Author Description

This dictionary is testimony to the dynamic nature of the transportation and logistics field. The field continues to grow and evolve into an increasing myriad of orientations. This work stems back to the middle 1970s with the first edition by Wallace I. Little (1921 - 1977). The second edition in 1982 contained over five hundred additions and nearly sixty major alterations. This tJ:llrd edition contains over three hundred additional entries as well as major ai~erations to over fifty of them. Transportation continues to change into a market driven industry. The user side reflects market- and management-driven emphases that would have been labeled as pure fiction just a decade ago. Some of these changes are: • Deregulation • Purchasing evolving closer to logistics and having greater roles in with traffic • Logistics having close association with production, scheduling, and related areas • Computers and electronic links becoming major parts of the traffic/ transportation/purchasing landscape • Greater international corporate orientations • Need for logistics flexibility regarding pro-action in the face of energy, interest cost, inflation, international competition, and other major environmental forces • Increased roles of non-economic regulations and policies In addition to the changes in the transport-traffic management interface, the shipper side of the world has extended to be linked with such titles and functions as materials, distribution, warehousing, inventory, customer service, order entry, planning, production scheduling, and in many cases purchasing. This dictionary is a document that will continue to grow.