At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, manufacturing was still largely a craft industry in which the skill of the individual engineer or craftsman was the key competitive weapon. Most manufactured goods served domestic markets in the developed economies of Europe and North America, with raw materials provided from the European empires overseas. The early years of the 20th century saw the development of scientific management through the work of Frederick Taylor, Alfred Sloan and others, but World War II devastated much of the industrial infrastructure of Europe and depleted North America of its supplies of raw materials, so that in the immediate aftermath product availablity became the competitive parameter; any company that could get a product to market could sell it.

The second half of the 20th century witnessed the development of manufacturing technologies both in terms of production processes and systems of control, so that manufacturing today is highly automated, quality products roll out of factories and greater efficiencies mean lower prices. As we enter the new century, delivery performance has again become the critical success factor, whether through the speed of delivery, the precision of delivery, its reliability or flexibility. As consumers, we expect to be able to specify precisely which products we want, in what quantities, where we want them and when we want them, and have manufacturers respond to our needs within increasingly short time-frames. Logistics is becoming an important competitive factor in many manufacturing sectors.

This book sets out the basic principles...