Definitions
Council of Logistics Management (1991) defined that logistics is ‘part of the supply chain process that plans, implements, and controls the efficient, effective forward and reverse flow and storage of goods, services, and related information between the point of origin and the point of consumption in order to meet customers’ requirements’.
Logistics describes the entire process of materials and products moving into, through, and out of firm. Inbound logistics covers the movement of material received from suppliers. Materials management describes the movement of materials and components within a firm. Physical distribution refers to the movement of goods outward from the end of the assembly line to the customer. Finally, supply-chain management is somewhat larger than logistics, and it links logistics more directly with the user’s total communications network and with the firm’s engineering staff.
Components of Logistics System
Logistics services comprise physical activities (e.g. transport, storage) as well as non-physical activities (e.g. supply chain design, selection of contractors, freightage negotiations). Most activities of logistics services are bi-direction. Information systems include modelling and management of decision making, and more important issues are tracking and tracing. It provides essential data and consultation in each step of the interaction among logistics services and the target stations. Infrastructure comprises human resources, financial resources, packaging materials, warehouses, transport and communications. Most fixed capital is for building those infrastructures. They are concrete foundations and basements within logistics systems.
Logistics describes the entire process of materials and products moving into, through, and out of firm. Inbound logistics covers the movement of material received from suppliers. Materials management describes the movement of materials and components within a firm. Physical distribution refers to the movement of goods outward from the end of the assembly line to the customer. Finally, supply-chain management is somewhat larger than logistics, and it links logistics more directly with the user’s total communications network and with the firm’s engineering staff.
Components of Logistics System
Logistics services comprise physical activities (e.g. transport, storage) as well as non-physical activities (e.g. supply chain design, selection of contractors, freightage negotiations). Most activities of logistics services are bi-direction. Information systems include modelling and management of decision making, and more important issues are tracking and tracing. It provides essential data and consultation in each step of the interaction among logistics services and the target stations. Infrastructure comprises human resources, financial resources, packaging materials, warehouses, transport and communications. Most fixed capital is for building those infrastructures. They are concrete foundations and basements within logistics systems.
History and Advancement of Logistics
Logistics was initially a military activity concerned with getting soldiers and munitions to the battlefront in time for flight, but it is now seen as an integral part of the modern production process. The main background of its development is that the recession of America in the
Logistics was initially a military activity concerned with getting soldiers and munitions to the battlefront in time for flight, but it is now seen as an integral part of the modern production process. The main background of its development is that the recession of America in the
1950s caused the industrial to place importance on goods circulations. The term, logistics, was initially developed in the context of military activities in the late 18th and early 19th centuries and it launched from the military logistics of World War II. The probable origin of the term is the Greek logistikos, meaning ‘skilled in calculating’. (BTRE, 2001) Military definitions typically incorporate the supply, movement and quartering of troops in a set. And now, a number of researches were taken and made logistics applications from military activities to business activities.
Before the 1950s, logistics was under the dormant condition. Production was the main part of the managers concerned, and industry logistics was once regarded as “necessary evil” in this period. During the 1950s to and 1960s, applying new ideas of administration on business was a tendency. Drucker (2001), who thought Logistics was The Economy’s Dark Continent, regarded the procedure of physical distribution after producing products as the most possible development area in American businesses but also the most neglected area. Lewis’s study (cited in Chang, 1998) in 1956 on the role of air transportation in physical distribution was the application of “total cost concept” and it pointed out the notions of trade-off between inventory and transportation. From the 1970s onwards, more and more applications and researches of logistics appeared. Due to petroleum price rise in 1973, the effects of logistics activities on enterprises grew. Slow growth of market, pressure of high stagflation, release of transportation control, and competitions of the third world on products and materials all increased the significance of logistics system on planning and business at that time.
The further tendency of logistics in the early 21st century is logistics alliance, Third Party Logistics (TPL) and globalised logistics. Logistics circulation is an essential of business activities and sustaining competitiveness, however, to conduct and manage a large company is cost consuming and not economic. Therefore, alliance of international industries could save working costs and cooperation with TPL could specialize in logistics area.
Before the 1950s, logistics was under the dormant condition. Production was the main part of the managers concerned, and industry logistics was once regarded as “necessary evil” in this period. During the 1950s to and 1960s, applying new ideas of administration on business was a tendency. Drucker (2001), who thought Logistics was The Economy’s Dark Continent, regarded the procedure of physical distribution after producing products as the most possible development area in American businesses but also the most neglected area. Lewis’s study (cited in Chang, 1998) in 1956 on the role of air transportation in physical distribution was the application of “total cost concept” and it pointed out the notions of trade-off between inventory and transportation. From the 1970s onwards, more and more applications and researches of logistics appeared. Due to petroleum price rise in 1973, the effects of logistics activities on enterprises grew. Slow growth of market, pressure of high stagflation, release of transportation control, and competitions of the third world on products and materials all increased the significance of logistics system on planning and business at that time.
The further tendency of logistics in the early 21st century is logistics alliance, Third Party Logistics (TPL) and globalised logistics. Logistics circulation is an essential of business activities and sustaining competitiveness, however, to conduct and manage a large company is cost consuming and not economic. Therefore, alliance of international industries could save working costs and cooperation with TPL could specialize in logistics area.
