Brief History and LoDI Mission

The Logistics and Distribution Institute at the University of Louisville is a multi-disciplinary research institute under the Office of Vice President of Research and Innovation and is currently housed in the Speed School of Engineering. The institute is dedicated to improving the practice of logistics across a variety of industries (e.g., manufacturing, 3PL service, and health care). It was formed in 1998 to serve as the organizational entity required to bring together the strong individual and university resources that had been engaged in conducting research, teaching, and solving problems relating to logistics and distribution.

The mission of the Institute is improving the practice of logistics, producing research, and preparing students to be leaders in their fields. To achieve this mission, we have the following goals:

• Increase intra-university and inter-university collaboration in the activities of LoDI.
• Increase research and education in logistics and distribution.
• Attract students to participate in research in logistics and distribution.
• Assist the local and global community and industry with logistics and distribution problems.

The strength of the Logistics and Distribution Institute is its collaborative structure across disciplines of mathematics, business, engineering, geography, public health, computer science, medicine et al. LoDI provides solutions to a wide range of logistics and distribution problems posed by the community and industry in two main thrust areas:

• Healthcare logistics
• Supply Chain and Logistical Planning