Integrated Logistics Management, Total Cost Analysis and Optimization Modelling

States that total logistics costs in many companies can be reduced by as much as 10 per cent as a result of integrated planning, which can have an enormous impact on a company′s profitability, especially in a competitive environment characterized by small profit margins. Integrated logistics planning will see expanded use of optimization models over the next few years in an attempt to minimize total logistics costs; many applications will be standardized, such as distribution centre (DC) locations and will lead to less standardized ones, linking financial and logistics decision‐making features or marketing and logistics planning for profit maximization.