Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Achieving state-of-the-art excellence and attaining the cost reductions associated with outstanding logistics efforts is an obvious gain in terms of competitive edge and profitability. As logistics tools evolve in comprehensiveness and complexity, and the use of these new tools becomes more pervasive, maintaining a position of leadership in logistics functions also becomes increasingly difficult. And in spite of its importance not only to the bottom line but also to the functionality of your operations, logistics improvement often lags industry requirements.

Taking a unique engineering approach, the Logistics Engineering Handbook provides comprehensive coverage of traditional methods and contemporary topics. The book delineates basic concepts and practices, provides a tutorial for common problems and solution techniques, and discusses current topics that define the state of the logistics market. It covers background information that defines engineering logistics, activities and implementation, transportation management, enabling technologies, and emerging trends. Each chapter includes either a brief case study overview of an industrially motivated problem or a tutorial using fabricated data designed to highlight important issues.

Presentation, organization, and quality of content set this book a part. Its most distinctive feature is the engineering focus, instead of the more usual business/supply chain focus, that provides a mathematically rigorous treatment without being overly analytical. Another important characteristic is the emphasis on transportation management, especially freight transportation. The section on emerging and growing trends makes the handbook particularly useful to the savvy logistics professional wishing to exploit possible future trends in logistics practice. The handbook is a one-stop shopping location for logistics engineering reference materials ranging from basics to traditional problems, to state-of-the-market concerns.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Preface (p. xi)
• About the Editor (p. xiii)
• Contributors (p. xv)
• Section I Introduction to Logistics Engineering
• 1 Logistics from a Historical Perspective (p. 1)
• 2 Economic Impact of Logistics (p. 2)
• 3 Logistics Engineering Tool Chest (p. 3)
• 4 Logistics Metrics (p. 4)
• 5 Logistics as an Integrating System's Function (p. 5)
• Section II Logistics Activities
• 6 Customer Service (p. 6)
• 7 Purchasing and Sourcing (p. 7)
• 8 Demand Forecasting in Logistics: Analytic Hierarchy Process and Genetic Algorithm-Based Multiple Regression Analysis (p. 8)
• 9 Facilities Location and Layout Design (p. 9)
• 10 Inventory Control Theory: Deterministic and Stochastic Models (p. 10)
• 11 Material Handling System (p. 11)
• 12 Warehousing (p. 12)
• 13 Distribution System Design (p. 13)
• 14 Transportation Systems Overview (p. 14)
• Section III Topics in Transportation Management
• 15 Real-Time Dispatching for Truckload Motor Carriers (p. 15)
• 16 Classic Transportation Problems (p. 16)
• 17 Pricing and Rating (p. 17)
• 18 Management of Unbalanced Freight Networks (p. 18)
• 19 Revenue Management and Capacity Planning (p. 19)
• Section IV Enabling Technologies
• 20 Ubiquitous Communication: Tracking Technologies within the Supply Chain (p. 20)
• 21 Electronic Connectivity and Software (p. 21)
• 22 Reliability, Maintainability, and Supportability in Logistics (p. 22)
• 23 Funding and Justifying Logistics (p. 23)
• 24 Logistics and the Internet (p. 24)
• Section V Emerging and Growing Trends
• 25 Reverse Logistics, Green Logistics, and Packaging (p. 25)
• 26 Global Logistics Concerns (p. 26)
• 27 Outsourcing and Third-Party Logistics (p. 27)
• 28 Brief Overview of Intermodal Transportation (p. 28)
• 29 Logistics in Service Industries (p. 29)
• 30 Securing the Supply Chain (p. 30)
• Index (p. I)

Author notes provided by Syndetics