《物流专业英语》-01《物流专业英语》-Unit-1-What-is-logistics-第三版新编-1

Readingmaterials阅读材料Productionvsdistribution生产vs流通Therearetwotypesofprimaryactivitiesconcerningtheproductionofproducts:productionanddistribution.关于产品的生产，有两类基本的活动：生产与流通。Productionistheactorprocessofconvertingrawmaterialsintosemi-finishedgoodsorfinishedgoodsreadyforsale/delivery.Forinstance,aflourmillbuyswheat(rawmaterials)fromfarmers,processesitintoflour(semi-finishedproducts)andsellsittoabakery,whothenturnsitintobread(finishedproducts)readyforsaletoendconsumers(Figure4).生产是把原材料转换成半成品或成品供销售或交货的行为或过程。譬如，一家面粉厂从农民处购买小麦（原材料）、加工成面粉（半成品）并将面粉出售给面包店，面包店用面粉做成面包（成品），用于出售给最终消费者（图4）。Figure4Conversionofrawmaterialsintosemi-finishedproductsorfinishedproducts.图4

原材料转换成半成品或成品Wheat（RawMaterial）小麦(原料)Flour(semi-finishedproduct)面粉(半成品)Bread(finishedproduct)面包（成品）Distributionistheactorprocessofmovinggoods/product(semi-finishedorfinished)tovariouslocations/customers.Usuallymanufacturersfocusonproduction,whilelogisticscompaniesengageindistributionofgoods.流通是把商品/产品（半成品或成品）移动到不同地点或客户的行为或过程。通常来说，制造厂商把重心放在生产上，而物流公司则从事商品的流通。Ideallyanorganizationmayengageinbothproductionanddistribution.However,owingtothecomplexityandsubstantialityofdistribution,fewcompaniesperformwelliftheyengageinboth.理想情况下，一家公司可以既从事生产，也从事流通。然而，由于流通的复杂性和艰巨性，两样都做的公司很少能有良好的表现。Thereisnowanewtrendofoutsourcingthedistributionbusinesstospecializedcompanies,namelythird-partylogistics(3PL)companies,sothatthemanufacturerscanconcentratemoreoncoreproductionoperationwhilethelogisticscompaniescanhandledistributionmoredeftlyandprofessionally.

现在有一种新趋势，