Sunday 24 March 2013

Logistic – Transformed Quality of Civilization


Logistic – Transformed Quality of Civilization

by: Edly Ramly


How Ancient Civilisation becomes stronger?
How Islamic religious spread quickly around the word?
How British Empire expanded?
How giant economy stimulate?
It all lies into LOGISTICS AND TRANSPORTATION development and improvements!

In ancient Greek,  Roman and Byzantine empires, military officers with the  title  Logistikas  were responsible for financial and supply distribution matter (1). The historical leaders Caliphate Uthman, Hannibal Barca, Alexander the Great, and the Duke of Wellington are considered to have been logistical geniuses. They are a master of growth and globalization.


Before any civilisation occurs, the people normally survive by daily hunting and when the resources scarce, they move to other area. This sometimes called as nomads. Then the leader start to realised that it is tough to survive that way. They start to keep stocks of their foods. That is the start of logistics. Sometimes it not sufficient and they know people from other tribe have some extra. So they start to trade or conquered. That where the logistic begins. The storage and transportation improve their quality of life.

Ancient civilisation such as Macedonia, Babylon and Egypt build the logistics infracture in order for them to build the city and castles. They first used human powered transport is the transport of people and/or goods. Then Animal-powered transport is the use of working animals for the movement of people and goods. Humans may ride some of the animals directly, use them as pack animals for carrying goods, or harness them, alone or in teams, to pull sleds or wheeled vehicles. Indeed with this mode of logistic develop the civilisation but it is in slow states.

However, there few other mode of transportation they can opt depending on their geographical location. Of course the common mode is land and water.

The first earth tracks were created by humans carrying goods and often followed game trails. Tracks would be naturally created at points of high traffic density. As animals were domesticated, horses, and donkeys became an element in track-creation. With the growth of trade, tracks were often flattened or widened to accommodate animal traffic. Later, the travois, a frame used to drag loads, was developed. Animal-drawn wheeled vehicles probably developed in Sumer in the Mesopotamia (or modern Iran today) in the 4th or 5th millennium BC and spread to Europe and India in the 4th millennium BC and China in about 1200 BC. The Romans had a significant need for good roads to extend and maintain their empire and developed Roman roads. The Persian and Roman empires built stone-paved roads to allow armies to travel quickly. Deep roadbeds of crushed stone underneath ensured that the roads kept dry. The medieval especially during Caliphate Umar later built tar-paved roads. All this remark to their skill in improving logistic.

For water modes, the stone ages primitive boats developed to permit navigation of rivers and for fishing in rivers and off the coast. It has been argued that boats suitable for a significant sea crossing was necessary for people to reach Australia an estimated 40,000-45,000 years ago. With the development of civilization, bigger vessels were developed both for trade and war. In the Mediterranean, galleys were developed about 3000 BC. Galleys were eventually rendered obsolete by ocean-going sailing ships, such as the Arabic caravel in the 13th century which first initiate by Caliph Uthman in order to encourage trade and war against Roman., the Chinese treasure ship in the early 15th century, and the Mediterranean man-of-war in the late 15th century. In the Industrial Revolution, the first steamboats and later diesel-powered ships were developed. Meanwhile specialised craft were developed for river and canal transport. Canals were developed in Mesopotamia c. 4000 BC. The Indus Valley Civilization in Pakistan and North India (from c. 2600 BC) had the first canal irrigation system in the world. The longest canal of ancient times was the Grand Canal of China. It is 1,794 kilometres (1,115 mi) long and was built to carry the Emperor Yang Guang between Beijing and Hangzhou. The project began in 605, although the oldest sections of the canal may have existed since c. 486 BC. Canals were developed in the Middle Ages in Europe in Venice and the Netherlands. Pierre- Paul Riquet began to organise the   construction of the 240 km long Canal in France in 1665 and it was opened in 1681. In the Industrial Revolution, inland canals were built in England and later the United States before the development of railways.

Exponential Growth of Civilisation

Most of the modern developed countries especially in Europe have the comprehensive link and network of canal. By having the organized link of canal, more and more village was developed and goods can be transport to the nearest port or vice versa. This network of canal is start to be build as early 16th and support the industrial revolution is 18th centuries.
However the rail transport were found to be more effective in improving quality of civilisation.The history of rail transportation dates back nearly 500 years, and includes systems with man or horse power and rails of wood (or occasionally stone). This was usually for moving  coal  from  the mine down to a river, from where it could continue by boat, with a flanged wheel running on a rail. The use of cast iron plates as rails began in the 1760s, and was followed by systems (plateways) where the flange was part of the rail.Modern rail transport systems first appeared in England in the 1820s. These systems, which made use of the steam locomotive, were the first practical form of mechanized land transport, and they remained the primary form of mechanized land transport for the next 100 years.Again, the developed modern civilisation mastered the art of railways and they have vast network of rail.

The real exponential growth of quality of civilisation was the introduction of aviation losgistic and transportation. During the 17th and 18th century, when scientists began analysing the Earth's atmosphere, gases such as hydrogen were discovered which in turn led to the invention of hydrogen balloons.Various theories in mechanics by physicists during the same period of time—notably fluid dynamics and Newton's laws of motion—led to the foundation of modern aerodynamics.

Logistics infrastructure change the geography and quality of civilisation

White electric train with red cheatline emerging from tunnel in the countryside
InterCityExpress, a German high-speed passenger train
Infrastructure is the fixed installations that allow a vehicle to operate. It consists of both a way, terminal and facilities for parking and maintenance. For rail, pipeline, road and cable transport, the entire way the vehicle travels must be built up. Air and water craft are able to avoid this, since the airway and seawaydo not need to be built up. However, they require fixed infrastructure at terminals.
Terminals such as airports, ports and stations, are locations where passengers and freight can be transferred from one vehicle or mode to another. For passenger transport, terminals are integrating different modes to allow riders to interchange to take advantage of each mode's advantages. For instance, airport rail links connect airports to the city centers and suburbs. The terminals for automobiles are parking lots, while buses and coaches can operates from simple stops.[13] For freight, terminals act as transshipment points, though some cargo is transported directly from the point of production to the point of use.

Conclusions

Any civilisation always start with their logistic wills and development. Humans' first means of transport were walking and swimming. The domestication of animals introduces a new way to lay the burden of transport on more powerful creatures, allowing heavier loads to be hauled, or humans to ride the animals for higher speed and duration. Inventions such as the wheel and sled helped make animal transport more efficient through the introduction of vehicles. Also water transport, including rowed and sailed vessels, dates back to time immemorial, and was the only efficient way to transport large quantities or over large distances prior to the Industrial Revolution.
Until the Industrial Revolution, transport remained slow and costly, and production and consumption were located as close to each other as feasible. But we saw most of either ancient, mid age of 18th centuries civilisation upgrade their logistic capability and those who upgrade faster become survivors.
The Industrial Revolution in the 19th century saw a number of inventions fundamentally change transport. With telegraphy, communication became instant and independent of transport.
The history of logistic is largely one of technological innovation that improve the quality of civilisation. Advances in technology have allowed people to travel farther, explore more territory, and expand their influence over larger and larger areas. Even in ancient times, new tools such as foot coverings, skis, and snowshoes lengthened the distances that could be traveled. As new inventions and discoveries were applied to transportation problems, travel time decreased while the ability to move more and larger loads increased. Innovation continues today, and transportation researchers are working to find new ways to reduce costs and increase transportation efficiency.


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