Final Thoughts on Supply Chain and Logistics Analytics

In this book, we have presented numerous analytical techniques and methodologies which provide decision support for planning and operations across all components of a firm’s supply chain from materials procurement to finished goods delivery to customers. These tools collectively serve to enhance a supply chain organization’s success in meeting its customers’ and suppliers’ needs, while at the same time they help to minimize costs and maximize profitability. The topics covered in this book represent just a portion of all the methodologies available today; however, they span a broad swath of the logistics analytics decision support tools that supply chain professionals utilize on a regular basis. Further, the methodologies presented here can be readily adapted to other supply chain activities and decisions not explicitly addressed in this book. In conclusion, in this book we have attempted to share many of the logistics analytics decision support methods and tools that have ably assisted supply chain and logistics professionals for decades, including this author. Moving forward, these analytics tools and others will continue to provide supply chain professionals with critically needed decision support to facilitate sound management decisions.