Practical Supply Chain and Logistics Analytics: An Introduction

Practical Supply Chain and Logistics Analytics provides essential analytical techniques for managing distribution, transportation, inventory, manufacturing, network design, customer logistics, and procurement across the supply chain.

This book delivers practical decision-analysis methodologies that supply chain professionals can immediately implement in their daily operations. Readers will gain a working knowledge of fundamental logistics analytical methods that offer critical quantitative perspectives for better decision-making. The text presents a comprehensive range of techniques with step-by-step guidance, real-world examples, and actionable insights that bridge theory and practice. Each chapter builds analytical competency through accessible explanations and implementable frameworks, enabling professionals to address specific logistics management challenges efficiently while developing their quantitative skill set for long-term career advancement.

University lecturers will find it complements traditional supply chain textbooks and can also serve as the primary text for a first supply chain analytics class, while logistics professionals at all levels can use it as a reference guide for developing analyses to address specific management decisions.

Tan Miller is a Supply Chain Professor in the Norm Brodsky College of Business at Rider University and currently serves as an advisor to the university’s supply chain program. He joined Rider in 2008 to lead the development of a then new supply chain major and served as the first Director of the Rider Global Supply Chain Management Program until 2022. Prior to Rider, he worked in private industry for over 25 years where most recently he was responsible for the operations of Johnson & Johnson’s U.S. Consumer Distribution Network. Prior to that, he held a similar role leading the operations of the U.S. Consumer Healthcare Logistics Network of Pfizer Inc., and he has also previously held production and distribution management, as well as consulting positions with Mercer Management Consulting, Unisys, Warner-Lambert, American Olean Tile Company, and Chase Econometrics. Tan has published eight books and over eighty articles and has made over one hundred industry and academic conference presentations on supply chain and logistics operations, planning, and analytics. His previous books include Supply Chain Planning: Practical Frameworks for Superior Performance (Second Edition), Logistics Management: An Analytics-Based Approach, and Hierarchical Operations and Supply Chain Management. Tan has served on the editorial and advisory boards of several trade and educational journals and councils, and he received an M.A, M.B.A and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.