Growing World of Logistics

Air Force Journal of Logistics, Winter, 2000 by Stephen Hays Russell

Logistics is customer service, relates to developing capabilities and managing activities that focus on meeting support needs, and involves logic and calculations.

Does the term logistics have a precise meaning, or does it simply describe an umbrella concept for a variety of supply-related processes? Do root concepts exist in all contexts in which the term is employed? Is there a general theory of logistics? And what about supply chain management? Is it a new practice, or is it old-fashioned logistics?

In addressing these and related issues, this article examines the origins and applications of the term logistics, presents a new paradigm of logistics in practice, and suggests the appropriate framework of thinking for all logistics practices; that is, a general theory of logistics.

The Term Logistics

The English word logistics appears to have been derived from both the Greek word logistikos and the French word logistique. Logistikos is rooted in the concept of logic and means skilled in calculation. Logistique is probably influenced by the French loger meaning to quarter (or lodge) soldiers. Hence, the combination of logic, calculation, and quartering soldiers appears to have yielded the word.

The term logistics entered military terminology in 18th century Europe. The marechal des logis was the administrative officer responsible for encamping and quartering troops. As warfare became more advanced with an increasing variety of weapons and ammunition, the marechal des logis' duties were expanded to include the stocking of supply depots. [1]

The term was first employed in a formal sense in the American lexicon in the late 19th century when Rear Admiral Alfred T. Mahan, American naval strategist, introduced the word logistics into the US Navy. [2] The term received a written definition in 1905 as that branch of the art of war pertaining to the movement and supply of armies. [3] But it was not until World War II that the term began to be used pervasively to describe the support of military forces and their equipment.

Beginning in the 1960s, logistical support of weapon systems became an integral part of the planning and design stages of these systems. During this period, logistics as practiced in the military grew into engineering (or systems) logistics, with an emphasis on engineering issues, calculating initial support requirements, and programming resources to keep a system operational after introduction. Engineering logistics stresses reliability and maintainability engineering, configuration management, provisioning and continuing supply support, repair level analysis, technical manuals development, training, data and records management, and life-cycle cost management. In this sense of the word, logistics is largely a modeling and quantitative discipline.

The term logistics migrated to the business sector in the 1960s as academicians in marketing saw potential in applying the principles of military logistics to physical distribution of consumer goods. [4] Business logistics evolved into a dichotomy of inbound logistics (materials management or physical supply) to support production, where the plant is the customer, and outbound logistics (physical distribution of product) to support external customers.

Most recently, the business community began viewing logistics as a component of a larger evolving concept, supply chain management (SCM). SCM is a linking of all firms up and down the supply chain (from ultimate material sources to ultimate customers) in a collaborative and seamless network. [5]

Beginning in the 1970s, the term logistics crept into the lexicon of the common culture. The word is now being used with regard to the supply support of activities from church picnics to the Olympics. During the US famine relief efforts in Bangladesh in 1974 and in Somalia in 1992 and 1993, logistics was applied to the distribution of food. [6] In recent years, the popular press has written of the logistics of waging a Presidential campaign and the logistics challenges of providing relief to victims of the floods in Honduras in 1998 and of recent hurricanes.

Definitions of Logistics

Clearly, logistics as a concept and a practice has evolved over the years and is a discipline that is now practiced in different ways and contexts. Logistics means different things to different people. Even professionals in the field differ as to what logistics actually means.

Table 1 presents a variety of definitions of logistics. To some, logistics is managing the flow and stock of materials. To others, it is a customer support activity, a planning and engineering mechanism, or a science of calculating requirements and promoting operational capabilities. The dictionary treats logistics as purely a branch of military science. The Council of Logistics Management defines logistics purely in a product distribution context. The common culture of today views logistics as the underlying details of making something happen.

Perhaps the most fundamental definition of logistics is the classical definition: getting the right product, to the right customer, in the right quantity, in the right condition, at the right place, at the right time, and at the right cost. [7]