Keith Oliver's Supply Chain Management definition

Keith Oliver is a British top logistician and consultant famous for coining the terms "Supply
Chain" and "Supply Chain Management" first using them in public in an interview with Arnold
Kransdorff on the Financial Times on June 4, 1982

Oliver defined in 1982 the Supply Chain concept as follows: Supply chain management (SCM)
is the process of planning, implementing, and controlling the operations of the supply chain with
the purpose to satisfy customer requirements as efficiently as possible. Supply chain
management spans all movement and storage of raw materials, work-in-process inventory, and
finished goods from point-of-origin to point-of-consumption. Since then, almost all Supply
Chain Book authors have developed their own definitions. Some of them are subtle variations
and others add more detail, but most of them remain close to Oliver's original definition..
The term supply chain management was first coined by consultant Keith Oliver, of strategy
consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton in 1982. The Booz Allen Hamilton puts forward , Supply
Chain Management encompasses the planning and management of all activities involved in
sourcing, procurement, conversion, and logistics management activities. Importantly, it also
includes coordination and collaboration with channel partners, which can be suppliers,
intermediaries, third-party service providers, and customers. In essence, Supply Chain
Management integrates supply and demand management within and across companies
Education and career
Keith Oliver was educated in the United Kingdom at Monmouth School and holds an honours
degree from Birmingham University. He is currently on the staff of the management consulting
firms, Booz & Company / Booz Allen Hamilton and worked previously as Senior Organizations
and Methods Analyst to the West Midlands Gas Board, and then as a consultant for Business
Operations Research (Systems) Limited. According to Damon Schechter, Oliver played a critical
role in ushering in the third significant evolution of logistical thought in the 1970s and 1980s and
has contibuted as author and co-author of numerous articles and the chapter entitled:
"Distribution: the total cost-to serve" from the book: "The Gower Handbook of Management
Edited by Dennis Lock.
What is Logistics?
Logistics is the portion of supply chain management that encompasses distribution,
transportation and inventory management. To put it in context with the simplified description
given above regarding the supply chain management functions of plan, buy, make, store, move,
sell and return, logistics is the store and move functions.