The Role of Early Logistics Involvement and Communication in Project Management - Unutilized Potentials for Success?

Projects often suffer from lack of logistics considerations in the early phases. Since logistics is not the main focus of the people involved in the project, logistics solutions become reactive rather than proactive. With the increasing global competition, forcing companies to shorten time-to-market for their projects and becoming more cost effective, it becomes increasingly important to manage projects more efficiently. This paper focuses on two kinds of projects; product development projects and projects using temporary logistics solutions (TLS). Although these projects seem diverse, they have several similarities, including the lack of early logistics involvement. The aim of this paper is to find out how logistics is considered in project management in product development projects and TLS projects. The paper is based on a literature review within the areas of project management and product development from a logistics perspective. Two empirical illustrations are also presented