Logistics

When used in a business sense, logistics is the management of the flow of things between the point of origin and the point of consumption in order to meet requirements of customers or corporations. The resources managed in logistics can include physical items such as food, materials, animals, equipment, and liquids, as well as abstract items, such as time and information. The logistics of physical items usually involves the integration of information flow, material handling, production, packaging, inventory, transportation, and warehousing.

There is often confusion over the difference between logistics and supply chains. It is now generally accepted that logistics refers to activities within one company/organization related to the distribution of a product, whereas supply chain also encompasses manufacturing and procurement and therefore has a much broader focus, as it involves multiple enterprises, including suppliers, manufacturers, and retailers, working together to meet a customer's need for a product or service.

One way to look at business logistics is "having the right item in the right quantity at the right time at the right place for the right price in the right condition to the right customer". An operations manager who focuses on logistics will be concerned with issues such as inventory management, purchasing, transportation, warehousing, and the planning and organization of these activities. Logistics may have either an internal focus (inbound logistics) or an external focus (outbound logistics).