Logistics is a $700 billion industry in the USA and is the second largest employer of college graduates. Logistics costs account for nearly 30% of the sales dollar, and logistics activities are essential to satisfying the ever- changing customer demand in terms of variety and availability. Today the need for cutting edge, sophisticated logistics practices has never been greater. This unique text is squarely focused on the key activities within the functional areas of logistics and transportation, with emphasis placed on the quantitative treatment of the design and planning issues in logistics. In scope, Logistics and Transportation comprehensively covers almost all the elements of the supply chain. Moreover, it includes a number of topics that are generally not covered by most popular logistics texts. These include functional areas such as: vendor selection, inventory models with inventory costs, advanced transportation models, logistics metrics, and latest trends in logistics. The text is primarily designed for use in the classroom by senior undergraduate and graduate-level students. It is also a useful resource for practicing transportation and logistics professionals. Readers will appreciate the references for recommended further reading, related training aids and problem sets given at the end of each chapter, as well as the two comprehensive logistics cases presented at the end of the text.

This book serves as a primer on freight transportation and logistics, providing a general and broad coverage of concepts, mathematical models and methodologies available for freight transportation planning at strategic, tactical and operational levels. It is aimed at graduate students, and is also a reference book for practitioners in the field. The book includes preliminaries, such as mathematical modeling and optimisation algorithms. The book also features case studies and practical real-life examples to illustrate applications of the concepts and models covered, and to encourage a hands-on and a practical approach. The author has taught and published extensively in the field and draw on state-of-the-art scientific research. He has also been part of a number of practical research projects, which underpin the real life examples in the book.

Improvements in the performance of a freight transport system can be achieved either through technological innovation or by using advanced planning tools. This volume includes contributions on planning which cover the following topics: - analysis of current trends in developed countries, - demand analysis and forecasting, - flows simulation and prediction, - shipment and delivery problems, - regulation problems, - investment evaluation. Papers consider such applications as warehouse location, crude oil transportation, newspaper distribution, the trucking industry, rail planning and seaport systems. Transport issues in North America and Italy are described and compared. The papers in this volume are revised versions of contributions to the International Seminar on Freight Transport Planning and Logistics held in Bressanone, Italy, in July 1987.

Urban Freight Transportation Systems offers new insights into the complexities of today's urban freight transport system. It provides a much needed multidisciplinary perspective from researchers in not only transportation, but also engineering, business management, planning and the law. The book examines numerous critical issues, such as strategies for delivery, logistics and freight transport spatial patterns, urban policy assessment, innovative transportation technologies, urban hubs, and the role factories play in the urban freight transport system. The book offers a novel conceptual approach for addressing the problems of production, logistics and traffic in an urban context. As most of the world's population now live in cities, thus significantly increasing commercial traffic, there are numerous challenges for efficiently and sustainably delivering goods into cities. This book provides solutions and tactics to those challenges. Includes interdisciplinary contributors from around the globe Provides never-before-published original research to help users stay current and develop a deeper understanding of the field Presents the methods and results of research that is useful for both academics and practitioners

Applying sophisticated management techniques to freight transport offers the potential for significant cost savings as well as greater efficiency. Yet the inherent complexity of intermodal transport presents many challenges. This practical textbook on the operations of intermodal transport and logistics focuses on the practical concerns and the basics of operations, such as vehicles, containers, handling operations, logistics management and optimisation. All chapters are written by field specialists, and the volume includes additional chapters on economics, law and the environment to put the practical topics into context. It presents a balanced textbook for postgraduate students and also a reference text for those in industry or the public sector involved in the planning of intermodal freight transport.

The tactical organization of resources is a vital component to any industry in modern society. Effectively managing the flow of materials through various networks ensures that the requirements of customers are met. Sustainable Logistics and Strategic Transportation Planning is a pivotal reference source for the latest research on the management of logistics through the lens of sustainability, as well as for emerging procedures that are particularly critical to the transportation sector. Highlighting international perspectives, conceptual frameworks, and targeted investigations, this book is ideally designed for policy makers, professionals, researchers, and upper-level students interested in logistics and transport systems.

Freight Transport and the Modern Economy adapts a well-known textbook by Michel Savy, revising, extending and updating it for British, European and international readers. It deals not only with the technical aspects of transport, logistics and supply chain management, but also the interactions between transport professionals and the public authorities in the modern social, political, economic and environmental context. The transport of freight is presented as a system, mixing empirics and theory, showing how transport itself functions and also its strong influence on the modern economy, with a growing volume of production, turnover and employment. The nature of freight transport, an industrial process widely marketed as a service, is analysed in depth, explaining the main characteristics of the transport operation, its market and the regulatory context. The main actors, the professional actors (carriers, shippers and other agents) and the public authorities are introduced, and their behaviour and interactions are clarified. This comprehensive approach allows the reader to go further and consider in particular the approaches and practices of transport by carriers, customers, logistics managers, political decision makers and citizens, to tackle long range issues such as the ‘decoupling’ of production and transport recommended by some institutions and experts, and to explore the need for more infrastructure, or the capacity of the freight transport industry to reduce its contribution to pollution and climate change. This book treats freight transport as a whole system in its technical, economic, social, political and environmental context, in contrast to existing transport literature focused on individual aspects, such as transportation planning (usually for cars or passengers), logistics (essentially management issues), or individual transport modes. This book is comprehensive in its treatment of freight transport and in its use of multiple disciplinary perspectives.