Scribd
Upload
84 views1 page

Greek Origins and Definitions of Logistics

The French term "logistique" is the origin of the word "logistics". Jomini originally defined logistics as "the art of well-ordering the functionings of an army, of well combining the order of troops in columns, the times of their departure, their itinerary, the means of communication necessary to assure their arrival at a named point". Logistics involves planning, implementing, and controlling procedures for the efficient transportation and storage of goods from the point of origin to the point of consumption. Academics traditionally refer to operations or production management for physical transformations within a business, reserving logistics for distribution activities related to moving products.

Uploaded by

piping stress
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
84 views1 page

Greek Origins and Definitions of Logistics

The French term "logistique" is the origin of the word "logistics". Jomini originally defined logistics as "the art of well-ordering the functionings of an army, of well combining the order of troops in columns, the times of their departure, their itinerary, the means of communication necessary to assure their arrival at a named point". Logistics involves planning, implementing, and controlling procedures for the efficient transportation and storage of goods from the point of origin to the point of consumption. Academics traditionally refer to operations or production management for physical transformations within a business, reserving logistics for distribution activities related to moving products.

Uploaded by

piping stress
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

9/15/2020 Logistics - Wikipedia

The French word: logistique is a homonym of the existing mathematical term, from Ancient Greek:
λογῐστῐκός, romanized: logistikós, a traditional division of Greek mathematics; the mathematical term is
presumably the origin of the term logistic in logistic growth and related terms. Some sources give this
instead as the source of logistics,[3] either ignorant of Jomini's statement that it was derived from logis,
or dubious and instead believing it was in fact of Greek origin, or influenced by the existing term of
Greek origin.

Definition
Jomini originally defined logistics as:[1]

... l'art de bien ordonner les marches d'une armée, de bien combiner l'ordre des troupes dans
les colonnes, les tems [temps] de leur départ, leur itinéraire, les moyens de communications
nécessaires pour assurer leur arrivée à point nommé ...

... the art of well-ordering the functionings of an army, of well combining the order of troops
in columns, the times of their departure, their itinerary, the means of communication
necessary to assure their arrival at a named point ...

The Oxford English Dictionary defines logistics as "the branch of military science relating to procuring,
maintaining and transporting material, personnel and facilities". However, the New Oxford American
Dictionary defines logistics as "the detailed coordination of a complex operation involving many people,
facilities, or supplies", and the Oxford Dictionary on-line defines it as "the detailed organization and
implementation of a complex operation".[4] As such, logistics is commonly seen as a branch of
engineering that creates "people systems" rather than "machine systems".

According to the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (previously the Council of Logistics
Management),[5] logistics is the process of planning, implementing and controlling procedures for the
efficient and effective transportation and storage of goods including services and related information
from the point of origin to the point of consumption for the purpose of conforming to customer
requirements and includes inbound, outbound, internal and external movements.[6]

Academics and practitioners traditionally refer to the terms operations or production management when
referring to physical transformations taking place in a single business location (factory, restaurant or
even bank clerking) and reserve the term logistics for activities related to distribution, that is, moving
products on the territory. Managing a distribution center is seen, therefore, as pertaining to the realm of
logistics since, while in theory, the products made by a factory are ready for consumption they still need
to be moved along the distribution network according to some logic, and the distribution center
aggregates and processes orders coming from different areas of the territory. That being said, from a
modeling perspective, there are similarities between operations management and logistics, and
companies sometimes use hybrid professionals, with for example a "Director of Operations" or a
"Logistics Officer" working on similar problems. Furthermore, the term supply chain management
originally refers to, among other issues, having an integrated vision of both production and logistics
from point of origin to point of production.[7] All these terms may suffer from semantic change as a side
effect of advertising.

Logistics activities and fields

[Link] 3/15

You might also like