Logistics Systems Analysis (Lecture Notes in Economics and Mathematical Systems)

This monograph examines logistics systems in an integrated way. Its goal is to describe and show how to find rational structures for logistics systems, including their operation and organization. The monograph departs from traditional operations research procedures in that it avoids detailed descriptions of problems or their solutions. For a typical problem, instead of searching for the ultimate solution based on detailed data and time-consuming numerical analyses, it shows how to develop reasonable solutions (described in terms of their properties) with as little information as possible. These features of the proposed approach can help overcome a decision-maker's natural distrust of "black box- es", and be quite helpful in instances where time is of the essence; the approach has proven to be quite practical. Of course, when time and information availability allow it, detailed numerical methods have also proven to be quite useful. Detailed solutions, however, can often be improved if preceeded by an exploratory analysis as described here.