What is Logistics?

Logistics is a unique global pipeline that operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 52 weeks a year, planning and coordinating the transport and delivery of products and service to customers the world over.

Coming into being with the advent of civilization, logistics is anything but a newborn baby. However, when it comes to modern logistics, most professionals in the business consider it one of the most challenging and exciting jobs, invisible as it is.

Modern logistics is related to the effective and efficient flow of materials and information that are of vital importance to customers and clients in various sectors of the economic society, which may include but by no means is limited to

Packaging Warehousing Material handling Inventory Transport Forecasting Strategic Planning and Customer service

Packaging is the outer wrapping of a product. It is the intended purpose of the packaging to make a product readily sellable as well as to protect it against damage and prevent it from deterioration when in stock. Furthermore, packaging is often the most relevant element of a trade mark and conduces to advertising or communication.

Warehousing is sometimes needed, and can be provided, to complement inbound and outbound transportation services. There are 4 distinct types of warehousing available, depending upon load content: for finished goods: for raw materials: for consumer fulfillment: and for vendor-managed in inventory VMI.

Material handling is any kind of methods for moving material. Material can be moved directly by people lifting the items or using hand carts, slings, and other handling accessories (manual lifting and handling). Material can also be moved by people using machines such as cranes, forklift trucks, and other lifting fixtures (mechanical lifting).

Inventory is a detailed list of all the items in stock, such a s company’s merchandise, raw materials, and finished and unfinished products which have not yet been sold.

Transport is the movement of people, goods, signals and information from one place to another. Forecasting is to estimate the likelihood of an event taking place in the future, based on available data from the past.
Strategic planning is planning which focuses on longer range objectives and goals. It is essentially direction-setting and often focuses on new products and new markets.

Customer service is the set of behaviors that a business undertakes during its interaction with its customers. It can also refer to a specific person or desk which is set up to provide general assistance to customers.

A systematic definition of logistics is supplied by the council of logistics management: “logistics is that part of the supply chain process that plans, implements and controls the efficient, effective flow and storage of goods, service and related information from the point of origin to the point of consumption to meet customers’ requirements”. Although this definition fails to incorporate all specific terms used in the study of logistics, it does reflect the need for total movement management from point of material procurement to location of finished product distribution.

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