E-Logistics, e-Production, and e-Supply Networks

Abstract

Logistics is the organization and control of the flow of goods, information, and other resources in a cycle between the points of origin and consumption to meet specific requirements of different entities of a production, manufacturing, supply, or service network, e.g., customers or corporations. Logistics is a primary channel of any supply process that adds the value of time and place utility. Logistics involves the integration of information, transportation, inventory, warehousing, material handling, packaging, and occasionally security. Today, the complexity of production logistics can be modeled, analyzed, visualized, and optimized by plant simulation software. Various research areas and applications of logistics can be found in many references. However, this chapter focuses on material handling, especially in automated material handling, as a set of practical and important problems in the areas of production, manufacturing, and logistics ranging from the physical movement of products to storage and warehousing, and control and protection of products during various processes such as packaging, distribution, disposal, and so forth.