It is not possible for a materials manager to keep track of all the items, except by using some modern management techniques. In practice, it has been found that normally a few items account for the bulk of the total annual consumption value of materials. The manager concerned uses this principle and segregates items into different categories such as A, B and C depending on his company's needs. Globally the Express Industry where perfect infrastructure exists is growing at an average of 18 per cent per annum. The courier industry is characterised by a high number of unorganised players and the market is highly segmented.
Segmentation is done based on value of the consignment, domestic and international business.
Ofcourse at the intra-city delivery level, the market is big for many players. However the strength of the key players lies mainly in deeper penetration and in supporting their respective customers for their international distribution. Thus there is a wide gap between the major players and the thousands of other smaller players. The issues that now confront those in the transport and logistics sectors as information technology plays an increasingly crucial role in these sectors are. The adoption of new approaches will be so demand-led that each system, no matter whether local or national and however idiosyncratic, will have to become aligned.