Figures; Tables; Contributors; Introduction; 1 Development and trends in supply chain management; 2 New directions in logistics; 3 Future trends in supply chain management management; 4 Agile supply chain operating environments environments; 5 Time compression in the supply chain supply chain; 6...

Technological evolvement creates new business opportunities such as the optimization of distribution networks by using big data to calculate optimal delivery routes respecting individual time windows. The optimized network enhances firms to improve customer satisfaction, reduce delivery costs,...

The complexibility of distribution systems is augmented by various trends: the globalization of the business of most manufacturers, the increasing dynamics of the customer demands and the reverse flows within closed-loop systems. The need for "advanced" planning methods, based on quantitative...