1.1.2 Technological context
Due to the rate at which change in ICTs is occurring, it is important to put the evolution of logistics as a business discipline into a technological context. To understand the significance of this context, it is useful to recall that facsimile machines and personal computers have only been available in any volume since the mid 1980s, with mobile telephones arriving later in that decade; yet it is hard to remember life without them.
Similarly, it is difficult conceiving that today the average laptop computer has several times the computational power available to NASA in 1969 when it landed Neil Armstrong on the moon.
In the 1970s and early 1980s - only 20 to 30 years ago - domestic communication between most business enterprises was conducted by telephone, telex or through the postal system. International communication between businesses was conducted in a similar manner, with the telex providing the only standardised form of speedy written communication.
In the early 1980s, whilst a small number of large enterprises exchanged data between their mainframe computers by means of magnetic tapes, the proprietary nature of most mainframe operating systems meant different computer systems could not communicate directly. The advent of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) in the early 1990s facilitated computer to computer communication for a limited range of business documents. However, unlike facsimile machines and their predecessor, the telex, EDI had not one, but two protocols (the US ANSI ASC X12 and the UN EDIFACT standards). This seriously hampered the adoption of EDI, especially for enterprises trading globally, which had to absorb the considerable costs of becoming EDI capable for both standards.
The advent of the World Wide Web (WWW) and the Internet in the late 1990s changed forever the way business was conducted. Using the Internet, enterprises large and small, situated anywhere in the world, can now communicate electronically, directly with each other and with their customers. At the personal level, Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) technology and satellite telephones make it possible to pinpoint the position of and talk directly with another individual, anywhere on the face of the planet.
Faced with this rapid rate of change, is it any wonder that practitioners have difficulty keeping abreast of the pace at which the discipline of logistics is evolving, let alone their senior management teams, charged with charting the strategic direction for their enterprises and making use of their logistics resources?
Logistics has become one of the mainstream operational functions in many modern business enterprises; especially those involved in manufacturing. Yet logistics 'adds value', mainly through its coordinating activities, which have evolved as a result of developments in ICTs. Reading 1.1, whilst somewhat dated, provides some useful insights into the development of modern logistics thinking.
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