Prioritising the flow of empty trucks: another Brexit anomaly →
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What exactly is logistics?
Many people think of logistics as simply moving stuff. The appearance of the word on the sides of trucks certainly gives this impression. In practice logistics is a complex mix of freight transport, storage, handling, inventory management and all the IT required to co-ordinate these activities. It is a function that we all take for granted but without which our economy, indeed whole way of life, would collapse. It is a major industry in its own right, accounting for 12% of global GDP, and a major polluter releasing around 10-11% of global CO2 emissions. To get a sense of just how important logistics is, have a look at this video.
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Welcome
Professor Alan McKinnonWelcome to my personal website. On this site I have assembled many of the outputs of a career spent researching, teaching and advising in the field of logistics.
I had the good fortune to enter this field when it was at an early stage in its development, full of interesting research questions and in the grip of managerial revolution. It remains a vibrant and rapidly evolving subject area, constantly faced with new challenges and opportunities.
One of the greatest challenges logistics managers will have to confront in future decades is climate change. The link between logistics and climate change has been the focus of much of my recent research and features prominently on the site. My book on the decarbonisation of logistics was published in June 2018.
Whatever your interest in logistics, however, there should be something on this site of relevance.
Alan McKinnon
Professor of Logistics, Kuehne Logistics University, Hamburg
Professor Emeritus, Heriot-Watt University, EdinburghBlogs on logistics topics
Convocation Address at East West University, Bangladesh
I had the honour and pleasure of delivering the Convocation Address at the Annual graduation ceremony of East West University in Dhaka. This is the largest private university in Bangladesh, founded in 1996, and now with around 11,000 students. 2861 students were awarded degrees at the ceremony. The Education Minister Mohibul Hassan Chowdhoury MP represented the country’s President at the event, which was also attended by many dignitaries from Bangladesh and other countries. In my Address, entitled ‘Challenges and Opportunities for New Graduates in a World of Supply Chains’, I outlined the importance of logistics and supply chain management to the economic development of a country like Bangladesh, as major sources of graduate employment and facing challenges such as deglobalisation and climate change. A copy of my speech is available here.
I was invited to contribute to this prestigious event by the Vice Chancellor of East West University, Professor Shams Rahman, someone with a long and distinguished academic career in supply chain management.
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