The development of logistics management has experienced three levels: distribution management, logistics management and supply chain management. Logistics management originated from the storage and transportation mode and technology developed by the Institute of Military Transportation Materials and Equipment in World War II. After the war, these technologies were widely used in industry, which greatly improved the operational efficiency of enterprises and won more customers for enterprises. At that time, logistics management was mainly aimed at the distribution part of the enterprise, that is, how to quickly and efficiently deliver the products to customers through the distribution center after the finished products were produced, and keep the lowest inventory as much as possible. The American Logistics Management Association was then called the Logistics Management Association, and the Canadian Supply Chain and Logistics Management Association was called the Canadian Logistics Management Association. At this initial stage, logistics management only passively caters to the needs of customers after producing a given number of finished products, transports products to the places designated by customers, optimizes the utilization of resources in the transportation field, and reasonably sets up the inventory of each distribution center. Accurately speaking, logistics management did not really appear at this stage, only transportation management, warehousing management and inventory management. At that time, the position of logistics manager did not exist, only transportation manager or warehouse manager.

Logistics management in the modern sense appeared in the 1980s. It is found that it is very effective to observe, analyze and solve the problems in enterprise management by using cross-functional process management. By analyzing the whole circulation process of materials from raw materials to factories, flowing through various stations on the production line, producing finished products, then transporting them to distribution centers and finally delivering them to customers, enterprises can eliminate many local optimization behaviors that seem to be efficient, but actually reduce the overall efficiency. Because every functional department wants to use its own production capacity as much as possible, leaving no surplus, once the demand increases, it will become a bottleneck everywhere, leading to the interruption of the whole process. For another example, the Ministry of Transport, as an independent functional department, always tries its best to reduce its transportation costs. However, if an order that must be accelerated by sea instead of air is delivered, it will save freight, but it will lose customers and lead to overall failure. Therefore, the traditional vertical function management is no longer suitable for modern large-scale industrial production, while the horizontal logistics management can comprehensively manage different functions in each process to achieve the overall optimal coordination.

At this stage, the scope of logistics management extends to demand forecasting, procurement, production planning, inventory management, distribution and customer service except transportation, so as to systematically manage the operation of enterprises and maximize the overall benefits. The book Goal written by Godrat is popular in the global manufacturing industry, and its essence is to manage production from the perspective of production process. Accordingly, the American Logistics Management Association was renamed as the American Logistics Management Association in the mid-1980s, and the Canadian Logistics Management Association was renamed as the Canadian Logistics Management Association in 1992.

A typical manufacturing enterprise, its demand forecasting, raw material procurement and transportation links are usually called incoming logistics, the flow of raw materials between processes in the factory is called production logistics, and the distribution and customer service links are called delivery logistics. The key of logistics management is to systematically manage the whole process from raw materials, work-in-process to finished products, so as to ensure the smooth procurement, transportation, processing, transportation and delivery of materials to customers under the condition of minimum inventory. For enterprise shareholders with efficient logistics management, this means doing the biggest business with the least funds and generating the biggest return on investment.

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