DEFINITION:

The management of business operations, such as the acquisition, storage, transportation and delivery of goods along the supply chain.

MEANING:

Logistics is the management of the flow of goods, information and other resources, including energy and people, between the point of origin and the point of consumption in order to meet the requirements of consumers (frequently, and originally, military organizations). Logistics involves the integration of information, transportation, inventory, warehousing, material-handling, and packaging, and occasionally security. Logistics is a channel of the supply chain which adds the value of time and place utility.

Military logistics:

ILS Integrated Logistics Support is a discipline used in military industries to ensure an easy supportable system with a robust customer service (logistic) concept at the lowest cost and in line with (often high) reliability, availability, maintainability and other requirements as defined for the project.

In

military logistics, logistics officers manage how and when to move resources to the places they are needed. In military science, maintaining one's supply lines while disrupting those of the enemy is a crucial—some would say the most crucial—element of military strategy, since an armed force without resources and transportation is defenseless.

The defeat of the British in the American War of Independence, and the defeat of

Erwin Rommel in World War II, have been largely attributed to logistical failure.[citation needed] The historical leaders Hannibal Barca, Alexander the Great, and the Duke of Wellington are considered to have been logistical geniuses.
Another field within logistics is called Medical logistics.

Business logistics:

Logistics as a business concept evolved only in the 1950s. This was mainly due to the increasing complexity of supplying one's business with materials and shipping out products in an increasingly globalized supply chain, calling for experts in the field who are called Supply Chain Logisticians.

This can be defined as having the right item in the right quantity at the right time at the right place for the right price in the right condition to the right customer and is the science of process and incorporates all industry sectors. The goal of logistics work is to manage the fruition of project life cycles, supply chains and resultant efficiencies.

In business, logistics may have either internal focus (inbound logistics), or external focus (outbound logistics) covering the flow and storage of materials from point of origin to point of consumption (see

supply chain management). The main functions of a qualified logistician include inventory management, purchasing, transportation, warehousing, consultation and the organizing and planning of these activities.

Logisticians combine a professional knowledge of each of these functions so that there is a coordination of resources in an organization. There are two fundamentally different forms of logistics. One optimizes a steady flow of material through a network of transport links and storage nodes. The other coordinates a sequence of resources to carry out some project.

Production logistics:

The term is used for describing logistic processes within an industry. The purpose of production logistics is to ensure that each machine and workstation is being fed with the right product in the right quantity and quality at the right point in time.

The issue is not the transportation itself, but to streamline and control the flow through the value adding processes and eliminate non-value adding ones. Production logistics can be applied in existing as well as new plants.

Manufacturing in an existing plant is a constantly changing process. Machines are exchanged and new ones added, which gives the opportunity to improve the production logistics system accordingly. Production logistics provides the means to achieve customer response and capital efficiency.

Production logistics is getting more and more important with the decreasing batch sizes. In many industries (e.g. mobile phone) batch size one is the short term aim. This way even a single customer demand can be fulfilled in an efficient way. Track and tracing, which is an essential part of production logistics - due to product safety and product reliability issues - is also gaining importance especially in the automotive and the medical industry.

Record-breaking Logistics :

Transport Exhibition, 6-9 May, 2009 Helsinki Fair Centre, FinlandThe Logistics Transport exhibition on 6th-9th May, 2009 will attract leading logistics and transport professionals to the Helsinki Fair Centre. Arranged for the 18th time, the exhibition is the biggest and most comprehensive event in this sector in Finland and its neighbouring regions. The exhibition features the most recent service and product innovations designed to meet today's challenges in energy efficiency, safety, computer technology and customer service.

The previous exhibition in 2006 attracted a total of about 45 000 visitors, with a total exhibition area of 30 000 square metres and 324 exhibitors. The 2009 Logistics Transport exhibition will be arranged by the Finnish Fair Corporation, commissioned by the The Finnish Association of Purchasing and Logistics and Finnish Transport and Logistics SKAL.