Logistics: Definition and Context

Researching the original meaning of the word Logistics, reveals the original Greek word “Logistikos”, which is translated as “the ability to calculate”. In its Latin version, “Logisticus”, means “a person that can calculate”.

This leads to the work "Logic" in it English use, and underlie the origins of what today is known as a “Mathematician”. Against these fundamentals, Logistics is an applied profession of mathematics. Logistics as a concept evolved from the military's need to supply the battlefield as they moved from their base to a forward position. In ancient Greek, Roman and Byzantine empires, there were military officers with the title “Logistikas” who were responsible for financial and supply distribution matters.

Logistics as a business concept evolved only in the 1950s. This was mainly due to the increasing complexity of supplying business with materials and distributing products to an increasingly globalised customer base. It required experts in the field, called Logisticians. From the business context, the term Business Logistics emerged. fundamentally, however, it is concerned with the Availibility of goods, products, services and information.

With the increasing sophistication and complexity of engineering systems and equipment, the late 60’s, early 70’s, saw an increased development of Logistics as an engineering concept. The area of Engineering Logistics has evolved to become a significant dimension of the Logistics Profession and today forms an integral part of systems design, development, deployment and indeed decommissioning.

To a certain extent, the two dimensions of the Logistics Profession have, evolved as separate study areas. Only relatively recently these were recognised as fundamental to a fully integrated approach to Logistics.

Particularly in the Australian context, the focus on Logistics seems to have been on the physical availability of products i.e. Materials management, Physical Distribution, Business Logistics and Supply Chain Management. The area of Engineering Logistics, which focuses on operational availability, is neglected.

Within the above definitional context and views on availability of goods, products, services and/or information in the market, Logistics can be implemented on three levels in the organisation.

1. The Strategic Level
2. The Functional Level
3. The Operational Level

The systems view of Logistics is set out in this Table.

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Last updated Tuesday May 22nd, 2007 by Pieter Nagel