The terms Logistics and Supply Chain Management (SCM) can often be confusing as they are quite interrelated. Even though many tend to use the words interchangeably, they are not, in fact, the same. They are two different segments referring to the different aspect of the business.
Technically, logistics is a part of Supply Chain Management. Supply Chain Management is the overall blanket term that refers to the complete management of the flow of goods and services. This includes the storage of goods, including raw materials, work-in-progress inventory, and finished goods, as well as the movement and management of the said goods.
Logistics, on the other hand, is a segment under the heading of Supply Chain Management. It specifically refers to the planning, implementing and controlling the efficient and effective flow of goods and services. This includes information flow, material handling, packing, inventory, transportation, warehousing, and often even security.
It can be said that logistics refers to the actual planning and movement of goods and services from point origin to end user, whereas supply chain management includes this and everything else, such as planning and executions of raw material requirements, purchasing, and procurement of the raw materials, allocation, and distribution of the materials, management of works in progress, collection, management, and distribution of finished products, as well as handling segments of after-sales. Supply Chain Management also includes demand planning, Forecasting, Global procurement management, as well as, maintaining sustainability and social responsibility within the supply chain.