INFORMATION EXCHANGE AND CONTROLLABILITY IN LOGISTICS

The development of information and communication technology has made it possible to look upon the logistics and transport chains in a quite new manner. Real time information flows between the actors in the chain are updating the information about the systems' status immediately. The question is however: is the information exchange improving the controllability of the logistics systems? In this paper a conceptual model is presented that can aid in analysing the role of information and its exchange in logistics systems. The model is principally made up from theories in cybernetics, system science and information theory. The model contains two parts: a process chart and a prospect matrix. The first part is describing the conditions and information exchange in the logistics and the latter is for evaluating the possibilities of information exchange for certain activities among the supply chain actors. This document is available on the Internet: http://www.tfk.se/publik/2002_3_short.pdf (A)