2.1 Definitions and Significance of Logistics
In a world which increasingly relies on the division of labor and fragmentation of work flows, goods and commodities need to be transported from their place of origin to their place of consumption or place of use. The span time between the production and the utilization of goods has to be bridged. This is also true for both the people and the information involved in the fragmented work flow and which are available in different locations and at different times within the system. The tasks and activities associated with this within the economic process were first systematically subsumed under the term logistics in mid-twentieth century. Initially, the term emerged in a military context since military systems are characterized by their tendency for concised classification.