Logistics is a unique global “pipeline”that operates 24 hours a day,seven days a week and 52 weeks a year ,planning and coordinating the transport and delivery of products and service to customers the world over.

    (物流作為一種獨(dú)特的全球“輸送管道”，一天24小時(shí)、一周7天，一年52周、不間斷地運(yùn)營著，計(jì)劃和協(xié)調(diào)全球產(chǎn)品和服務(wù)的運(yùn)輸和交付。)

    Coming into being with the advent of civilization,logistics is anything but a newborn baby.However ,when it comes to modern logistics,most professionals in the business consider it one of the most challenging and exciting jobs,invisible as it is.

    (文明伊始，物流就已經(jīng)存在，因而不是新鮮事。但是，說到現(xiàn)代物流，業(yè)內(nèi)專業(yè)人士認(rèn)為盡管看不見摸不著，它是富有挑戰(zhàn)性和最激動人心的工作。)

    Modern logistics is related to the effective and efficient flow of materials and information that are of vital importance to customers and clients in various sectors of the economic society, which may include but by no means is limited to:packaging\ warehousing \material handling\inventory\transport\forecasting\strategic planning and customer service.

    (現(xiàn)代物流與物資及信息的及時(shí)有效流動相關(guān)，而物資和信息的及時(shí)有效流動對經(jīng)濟(jì)社會的不同領(lǐng)域的顧客和客戶有著極其重要的意義。現(xiàn)代物流包括但不限于下列方面：包裝、倉儲、材料搬運(yùn)、存貨、運(yùn)輸、預(yù)測、戰(zhàn)略規(guī)劃、客戶服務(wù)。

    Packing is the outer wrapping of a product . It is the intended purpose of the packaging to make a product readily sellable as well as to protect it against damage and prevent it from deterioration when in stock.Furthermore,packaging is often the most relevant element of a trade mark and coduces to advertising or communication.

    (包裝是指產(chǎn)品的外部包裝。包裝是為了使產(chǎn)品方便銷售，同時(shí)儲存時(shí)也免受損壞或變質(zhì)。再者，包裝通常是和商標(biāo)最直接相關(guān)的因素，利于廣告或者信息傳遞。)

    Warehousing is sometimes needed,and can be provided,to complement inbound and outbound transportation services. There are 4 distinct types of warehousing available,depending upon load content:for finished goods ;for raw materials;for consumer fulfillment;and for vendor-managed inventory(VMI)

    (倉儲可以作為上游物流和下游物流運(yùn)輸服務(wù)的補(bǔ)充。根據(jù)貨物的種類，倉庫有四種類型；成品倉庫，原材料倉庫，待售后產(chǎn)品倉庫和銷售商管理倉庫（VMI）

    Material handling is any kind of methods for moving material.Material can be moved directly by people lifting the items or using hand carts,slings,and other handling accessories(manual lifting and handling).Material can also be moved by people using machines such as cranes,forklift trucks,and other lifting fixtures (mechanical lifting).

    (物資操作是指轉(zhuǎn)移物資的方式。可以用手推車、吊索或其他的附件（手提或手操作）由人直接把東西抬起來，也可以用起重機(jī)、鏟車和其他的起重裝置來移動物資（機(jī)械提升。）

    Inventory is a detailed list of all the items in stock,such as a company’s merchandise,raw materials,and finished and unfinished products which have not yet been sold.

    (存貨是庫存里所有的產(chǎn)品的詳細(xì)清單，例如公司的商品、原材料以及還沒有售出的成品和半成品)

    Transport is the movement of people,poods,signals and information from one place to another.

    (運(yùn)輸是指將人、貨物、信號和信息從一個地方轉(zhuǎn)移到另一個地方)

    Forecasting is to estimate the likelihood of an event taking place in the future ,based on available data from the past.

    (預(yù)測是基于過去獲得的數(shù)據(jù)來推測今后可能發(fā)生的事件。)

    Strategic planning is planning which focuses on longer range objectives and goals.Tt is essentially direction-setting and often focuses on new products and new markets.

    (戰(zhàn)略規(guī)劃是著眼于更長的目標(biāo)而制定的計(jì)劃，基本上是制定政策，通常是在新產(chǎn)品和新市場兩個方面。)

    Customer service is the set of behaviors that a business undertakes during its interaction with its customers. It can also refer to a specific person or desk which is set up to provide general assistance to customers

    (客戶服務(wù)是商家與客戶交往時(shí)承擔(dān)的一整套行為，也可以用來指為客戶提供幫助的特定的人或辦公桌)

    A systematic definition of logistics is supplied by the Council of Logistics Management :“Logistics is that part of the supply chain process that plans,implements and controls the efficient,effective and related information from the point of origin to the point of consumption to meet customers’ requirements.”Although this definition fails to incorporate all specific terms used in the study of logistics,it does reflect the need for total movement management from point of material procurement to location tof finished product distribution

    (以下是物流管理協(xié)會對物流下的一個系統(tǒng)的定義：“物流是供應(yīng)鏈的一部分，計(jì)劃、執(zhí)行和控制產(chǎn)品、服務(wù)及相關(guān)信息人原產(chǎn)地到消費(fèi)地的及時(shí)有效流動和存儲以滿足客戶要求。”雖然此定義不能覆蓋物流研究的所有方面，但是它的確反映了從原料獲得到成品配送的完整流動過程的需要。)