The Roots of Logistics

Is Logistics a science? The importance and impact of logistics as a function which is critical to the success of companies, of entire industries, and even of nations competing in the global economy, is no longer questioned today. Logistics, within a few decades, has established itself firmly as a profession, an important field of sophisticated managerial practices, and as a large, powerful industry. But in the academic world the question of its status and identity as a science is still being debated.

This volume aims to contribute to this debate in two ways:

It offers a selection of classical, in some cases hard to access original international contributions to the evolution of the field in one convenient volume of readings. As such, it should be useful to students of the field, to researchers, and to practitioners who are interested in tracing the logistical ideas and instruments they are using down to their conceptual roots.

Beyond that, by the arrangement and commentaries to the original materials, the editors are proposing their own innovative interpretation of the evolution and identity of the Science of Logistics. It is an invitation to further debate the potential and future of logistics.

Compiles key articles that would cause much effort to gather and bring together Arranges and evaluates these articles regarding their influence Draws a "roadmap" of modern logistics, depicting a modern discipline of considerable importance Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Autorentext

Prof. (em.) Peter Klaus, D.B.A./Boston Univ., held the chair of Business Logistics at Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuernberg, Germany, for nearly 20 years. He started his career in the transport industry, spent time in the United States, and headed up the Fraunhofer Center for Technologies in the Logistics Service Industries (ATL) at Nuernberg. He is Editor-in-Chief of Logistics Research, an academic journal published by Springer.

Prof. Dr. Stefanie Müller holds the chair of Logistics and Transport Management at Georg-Simon-Ohm University of Applied Sciences, Nuremberg. Besides, she cooperates with logistics service providers offering advice in costing, performance measurement, and process management. Prior to her academic career, Stefanie Müller worked for a global fowarding company for more than 15 years, dealing with operations management, network planning, sales, customer service, and other functions.

Inhalt

The roots' of logistics: Physical distribution and traffic management.-How logistics understanding evolved.- Definitions changing during four decades.- Attempts to concretize logistics as a science and to establish a theoretical framework.- Instruments, practices, and methodologies of logistics.