Purpose – This paper traces the evolution of logistics and supply chain management (SCM) and projects the state of the field in the near term with the attendant challenges for those who must plan and control logistics/supply chain operations. Design/methodology/approach – Key events that...

Purpose – In logistics strategy, it is now being recognized that revenue generation is as important as cost reduction. Although it has long been known that logistics customer service has a positive effect on customer satisfaction, little research has been conducted to determine precisely the...

This article provides an overview of the practical application of modeling to the business logistics network design problem. Various location models are categorized and selected ones are illustrated that represent an example of the class and/or that have been used extensively in practice....

Visualise a company with 10,000 product items and several warehousing levels in its physical distribution channel. If this company is typical, it is not likely to stock all 10,000 items at all warehouses. But which items should be stocked at which warehouses? Fortunately, there are at least some...

Computerising inventory control procedures is usually an attempt to gain better control over stock availability. The effectiveness of the procedures depends on the time delays imparted by such events as order processing and delivery. Through these time delays, much of a finished goods physical...

Many firms experience demand from geographically dispersed customers. This demand is satisfied by mobile servers that travel to the site of the customer. To achieve this in a cost-effective manner, the firm needs to decide where to locate its service centers, which customer regions to assign to...

As the president of a large cosmetics manufacturing firm put it, “All of management's mistakes end up in inventory”. This seems to be an accurate description of the 1977 situation at Matheson Foods. Finished goods inventories had ballooned to $40 million, which represented 16 weeks demand...

The design of logistical systems historically has been responsive to the economic climate and market requirements of the times. When the cost of money rose dramatically during the 1960s, companies reacted by reducing the number of stocking points in their distribution systems. This was a proper...

Deciding where to locate stocking points and plants within a logistics network, which ports or vendor locations to use, and how the product should flow through this network are common strategic planning problems for many businesses. Management scientists have laboured for many years to create...