Logistics is the planning, execution, and control of the efficient movement and storage of goods, services, and related information between points of origin and consumption. It encompasses transportation, warehousing, inventory management, order fulfilment, and reverse flows, with the objective of meeting demand at the required service level and lowest total cost. Logistics is a constituent function of supply-chain management and is increasingly mediated by sensor data, real-time tracking, and optimisation algorithms that coordinate multimodal networks under uncertainty.
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- Logistics balances competing objectives of cost, speed, and reliability across transportation modes, inventory positioning, and facility location. The classic trade-off between holding inventory and incurring transportation cost is central to network design.
- Modern logistics is increasingly data-driven: GPS and IoT sensors provide real-time visibility, while routing, scheduling, and inventory-replenishment algorithms optimise multimodal networks under demand and supply uncertainty. Cold-chain and pharmaceutical logistics add stringent traceability and condition-monitoring requirements.