The paper was presented at the International Logistics Conference “Logistics 2002 – Flexible supply chains – concepts, experiences, challenges”. Poznań, May 14-15, 2002.
The 6th International Conference LOGISTICS 2002, organized by the Institute of Logistics and Warehousing with the participation of the Greater Poland Branch of the Polish Logistics Society and in cooperation with the Technische Fachhochschule Wildau, continues the series of biennial conferences held since 1992. This year’s conference, under the theme “Flexible supply chains – concepts, experiences and challenges,” aims to enable the exchange of new, more mature concepts regarding supply chains, logistics channels, and logistics systems, to share Polish and foreign (especially German) experiences in the design, construction, and implementation of logistics systems, as well as to address the challenges resulting from the need to merge two platforms in modern management in the near future: the logistics platform, covering various solutions related to the physical execution of goods flows, and the electronic platform, concerning the area of information and communication technologies.
To this end, it is worth recalling the widely used concept of a “supply chain,” which defines the connection between economic entities: “A supply chain is a network of organizations involved, through upstream and downstream linkages, in the different processes and activities that produce value in the form of products and services delivered to the ultimate consumer. (…) Supply chain management is not synonymous with ‘vertical integration’.”
(M. Christopher, Logistics and Supply Chain Management, PCDL, Warsaw 2000, p. 14).
The author uses the term “logistics systems” only when there is a need to emphasize their customer orientation (ibid., p. 44). It is therefore worth noting that it is not enough to integrate a manufacturer with suppliers and customers in the sense of agreements between entities, as is the case in a supply chain; rather, one can only speak of a logistics system when this integration encompasses their IT systems, logistics infrastructure, controlling of goods flow in logistics processes, and decisions regarding current and future logistics management.
It is also significant that design, commercial offers, or implementation do not concern the supply chain itself but, as is commonly called, the logistics system. Within the framework of this concept, I therefore venture at the outset to propose moving away from the overuse of the term “logistics system,” which often leads to misunderstandings, as this term is used to describe both a small supply system for a manufacturer or a small distribution system for a wholesaler, as well as a very complex system coupling a number of enterprises with different profiles into one logistics chain. It also happens that this term is misused for a computer-aided management system that does not contain any elements of logistics process control at all, or even refers to the system when describing often quite enigmatic connections between participants in a chain considered from raw material, through processing and distribution to consumers, which may be far from the actual requirements that a system should meet as a concept known from systems theory.
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