Alan RushtonPhil CroucherPeter Baker - The Handbook of Logistics and Distribution Management

After graduating from the University of Warwick with a degree in Economics, Alan spent several years in industry as Raw Materials Controller with the International Synthetic Rubber Company and as a Distribution Executive with Rio Tinto Zinc based in London.

He studied for an MSc in Transport Studies at Cranfield University and then joined the National Materials Handling Centre, initially to carry out research into urban delivery problems and goods consolidation. He was a Senior Consultant with the Centre for many years, undertaking a variety of consultancy projects, specializing in transport and logistics systems and strategies. After helping to create the Distribution Studies Unit (DSU) at Cranfield, he became the Director of Studies for the M.Sc. in Distribution Technology and Management, and Head of the DSU.

With the creation of the Cranfield Centre for Logistics and Transportation (later the Cranfield Centre for Logistics and Supply Chain Management, CLSCM) he became the Director of Graduate Programmes for the new Centre where he set up and, for many years, ran the Executive M.Sc. in Logistics and Supply Chain Management. He became the Director of eLearning for CLSCM and chaired the eLearning Committee for the Cranfield School of Management.

As well as his research and consultancy experience in transport, distribution, logistics and the supply chain, he has lectured in Europe, the Far East, the Middle East, North America, South America and Africa. He has published widely and co-wrote the original and subsequent editions of The Handbook of Logistics and Distribution Management , which was first published in 1989. He is also co-author of International Logistics and Supply Chain Outsourcing . He has continued to undertake consultancy, both nationally and internationally, and is the Director of Dialog Consultants Ltd, a consultancy specializing in distribution, logistics and supply chain management. Alan is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport.

Phil Croucher is an independent Supply Chain Consultant and Trainer. He has 44 years experience in the field of logistics and supply chain management, the last 20 years at senior management or board level, working, travelling and living in many different countries.

He has worked in many different industries, countries and functions within those industries. On the third-party logistics side he has worked in Express Parcels in the UK, as Managing Director of a Freight Forwarder in Oman, as General Manager of a desert trucking company in Oman, and as Regional Manager for the Middle East responsible for land transport based in Jordan and Dubai. In addition, he has held the post of Group Logistics Director in the paper merchant business in the UK, National Distribution Manager in the food industry and Vice President-Supply Chain, responsible for worldwide procurement and logistics movements for a land drilling contractor in the oil and gas industry with operations in Algeria, Qatar, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, India, and Oman.

Although at heart a practitioner, it has not stopped him developing a parallel career in training and academia. He has worked for the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (UK) (CILT) on many projects. In 2002 CILT chose him to represent them in China at the inception of a prestigious training contract with the Chinese Government. This was followed by four further two-week trips delivering training in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Dalian. He has also delivered training in Taiwan for CILT.

More recently (2011) CILT sent him to Somaliland to train United Nations International Childrens Emergency Fund (UNICEF) staff, in 2012 he was sent to Bangkok to train Plan International staff and in 2013 he was sent to Qatar four times for Maersk Oil.

He has taught Masters courses in procurement, supply chain management and operations management.

Two videos made in support of this publication may be viewed at: www.youtube.com/user/KoganPageBooks/videos?sort=p&shelf_id=3&view=0

He has also published several articles most notably Insourcing.

His qualifications include an MSc in Logistics and Distribution Management from Cranfield University, Chartered Fellow of the CILT(UK) and a Professional Diploma in Management from the Open University. He also holds a NEBOSH National General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety.

Peter Baker spent the early part of his career in international freight forwarding, conducting export and import freight movements and ships agency work. He became an office manager prior to taking an MSc degree in Distribution Technology and Management at Cranfield University.

After a period with a specialist materials handling and distribution consultancy, he worked for 12 years with Deloitte Consulting in their Supply Chain and Consumer Business divisions. During his period in consultancy, he has conducted over 100 supply chain projects across a wide range of industries and public sector organizations. He has undertaken projects in many European countries, as well as in North America, the Far East, Central Asia, West Africa and the Middle East. These projects have included supply chain strategy, procurement, international logistics, distribution centre design, inventory control, transport operations and supporting computer systems.

He became a Lecturer, Senior Lecturer and then Visiting Fellow, at the Centre for Logistics and Supply Chain Management at Cranfield School of Management, where he completed his PhD on the subject of the role, design and operation of distribution centres in agile supply chains. He has continued his consultancy work during this period. He is a Fellow of both the CILT(UK) and the Higher Education Academy. He has published regularly in books, trade journals and academic journals.

The key components of logistics transport, inventory, warehousing have been fundamental elements of industrial and economic life for countless years, but it is only in the last 20 to 30 years that logistics has been recognized as a major function in its own right. The main reason that this recognition has only been relatively recent is the nature of logistics itself. It is a function made up of many sub-functions and many subsystems, each of which has been, and may still be, treated as a distinct management operation. Both the academic and the business world now accept that there is a need to adopt a more holistic view of these different operations in order to take into account how they interrelate and interact with one another and to ensure that the overall operation is optimized.

The appreciation of the scope and importance of logistics and the supply chain has led to a more scientific approach being adopted towards the subject. This approach has been aimed at the overall concept of the logistics function as a whole but, importantly, includes the interrelationship of the individual subsystems as well. Much of this approach has addressed the need for, and means of, planning logistics and the supply chain, but has necessarily considered some of the major operational issues.

This first chapter of the book provides an introduction to some of the very basic aspects of distribution, logistics and the supply chain. Initially there is a review of the scope and definition of distribution, logistics and the supply chain. Next is a discussion of the key elements that are fundamental to the logistic function. A description of the historical growth of distribution and logistics is followed by an assessment of its importance throughout the world. Finally, a typical distribution and logistics structure is described and discussed.