In a globalized economy logistics has become a crucial area for the success of companies. The
performance of each company depends on the performance of its suppliers and of its business
partners. The customers of each company are spread on a large geographical space. For this
reason distribution logistics is the most important and complex part of logistics. An efficient
and effective management of distribution logistics is a key issue for the success of a company.
There are many different problems to deal with from facility location to transportation to
inventory management and most important to the integration and optimization of the entire
logistics network. Quantitative methods provide relevant tools to support decisions from
strategic to operational in distribution logistics.
