The Logistics Handbook

Over time, the profession of supply chain management has evolved to meet the changing needs of the global supply chain. According to the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP)— “Supply chain management encompasses the planning and management of all activities involved in sourcing and procurement…and all logistics management activities. Importantly, it also includes coordination and collaboration with channel partners, which can be suppliers, intermediaries, third party service providers, and customers. In essence, supply chain management integrates supply and demand management within and across companies.” T he CSCMP also defines logistics management as— “[The] part of supply chain management that plans, implements, and controls the efficient, effective forward and reverses flow and storage of goods, services and related information between the point of origin and the point of consumption in order to meet customers’ requirement… Logistics management is an integrating function, which coordinates and optimizes all logistics activities, as well as integrates logistics activities with other functions including marketing, sales manufacturing, finance, and information technology.” (CSCMP 2011) � In other words, you can consider logistics activities as the operational component of supply chain management, including quantification, procurement, inventory management, transportation and f leet management, and data collection and reporting. Supply chain management includes the logistics activities plus the coordination and collaboration of staff, levels, and functions. The supply chain includes global manufacturers and supply and demand dynamics, but logistics tends to focus more on specific tasks within a particular program health system. T his handbook focuses on specific logistics activities that are undertaken within the context of an integrated supply chain model. This model promotes collaboration and seamless linkages between the activities, levels and people responsible for managing the supply chain. Note that throughout the handbook, we use the terms logistics and supply chain interchangeably.