Previous edition published as: Business logistics management. 1999.

"International ed." -- cover.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Part I. Introduction and Strategy Overview -- Business Logistics A Vital Subject --
Logistics Strategy and Planning -- Part II. Initializing The Logistics Plan -- Defining the Logistics Product --
Logistics Customer Service --
Forecasting Logistics Requirements -- Part III. Logistics System Fundamentals -- Order Processing and the Information System --
The Transportation System Facilities and Services --
The Transportation System Rates --
The Storage and Handling System -- Part IV. Configuring The Network -- The Logistics Planning Process --
Facility Location Decisions -- Part V. Planning Logistics Activities -- Inventory Policy Decisions --
Transportation and Order Processing Decisions --
Purchasing and Production Scheduling Decisions --
Storage and Handling Decisions -- Part VI. Organization and Control -- Logistics Organization --
Logistics Audit and Control --
Selected Bibliography --
Appendices --
A Areas Under the Standardized Normal Distribution --
B Unit Normal Loss Integrals.

For undergraduate/graduate courses in Business Logistics, Physical Distribution, Operations Management, Materials Management, and Supply Chain Management, in departments of business and engineering. This comprehensive discussion is designed to help students solve the actual problems that they will encounter in the marketplace.

No book that will not improve by repeated readings deserves to be read at all. --THOMAS CARLYLE This book is about the vital subject of business logistics/ supply chain--an area of management that has been observed to absorb as much as 60 to 80 percent of a firm's sales dollar and that can be essential to a firm's competitive strategy and revenue generation. This management area has been described by many names, including physical distribution, materials management, transportation management, logistics, and now supply chain management. The business activities of concern may include all or part of the following: transportation, inventory maintenance, order processing, purchasing, warehousing, materials handling, packaging, customer service standards, and production. The focus of this book is on the planning, organizing, and controlling of these activities--key elements for successful management in any organization. Special emphasis is given to strategic planning and decision making as perhaps the most important parts of the management process. The mission of this managerial effort is to set the level of the logistics activities so as to make products and services available to customers at the time, place, and in the condition and form desired, in the most profitable or cost-effective way. Because logistics activities have always been vital to companies and organizations, the field of business logistics/ supply chain management represents a synthesis of many concepts, principles, and methods from the more traditional areas of marketing, production, accounting, purchasing, and transportation, as well as from the disciplines of applied mathematics, organizational behavior, and economics. This book attempts to unify these into a logical body of thought that can lead to the effective management of the supply chain. As with any field of management, there-are frequently changing terms to capture the methods and concepts of business logistics/ supply chain. An attempt has been made to resist following the popular press and fads, and to present the ideas, principles, and techniques that are fundamental to good business logistics practice, now and in the near future. In this spirit, the fifth edition is organized around two themes. First, the basic activities of management, namely, planning, organizing, and controlling, provide the overarching theme for the book. Second, a triangle of interrelated transportation, inventory, and location strategies are at the heart of good logistics planning and decision making. This triangle is emphasized through the text. Several trends have been noted that affect the scope and practice of business logistics/ supply chain. These have been integrated into the body of the text as application illustrations of the fundamental ideas being presented. First, emphasis is placed on logistics/ supply chain in a worldwide setting to reflect the growing internationalization and globalization of business in general. Second, the shifting toward more service-oriented economies by industrialized nations is emphasized by showing how logistics concepts and principles are equally applicable to service-producing firms as they are to product-producing ones. Third, attention is given to the integrated management of supply chain activities, as well as managing these activities among the other functional areas of business as well as across multiple enterprises. Fourth, many practical examples are given to show the applicability of the material. Fifth, computer software is provided to assist in solving logistics/supply chain problems reflecting the growing use of computer technology in managerial decision making. Over the years, so many people and companies have contributed to the ideas embodied in this fifth edition that a list of acknowledgments would be far too long to print. However, to all those students and professors around the world who were willing to comment on the previous editions, to those businesspeople who were willing to try the ideas embodied in them, and to all others who made comments of praise as well as criticism--my heartfelt thanks. A special note of gratitude goes to my wife, Carolyn, for editorial assistance and encouragement throughout this revision. Considering all of this help, any shortcomings and errors that remain must be mine. R. H. BALLOU Weatherhead School of Management Cleveland, Ohio Excerpted from Business Logistics Management by Ronald H. Ballou All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.