Technological Developments in Order Processing Systems

Probably one of the earliest applications of computer technology to logistics was in the area of order processing. When the digital computer began to be introduced into business operations in the middle 1950s, applications were primarily restricted to operations which could be readily routinised. Order processing was such an easily routinised area. Originally the order data had to be processed and input at the location of the central computer. By 1974, a study of US firms found that 90 per cent of the respondents had comparable or more sophisticated computerised order processing systems.