, Quality 4.0, and Maintenance 4.0. A sign of the change towards Industry 4.0 is the increasing importance of the interconnection of IT systems embedded in production and logistics processes, not only with each other but also with the Internet in general. Alongside the ever-faster and wider development of automation and integration in the industry comes the creation of more and more intelligent monitoring and control technologies that companies can use to manage and optimize the entire value chain network in virtually real-time. At the imaginary end of this development is the implementation of fully autonomous decision-making processes in manufacturing and transportation. Various web-based applications are being developed that enable a whole new level of interactivity between the stakeholders involved. A huge data flow is expected, which requires a major reorganization of the IT infrastructure. In addition to the quantitative and qualitative expansion of data, the field of data logistics is confronted with another highly complex and currently much-debated challenge: how to ensure complete data protection. In addition to ensuring that authorized users have access to the data, maintaining confidentiality plays a key role in particular. Consequently, the development and implementation of extensive security concepts and standards must be addressed.
Another topical issue is external logistics, i.e. transport between different parts of supply chains. In this area, there is a need to focus on environmental issues, sustainability, and new transport methods such as drone transport currently being developed. At a time when production is growing and ever smaller batches are being transported, the production and distribution side is essentially dependent on the efficiency and flexibility of transport logistics. The vision of the fourth industrial revolution in general can become a reality if, first and foremost, logistics can guarantee that raw materials, primary products and products ready for shipment are in the right place at the right time.

Reviewer 5 Report

Comments

I have thoroughly read the R1 manuscript title “Advanced logistics strategy of the company to create sustainable development in the industrial area” incorporated the changes. I think now it is up to mark with some minor changes to meet the quality of the journal. In this sense, I have my concerns regarding its consistency and flow hence significant changes need to be made to bring the paper at the level of publication

1)     In introduction section there is number of paragraphs (21), reduce the paragraph and link to them. In figure 2 clear the attributes and variables.

2)     Update the section 2.2 in tabular format

3)     Correct the sentence “The average number of enterprises is classified by economic activities (SK NACE Rev. 2) in category C, Industrial production.

Overall, I do think that improve the flow and consistency of manuscript.

All the best!

I hope that my comments will help to improve this manuscript’s impact, quality, and readability

Author Response

Dear reviewer,

on behalf of my co-authors, we thank you very much for giving us an opportunity to revise our manuscript, we appreciate you very much for your positive and constructive comments and suggestions on our manuscript entitled “Advanced logistics strategy of the company to create sustainable development in the industrial area” (ID: sustainability-1860874). We would like to express our great appreciation to you for your comments on our paper.

Reviewer´s comment 1:  I have thoroughly read the R1 manuscript title “Advanced logistics strategy of the company to create sustainable development in the industrial area” incorporated the changes. I think now it is up to mark with some minor changes to meet the quality of the journal. In this sense, I have my concerns regarding its consistency and flow hence significant changes need to be made to bring the paper at the level of publication

• In introduction section there is number of paragraphs (21), reduce the paragraph and link to them. In figure 2 clear the attributes and variables.

Author´s answer: Thank you very much. Yes, we agree, we reduced the paragraphs and link to them. We think that neither attributes nor variables are listed in Figure 2. Maybe you meant to add attributes and variables.

• Update the section 2.2 in tabular format

Author´s answer: Thank you very much. Yes, we agree, we updated section 2.2 in tabulator format.

• Correct the sentence “The average number of enterprises is classified by economic activities (SK NACE Rev. 2) in category C, Industrial production.

Author´s answer: Thank you for your valuable comment. Yes, we agree. We corrected and added the meaning of SK NACE (The average number of enterprises is classified by economic activities (SK NACE Rev. 2 - The Statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community, abbreviated as NACE, is the classification of economic activities in the European Union (EU).

Overall, I do think that improves the flow and consistency of the manuscript.

All the best!

I hope that my comments will help to improve this manuscript’s impact, quality, and readability.